Maurice Roucel and Francis Kurkdjian get together to talk about the Héritage(s) collection

Cette publication est également disponible en :

Collaboration with Symrise

A December evening in Paris. A stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe, Symrise’s L’Appartement Étoile is hosting around twenty journalists. Not for a fragrance launch as you might expect, but for a premiere screening of extracts from a filmed interview with Maurice Roucel. The perfumer, who celebrated reaching the half-century mark in his career in 2025, opened up to the camera for Héritage(s), a collection of filmed interviews with leading figures from the perfumery world. Tonight he is here in person alongside the two people behind this unique documentary project: David Richard, author and filmmaker, and Francis Kurkdjian, perfumer and creator of the Per Fumum endowment fund, who has been developing and funding the project since its launch in 2016. Guided by the desire to “establish an intangible, human and living memory of the people who have created fragrances, or contributed to their existence or development”, the Héritage(s) collection now features 45 filmed interviews, twenty of them already available online.
The videos have English subtitles and can be freely viewed on the Per Fumum website. They feature perfumers including Michel Roudnitska, Dominique Ropion and Max Gavarry as well as representatives of other perfumery professions, including renowned bottle designer Pierre Dinand, Jean Amic, who headed creation at Givaudan-Roure and contributed to many of the 20th century’s iconic fragrances, and Olivier Maure, who runs the Grasse-based fragrance creation studio Art & Parfum.
Together, these audiovisual portraits represent an unparalleled wealth of knowledge about the fragrance universe. A “time capsule for future generations” in the words of David Richard, who opens tonight’s proceedings with an account of the project’s genesis, an initiative as ambitious as it is essential. “It all started with a sad observation. After the deaths of major figures such as Joséphine Catapano [the perfumer, whose creations include Fidji from Guy Laroche, died in 2012], there were often no testimonies left behind.We felt there was an urgent need to gather accounts from the people who can still share their thoughts, so they could then be handed on to students, researchers, historians, professionals or simply fragrance enthusiasts.” A meeting with Francis Kurkdjian led to the idea of capturing living memory, and the project took shape not long after. David Richard, who had already written and directed the film The Fabulous History of Eau de Cologne, was the natural choice for the same role with Héritage(s). 

Humorous and outspoken

David Richard went to Maurice Roucel’s home to talk to him for an interview that has been available online for the last few weeks. It runs for over an hour and is divided into several themed sections. The perfumer talks directly to the camera with his customary outspokenness, generosity and mischievousness. He touches on his scientific background, his discovery of fragrance, and his years at Chanel – where Henri Robert, house perfumer at the time, hired the 23-year-old Maurice to set up a chromatography laboratory. He recounts his first steps as a creator in a world that was still dominated by Grasse, at the other end of the country from his native Cherbourg. He talks about the conception of several fragrances he created, at IFF then Quest (now Givaudan) and, finally, Symrise, his professional home since 1996. The interview also gives him a chance to describe some of the encounters and turning points of his career. For instance, his involvement in the mythical Colisée group of perfumers, whose members included some of the industry’s major players of the day, such as Alberto Morillas and Pierre Bourdon, and whose explorations resulted in the publication of the book Questions de parfumerie [Questions of Perfumery] (Corpman, 1988). And his friendship with Monique Rémy, the legendary founder of the laboratory that bears her name (LMR Naturals, now owned by IFF), relating how he helped her develop a supply chain in China for magnolia in the 1990s. How? Simply by using the ingredient in his fragrances. A tiny quantity in Tocade from Rochas, “to boost its opening,” then a larger quantity in 24, Faubourg from Hermès, followed by a slightly higher dose in Guicci’s Envy. The flood of anecdotes paint a fascinating and instructive picture that will delight all Momo’s fans – ourselves included – as well as anyone interested in the perfumery world in general. 

Former colleaguesIt’s time for the main event, and three extracts from his interview are shown on a screen, prompting a spontaneous discussion between Maurice Roucel and Francis Kurkdjian. The latter is here as the founder of the Per Fumum endowment fund and long-time sponsor of the Héritage(s) collection, but also as Maurice’s former colleague: they worked together at Quest in the early 1990s. Back then Maurice was busy composing Tocade from Rochas while, just down the hall, Francis was working on Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male. They both have a healthy dose of humor and a tendency to speak their minds, making for a lively debate. The audience hangs on every word as Maurice talks about Musc ravageur, the most famous of the fragrances he created for Frédéric Malle, explaining that he originally composed it in response to a brief for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fragile. A brief that ended up being won by none other than Francis Kurkdjian, as the perfumer in question reveals! Further parallels between the two creators’ journeys emerge when Maurice tells the tale of the impetus behind the Colisée group. An initiative that echoes Francis Kurkdjian’s role as president of the International Society of Perfumers-Creators (SIPC) between 2020 and 2024, and the efforts he put into unifying the profession around shared values and encouraging the sort of thinking about the profession and industry that has become rare today. The discussion concludes with a question to Francis about what he believes defines Maurice, and vice versa. Francis, clearly full of admiration for his colleague, cites the fabled concision of Maurice’s formulas. As for Maurice, he chooses to focus on Francis’ boldness, mentioning the dose of mousse and ethyl maltol that gives Baccarat rouge 540 its distinctive character and recognizing that “it was a brave choice”. As the evening draws to a close, something Maurice Roucel said sticks in the mind: “Being a perfumer means having an idea and bringing it to life using your experience and your alphabet.” Francis Kurkdjian agrees wholeheartedly: “I inherited the notion of the primacy of ideas from you.” Proof, if proof were needed, that the vision of seasoned perfumers nourishes the younger generation, and that ensuring their words are handed on is a task very much in the general interest.

Visuals: © Alek Katan