June 15 | 4 minute read
Words by Christie Sinclair
The greatest stories ever written stay with you forever. ORMAIE’s founders, Marie-Lise Jonak and Baptiste Bouygues, believe a great fragrance should do the same.
The mother-and-son duo approach French haute parfumerie like storytellers, beginning with a narrative and carefully ‘writing’ (and rewriting) notes, emotions and exquisite raw ingredients into every bottle.
“Baptiste will tell me a story, and we’ll talk about the moments we’d like to remember. Almost every time you smell something, it reminds you of a moment connected to your past – to someone or somewhere,” Jonak says, recalling the process behind their hypnotic scents.
In this edition of Talking Scents, the pair share what their favourite people smell like, discuss the impossible task of capturing love in a bottle and reflect on their family's passion for creating something beautiful.
My favourite person smells like…
MLJ: “A subtle candy, soft, comforting, with just a hint of freshness.”
The end of the day smells like…
MLJ: “Something calm with white flowers, slightly faded, yet still luminous.”
BB: “Wet grass in summer.”
Australia smells like
MLJ: “Earth, sun, a salty sea wind and rain in the evening.”
BB: “I just know Sydney, but it definitely has a very distinct smell like no other place in the world. It's very, very special – quite green, a mix of peppermint trees, scribbly gum and thick grass.”
The fragrance I wear everyday…
MLJ: “As I am constantly searching, always in pursuit of the next ORMAIE creation, I don’t wear one specific fragrance.”
BB: “I also don’t wear fragrance anymore. As we work with fragrances all the time, we have to arrive with a neutral skin at the office to spray new things.”
The one note I would never wear…
MLJ: “I tend to avoid very green or overly ambery notes. They are not where I naturally gravitate."
BB: “If I find the writing beautiful, I could wear any note.”
The scent I wish existed…
MLJ: “Working in perfumery means you can always construct what you imagine so I don’t believe in a scent that doesn’t exist. It’s simply a matter of exploring materials and different compositions.”
BB: “I wish I could encapsulate exactly the night, wet grass in Italy in summer. We are still working on it.”
The scent that changed my life…
MLJ: “[Jean-Paul Gaultier] Le Male when I met my husband. Later on, I had the chance to collaborate with his creator, Francis Kurkdjian.”
BB: “Yvonne Extrait. I think it made ORMAIE what it is today.”
The first step in creating a scent…
MLJ: “Every fragrance begins with a story. Without narrative, there is no true creation.”
BB: “A story, for sure.”
