A perfumer writes formulas: choosing materials, setting their proportions and adjusting the result until it smells the way it should. Most perfumers work as employees of a fragrance house, a few as in-house perfumers for a brand, and others as independents with their own studio or their own label. The perfumes at Passion Parfum show all three ways of working side by side.
What a perfumer does day to day
A perfumer spends more time at a desk than at a lab bench. The job starts with a formula, a list of materials with their weight or percentage. An assistant or a lab then weighs out the trial, which the perfumer smells on a blotter, then on skin, at different stages of evaporation. A dose goes up or down, one material comes out, another goes in, and a new version is weighed. A perfume goes through many versions before it is approved.
The image of the perfumer's organ comes from this work. Bottles of raw materials used to be arranged in tiers around the workstation, like the keyboards of a pipe organ. Formulation software and weighing robots have changed the tools, but the word stayed on as a name for the perfumer's palette.
The core of the job is memory. A perfumer has to recognize hundreds of natural materials and molecules, know how each one develops on skin, and predict what two materials will do together. That knowledge is trained every day. It comes from practice far more than from any special gift.
Training: schools, fragrance houses and the self-taught
In France, the best-known school is ISIPCA, founded in Versailles in 1970 on the initiative of perfumer Jean-Jacques Guerlain. It trains students for careers in fragrance, cosmetics and flavors. The major fragrance houses also run their own in-house schools. The oldest, Givaudan's, was founded in Grasse in 1946 by Jean Carles, then a perfumer at Roure. It takes only a handful of students at a time, who spend their first years learning raw materials and accords.
Real careers are more varied than that. Anne Flipo, who created two perfumes for ChuJian, enrolled at ISIPCA to train in food flavors, then switched paths when she discovered perfumery essential oils. She learned the craft under Michel Almairac and Jean-Louis Sieuzac before joining IFF in 2004. Andreas Wilhelm, the perfumer behind Pernoire, started in 1993 as a chemistry lab technician in Givaudan's research department, then began his perfumer training in 1999 at Luzi. Tianle Feng, founder of Voice From The Sky, studied chemistry at Nankai University before moving to France to train at ISIPCA.
Part of niche perfumery comes from somewhere else entirely. Jimmy Bodin never went to perfumery school: he taught himself while trying to decode a perfume he could not afford to buy again. Tada Archawong first worked as a director of photography, then spent a year and a half teaching himself before launching his first brand. Dmitry Bortnikoff, founder of Bortnikoff, trained as an architect. All three built their own companies.
The staff perfumer: working to a brief
Most perfumes sold around the world are created by perfumers employed by fragrance houses. These companies create and manufacture the fragrance concentrates, then sell them to brands. A brand that wants a new perfume writes a brief: the concept, the target customer, the price, sometimes a few reference perfumes. Several fragrance houses can compete on the same brief, and each one submits its proposals.
A staff perfumer therefore works for clients they do not always choose, on concepts handed to them. In exchange, they have resources an independent lacks: a very broad palette, molecules exclusive to their employer, laboratories, evaluators and development teams. The formula usually remains the property of the fragrance house.
Anne Flipo is a clear example. A perfumer at IFF, named master perfumer in 2019, she co-created La Vie est Belle for Lancôme with Olivier Polge and Dominique Ropion. The same skills can also serve a niche house. ChuJian, a Chinese house that appeared in 2024, assigns each of its extraits to a named perfumer and publishes the name: Anne Flipo, Caroline Dumur, Maxime Exler, Mathilde Bijaoui, Ralf Schwieger, Tianle Feng and others. The house sets the theme, often a Chinese landscape or garden, and the perfumer carries it out.
In between sits the in-house perfumer, employed directly by a brand to create its perfumes. A few large houses work this way. On a smaller scale, Jimmy Bodin is the in-house perfumer of Jousset Parfums, the brand he founded in 2020 and named after his mother.
The independent perfumer: studio, label and commissions
An independent perfumer has no employer. They can take commissions from brands, launch their own label, or do both. They choose their subjects and keep control of their formulas. On the other hand, they have to buy their own materials, often in small quantities, manage production and find stockists.
Andreas Wilhelm represents the independent studio. He founded his own in Zurich in 2008 and launched his own brand, Perfume.Sucks, in 2017. For Pernoire, he works with the two founders, Robin Dünner and Nico Mannino, who handle creative direction. They bring him a sensation, a memory or an idea, and he turns it into a formula. That is a brief too, but one given by two founders who have worked with the same perfumer from the start.
