After Olivier Polge took over the reins as Chanel’s fourth in-house perfumer from his father and legendary perfumer Jacques Polge in 2015, Chanel’s olfactory choices have advanced and embraced novel interpretations that honour Gabrielle Chanel’s legacy. Armed with a background in artwork historical past, Polge embodied an inventive sensibility in his craft that intertwined historical past, tradition and scent. This attitude allowed him to view perfume as an expressive storyteller past merely a product of Chanel’s enduring fashion.
“A superb scent lifts the spirit. It’s just like the scent of recent bread or espresso within the morning — easy but evocative, very similar to the understated class Chanel embodies”
— Olivier Polge
Polge’s journey into the world of perfumery was not an unequivocal path carved out by advantage of his father’s profession. He distanced himself from his father’s work and delved into artwork historical past. “Since my father was a perfumer, I didn’t wish to comply with in his footsteps as an adolescent,” shared Polge. It modified one summer season when he caved into scent’s compelling nature throughout a summer season internship in his father’s perfume lab. That discovery of how delicate the dance of perfection is between technical prowess and inventive instinct drew him in. The hands-on expertise ignited a hearth inside him, one intoxicating sufficient to steer his life in the direction of the trail of perfumery. Nonetheless, opposite to what most individuals would count on, Polge didn’t study the methods of perfumery from his father. “Once I wished to coach in perfumes, my father thought it was a good suggestion to ship me away. As a substitute, he despatched me to study from others,” stated Polge. “He taught me extra about constructing my sensibility and style and not directly shaping my skilled strategy.”
On the coronary heart of Polge’s philosophy lies the dedication to create and rework as an alternative of merely reproducing an current perfume. Polge’s work on the N°5 L’Eau, launched in 2016, showcases this philosophy. He revisited the foundational parts of the unique N°5 however reimagined them with a contemporary twist. It was more energizing, lighter, and spoke to up to date sensibilities whereas retaining the N°5’s signature complexity. Polge has since created 20 new scents for Chanel, together with this 12 months’s newest addition to the Les Exclusif vary, the Comete.
As the worldwide panorama advanced, so too did scent preferences. Polge stays conscious about the significance of making universally interesting fragrances. As a substitute of chasing developments and fads, Polge roots his creations in Gabrielle Chanel’s pioneering spirit and universe, weaving them into every new perfume he creates. We spoke to Olivier Polge throughout his first-ever go to to Singapore and Southeast Asia about Chanel’s olfactory universe and extra.
It’s your first time in Singapore, and you’ve got visited Chinatown and Little India. How do you suppose completely different cultures affect perceptions of perfume?
Range is essential, and I’m glad we reside in such an interconnected world. Fragrance is a cultural aspect, and though Chanel is a globally recognised model with roots in French and European tradition, we create scents from France for the world. It’s lovely to see how completely different international locations have their preferences.
Fragrances can scent in another way on individuals. Are you able to elaborate and share what somebody ought to search for when selecting a perfume?
There’s a chemistry that makes a fragrance bloom in another way on every individual. This particular person response is a part of what makes perfumery so attention-grabbing. There isn’t a single appropriate reply when selecting a perfume. I create scents with a particular identification that’s significant to the model. I consider it’s intriguing when somebody chooses an sudden scent for themselves, very similar to how they could determine to decorate uniquely.’
“Gabrielle Chanel’s imaginative and prescient was about transformation — taking the atypical and making it extraordinary. It’s this philosophy I carry into each new perfume creation”
— Olivier Polge
How do you reinterpret a basic like Chanel N°5 to attraction to a contemporary viewers whereas respecting its historical past?
Relatively than specializing in legacy and historical past, I view it as a mode. After we celebrated 100 years of N° 5, I realised we not make perfumes the identical approach. The N°5 has a powerful identification, permitting us to experiment with its construction, like with N°5 L’Eau, the place we dressed the basic parts in another way.
How do you push the boundaries of fragrance making at Chanel, and what traditions do you select to honour?
You all the time need to play with the boundaries. Chanel perfumes aren’t tied to particular uncooked supplies, giving us the liberty to discover. Nonetheless, it’s essential that the creations are significant to the model and add one thing new to our signature.
“Fragrances bloom in another way on every individual; that is the place the magic lies. It’s about creating one thing private but universally resonant, simply as Chanel supposed”
— Olivier Polge
Are you able to give us an instance of pushing boundaries in a perfume?
As an example, with Le Lion de Chanel, considered one of my creations within the Les Exclusifs line, I aimed to seize an impression we didn’t have already got. It’s a robust scent in comparison with others. Typically, hyperlinks emerge with previous creations, even when they weren’t supposed. That’s the fantastic thing about it.
When creating a brand new fragrance, do you look again at previous creations or begin from scratch? Has there been any creation you felt wasn’t prepared and revisited later?
It relies upon. For N°5 L’Eau, I examined earlier formulation to seek out its essence. Nonetheless, I began with a brand new method with Gabrielle Chanel (the fragrance). I all the time have concepts exterior of particular initiatives. Typically, I experiment with a mix of uncooked supplies that may later turn into a part of a fragrance. It’s an ongoing technique of exploring potential scents.
Are there components in Chanel’s fragrances that you simply discover fascinating or versatile that may seem in several perfumes but tackle distinctive traits?
Sure, sure uncooked supplies can have a refined or transformative position. As an example, iris is just not an outspoken ingredient however interacts fantastically with woody notes. Flowers usually play an important position at Chanel, both main or secondary, making a thread that hyperlinks the completely different parts. Some uncooked supplies, like gardenia or lily of the valley, have extremely robust scents that the trade doesn’t know methods to extract.
Given your heritage, I’m positive life has all the time been full of fragrances and fragrance making. At what level did you realise you had a ardour for fragrance making, and what made you determine to pursue it?
Nicely, I realised it fairly late. Since my father was a perfumer, I rebelled towards following in his footsteps as an adolescent. I used to be learning artwork historical past as an alternative. One summer season throughout my college days, I interned at my father’s lab, and that’s once I found the attraction of this craft.
Would you say that stepping away from perfume-making gave you a brand new perspective if you finally returned to it?
It was a extra intimate course of. It’s like watching your youngsters develop if you turn into a father. You information them however enable them to seek out their approach again in the event that they wish to. In my case, I used to be lucky that the door was nonetheless open for me.
You succeeded your father in 2015. Did you uncover shocking sides about him as a father that you simply hadn’t observed earlier than whereas researching his work?
I knew his creations effectively earlier than I joined Chanel. It’s onerous to separate his skilled persona from being my father. He didn’t train me perfumery straight; as an alternative, he despatched me to study from others. What he did train me was extra about constructing my sensibility and style and not directly formed my skilled strategy. On an expert stage, I started to know his style for patchouli and sure fragrances once I researched his work extra deeply.
This text was first seen on Males’s Folio Singapore.
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