The Scent Of Life

When Francis Kurkdjian’s attempt to secure an internship at the Paris Opera Ballet School was unsuccessful, he turned to his other passion, perfumery. Since then, the world has become his stage all the same – as the nose behind some of the most iconic fragrances of our time. He shares his road to success with François Oosthuizen.

- François Oosthuizen

He might be famous for over 40 fragrances created for some of the biggest fashion and cosmetic brands in the world – the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, Elie Saab, Burberry, Versace, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Nina Ricci, Narciso Rodriguez, and Elizabeth Arden – but if you ask master perfumer Francis Kurkdjian what his proudest achievement is, he doesn’t hesitate for a moment. “My olfactory installations. The biggest to date was in the gardens of Versailles, where I created outdoor scented candles, scented soap bubbles, and scented water for the fountains.”

Expressing his craft through creativity – and in the most original and unexpected way – is at the core of Francis Kurkdjian’s being. “A creative mind is the most important requirement for becoming a good perfumer. The rest is about working hard, and training even harder,” says the man who once recreated the (last) Queen of France, Marie Antoinette’s favorite perfume. In 2003, Kurkdjian also partnered with contemporary French artist Sophie Calle to create the smell of money, and in 2014, for the Nuit Blanche contemporary art festival in Paris, following a collaboration with Syrian artist Hratch Arbach to create the smell of blood.

Born in the eastern Parisian suburb of Gournay-sur-Marne to Armenian parents, Kurkdjian recalls a life surrounded by art, music, ballet, and various types of sport. He learnt to read music, played the piano, and attended the local ballet school. “I owe to my parents and my grandparents a great education, a sense of family, and the things I consider to be great values, such as humanity and kindness,” he says.

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