Dior Perfumer Francois Demachy On What It Takes To Create A Celebrity Favourite Perfume

As one of the most celebrated noses in the world (that's beauty speak for professional perfumer), François Demachy knows a thing or two about concocting future best selling scents (Dior J'Adore was his creation).

We chatted to him about talent, passion and making the two come together for a career of success and the creation of his newest fragrance – Dior Poison Girl EDT.

First Job

My first job was working in my Father's Pharmacy in Grasse, France. This is where I learned the ABC's of handling products – how to fill up a bottle without spilling product, how to prepare proper packaging and other little tricks of the trade.

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Big Break

It wasn't so much a specific perfume; it was more a time of my life. While I was being trained I went to New York for 6 months. I grew up in a very small city in the south of France, and taking the jump from there to New York City, at the age of 25, was a really extraordinary experience for me. That's something that really changed me and after returning home I then decided to move to Paris.

Current Job

Part of my role involves working on many different projects at the same time. As perfumer-creator for Dior, we have a one-two year lead-time but that doesn't necessarily mean anything we work on will come to fruition. It's actually a major challenge for me getting to that end point.

Signature Skill

We all have habits of practice and have certain hats we wear for different skills. I'd say mine is finding an agreement between scents – for example jasmine notes, patchouli, white flowers and honeysuckle.

Liquid, Fluid, Barware, Collection, Bottle, Glass bottle, Distilled beverage, Brass, Alcohol, Solvent,

Most Recent Project

Has been working on Dior Poison Girl EDT. We needed to create a tension between the different ingredients. For freshness we relied heavily on bitter orange and sweet orange and for the more suave side we added grapefruit. These sharp notes were balance with softer, enveloping, and sensual notes of sandalwood, tonka bean and vanilla. Camille Rowe is the face of the fragrance and I believe she perfectly embodies all of its attributes - free with her sensuality but with a modern freshness.

The Future Of Fragrance

Scents don't have one particular gender. I think perfumes will become easier, more approachable, less complicated, less intellectual and more sensual, emotional, and essentially simple – or seemingly simple.