Other independents found their own house and are its only perfumer. Tianle Feng composes every Voice From The Sky perfume, each tied to a moment in his life, and also takes commissions, such as Tianshan Spring for ChuJian. Tada Archawong writes most of the formulas for Tada Parfumeur and Shaman Perfumery, and co-creates some perfumes with his friend Prin Lomros. He jots ideas in a notebook as he travels, then looks for the materials that can recreate the scene.
Some go as far as producing their own materials. Dmitry Bortnikoff co-founded Feel-Oud, an oud and sandalwood oil distillery, in 2013, five years before launching his house. Several Bortnikoff perfumes list ouds from that distillery in their pyramid. This is rare: most perfumers, staff or independent, buy their materials.
Independent does not mean better. A staff perfumer has technical resources a small workshop lacks, and a niche perfume can be mediocre. Our article on the difference between niche and designer perfume comes back to this point.
Six perfumes from the catalog and the noses who signed them
These perfumes show how varied the paths are. The notes listed are those on our product pages.
Mansa, by Pernoire, is signed by Andreas Wilhelm. Blackberry, pink pepper and orris root in the top notes, then oud, rose, amber, blackcurrant and saffron, over base notes of patchouli, heliotrope, moss and musk. It is a 25% extrait de parfum and was a finalist at the 2023 Art and Olfaction Awards in the independent category. It shows an independent studio at work on a concept set by founders. Our Pernoire profile covers this collaboration in detail.
Buddha's Narcissus N°P42, by ChuJian, is one of Anne Flipo's two perfumes for the house. Lime, bergamot, grapefruit and black pepper, then narcissus, lavender and rose, over patchouli, benzoin and moss. The opening is very fresh and the base is chypre. Here a fragrance house perfumer works on a Chinese theme, the narcissus grown for the Lunar New Year.
Tianshan Spring N°L31, by ChuJian, is a commission given to Tianle Feng. Lemon, bergamot and juniper berry, then aquatic notes, musk and lavender, over ambrette, ambroxan and cedarwood. This fresh aquatic is far removed from his personal work for Voice From The Sky, which often leans on incense. A client's brief can take a perfumer a long way from their personal style.
Black Cavendish, by Tada Parfumeur, is composed by Tada Archawong. Rum, incense, nutmeg and caramel in the top notes, jasmine, patchouli and vanilla in the heart, tobacco, sandalwood, cinnamon and amber in the base. It is an extrait de parfum and, according to its founder, one of the house's two best sellers. Amber, his favorite material, is right there. Our Tada Parfumeur profile tells his story.
Trat Treat 3, by The Unleashed Apothecary, is signed by Jimmy Bodin. Blueberry flesh, crushed raspberry and red wine, then dark chocolate, cocoa absolute and vanilla orchid, over a base of Oud Trat Macao, animalic oud, tonka, benzoin and hyraceum. The perfumer says he builds his gourmands like ouds, layer by layer. The base of this one shows it clearly.
Decembrie 89, by Adi ale Van, is another commission for Jimmy Bodin, this time from a Romanian house that works with several perfumers. Apple, orange and lemon, then vanilla bean and hazelnut, over vanilla absolute, rum and Madagascar vanilla. The same self-taught perfumer is writing here for another house's artistic direction. This perfume is currently available for pre-order.
Frequently asked questions
How do you become a perfumer?
The most common route is a chemistry degree or a specialized school such as ISIPCA, followed by a job at a fragrance house, often as an assistant. Some of these companies train their own students in-house. Other perfumers, especially in niche, taught themselves and started their own house.
How long does it take to become a perfumer?
Several years. The in-house schools of fragrance houses devote the first years entirely to learning raw materials and accords. Perfumers often say the learning goes on long after training ends, with every new perfume.
Do you need an exceptional nose to be a perfumer?
The job relies mainly on a memory for scents that is trained every day. Students learn to recognize materials one by one, then to predict how they combine. A normal sense of smell is enough to start. Rigor and patience matter more.
What is the difference between a perfumer and an evaluator?
The perfumer writes the formula. The evaluator smells the trials, compares them to the brief and to competing perfumes, and acts as the link between the perfumer and the brand. At fragrance houses, the two work together on every project.
Who creates niche perfumes?
Both cases exist. Some niche houses hire perfumers from fragrance houses and publish their names, like ChuJian. Others are run by their own perfumer, often an independent, like Voice From The Sky or Tada Parfumeur. The perfumer's name appears on our product pages whenever the house shares it.
More articles on perfume houses and how they work are gathered on our niche perfumery page. To compare different perfumers' styles on your own skin, every perfume mentioned here is available as a 2 ml sample, described on our samples page.