Conversation with Le Labo: A Revolution in Scent

Eddie Roschi and Fabrice Penot were kind enough to talk with me about the fascinating inner workings of LE LABO, an independent perfumery that aims to revolutionize the way the public receives perfume.

LEGERDENEZ: Did you two always work in the perfume industry?

FABRICE PENOT (FP): Me and my business partner Eddie Roschi met at Armani. Our profiles are dual since we have both been in the marketing development team of a major brand (Armani/L'Oreal where we met) and in perfume houses ( Firmenich in geneva for Eddie and Symrise in NYC for me).

Here's our "poetic" profile story, which I like a lot:

"Edouard was born on a 12th and Fabrice on a 13th but what they do have in common is that they both grew up with absolutely no sense of orientation.
Without ever having met, each got lost on his side of the globe in a long and not very original chase for a masters degree. They then got waylaid in marketing, consulting and advertising and the narcissistic satisfaction of stock options and first-class airplane tickets. They drifted about in the tropics of ambition for a while before running into each other in a creative team of a leading perfume brand.

In the company corridors, they discovered a shared passion for a certain idea of Mankind and exquisite perfumery, as well as an equally violent dislike for neckties and for submitting to authority.

They travelled between Paris, Grasse, Milan and New York for several years, taking advantage of the time to perfect their friendship as well as their sense of smell. They worked side-by-side with of some of the greatest noses of the time, developing a fairly precise idea of what perfumery will be in the future, far removed from the industrial and global forces that are driving boredom right down into perfume bottles.

That's how they finally found their bearings in New York in 2006, teaming up to create LE LABO and sparking a perfumed revolution. With a little over 30 years on their passports, they have a century's worth of perfume knowledge in their noses but the mentality of 12 year-olds, which gives them, for the moment, a significant headstart."

LEGERDENEZ: How did you find your way from the world of business to forming a perfume company in which the aspect of creation is more important than the sales?

FP: Well, we just realized how the corporate world was a source of huge frustrations for us and our friends around us. Not only for the employees working there, but also for the clients buying the standard products of these corporate brands. So we decided to build a company where people would be happy to work for, proposing the best of perfume creation to the public.


EDDIE ROSCHI(ER): I am fine running around in a cage like a hamster. I am even better when that cage is mine.


LEGERDENEZ: Are you trying to create a canon of perfumes that represent all the important categories? I ask this because you have named each of the perfumes after a cetral ingredient.

ER: The naming is independent of the olfactive families. It is important to have a complete representation of the major olfacive families so as to offer something for everyone. That said, the central raw ingredient doesn't necessarily symbolize an olfactive family. For example : Neroli 36 -- it's not a white floral, it's a marine, very fresh note that's built around white flowers. None of our perfumes are single notes, hence the number of ingredients that are found in each formulae. All are creative twists around raw ingredients. Our Patchouli 24 barely smells of Patchouli ...

LEGERDENEZ: Are there other aspects of your approach to perfumery that influenced you to name the perfumes so unromantically? What do you hope to highlight about the perfume by naming and presenting them so generically?

FP: No need to invent a "romantic" name as no need for a crazy design packaging or a pink ink color for the printing... As you seem to understand, all our work is to shed the light on the fragrance itself. So all our names have a meaning, with no more noise, just the iconic natural raw ingredient from Grasse at the origin of the creation, and the number of other ingredients in the formula.

LEGERDENEZ: How did you choose noses to create the perfumes? Does any particular quality unite the noses you work with?

LE LABO: Yes, they are all crazy in their own way... crazy meaning real artists, taking risks in their life and in their creations.
LEGERDENEZ: Which perfumers created the Le Labo Fragrances?

LE LABO:
- Rose, Neroli, Bergamote: Daphne Bugey
- Vetiver: Marc Buxton
- Iris: Franck Voelkl
- Patchouli: Annick Menardo
- Jasmin, Labdanum: Maurice Roucel
- Ambrette: Michel Almayrac
- Fleur d'Oranger: Francoise Caron

LEGERDENEZ: Is Le Labo open to the public? What can the public see of the process of perfume making? How can people visit and what can they learn at Le Labo?

FP: That's the whole idea: to open a perfume lab to the public!
At 233 Elizabeth St in NYC first, but then in another locations.
All our labs will be a place where you'll see a lab technician putting together your perfume, mixing the essential oil concentrates into alcohol right up at the moment of purchase. The experience there is unique: you can also smell hundreds of raw materials from Birch wood, oak moss, Rose essence or Gaiac wood as you could find in a perfume lab... As we are used to saying: "The lab is the amusement park and the perfume is your souvenir."


LEGERDENEZ: Is Le Labo a more interactive perfumery than others due to the openness of your premises and the fact that the perfume is made on site?

LE LABO: Definitely. It is part of the experience that we wanted to offer. People stick around, ask tons of questions, smell raw ingredients they can't smell elsewhere and leave with the impression of having learned something in the craft of perfume creation that they can't really learn anywhere else. Â

LEGERDENEZ: Is there a public education aspect to Le Labo?

LE LABO: Beyond the existence of the lab store itelf, we have the Olfactionary that is playing a great role in public education. The Olfactory is a olfactory dictionary of sort. A box containing 40 natural perfume essences to refine and develop your sense of smell¦ It's the key to the art of perfumery. With the Olfactionary, you'll be astounded by how quickly you'll be able to pick out that special slight touch of rose, iris or vetiver in a complex composition.

The more you know about a perfume, the easier it is to understand and appreciate the creative skill that goes into making it¦ and to choose the one that brings out the sophisticated elegance, luminous sensuality, style, charm or touch of insolence in you.

LEGERDENEZ: Can the public expect additional releases from Le Labo?

LE LABO: No. It may happen, but don't expect anything !
That's the only way to fall in love, not to expect it.

LEGERDENEZ: What kind of guidance do you give your perfumers in creating a scent?

LE LABO: We work the scents with each perfumer directly. We start with a story and take it from there. The development is totally interactive, done in partnership and in full trust of each other. The perfumer is thus very present, challenges you, teaches you and takes you to places where you didn't expect to be taken. You debate different directions, motivate one another so that ultimately the scent materializes the story and set of emotions you had in mind. We share a common language and a technical knowledge that enable us to do this effectively.

LEGERDENEZ: Does Le Labo have any model companies in the world of perfume?

FP: No model, but lots of respect for Frederic Malle. We share with him a vision of perfumery

LEGERDENEZ: Is there any particular scent that you dream of making as a part of Le Labo?

FP: The scent of the World Cup!
ER: Grenouille's in Perfume!

LEGERDENEZ: Does Le Labo have a particular ethos for dealing with customers and employees?

LE LABO: Treating clients not like customers but just like people.
Treating staff not like employees but just like people.
Treating celebrities not like VIP but just like people.

Smell good and be nice to people... that's almost a philosophy of life.

FIN

WWW.LELABOFRAGRANCES.COM

Read the Legerdenez reviews of Le Jasmin 17 and Ambrette 9 and check back here in the next few days for reviews of the rest of the LE LABO fragrances.