Interview with Camille Goutal, Artistic Director Annick Goutal Parfums

06/09/09 18:00:03

By: Michelyn Camen

Annick Goutal Parfums is one of the original independent niche perfumeries, created in the 1980s by the legendary Annick Goutal. In this interview with the Company’s Artistic Consultant Camille Goutal, (Ms. Goutal’s daughter) we get an insider’s view of the complex relationships between scent and memory, tradition and innovation and mother and daughters, as well as Camille Goutal’s personal memories of one of the most innovative and influential women of modern fragrance.

Please give our readers a brief overiew of Annick Goutal Parfums

Camille Goutal: Annick Goutal is a Perfumery House, guided by the values of its creator and characterized by its remarkable sophistication and the excellent quality of its raw materials. Annick Goutal’s secret lies in its talent for transforming emotions into fragrances. Each unique creation represents a moment of happiness, a treasured emotion, or a powerful memory connected to a significant event or even a loved one.

What is your first olfactive memory?

Camille Goutal: Growing up with my mother, every moment was tied to scent. Whether it was hours spent playing in the lab experiencing each raw ingredient, or walking the lavender fields. Scent is a part of every memory.

Annick Goutal was the first woman to lead niche perfumery... what is your favorite memory of your mother?

Camille Goutal: I remember having breakfast in bed with my mother on Sunday mornings and cuddling up against her. I loved the smell of coffee and toasted bread in our house, the feeling of calm and happiness.

Did you always wanted to be in the family business?

Camille Goutal: I first wanted to become a photographer but fragrance was also a passion for me at a very young age. I involved myself in the creative process as much as I could.

How has the brand changed over the years, continuing to flourish when there are thousands of new offerings introduced and discontinued every year?

Camille Goutal: People have a passionate love for the brand. Each fragrance has stood the test of time because they speak so clearly to the women and men that covet them. The company has always been a labor of love, and I believe that clients can sense that.

What is your signature fragrance? What was Annick's?

Camille Goutal: If I had to pick one, I would say Songes. It was the first scent that I created. I love white flowers and powdery scents.

My mother was fond of roses, and created Ce Soir ou Jamais in their honor. This perfume was her dream and her quest.

What inspired last year’s ‘scent-sational’ collection… Les Orientalistes?

Camille Goutal: It was mainly the rough material. My inspiration came from materials: the texture of an oriental fabric, the resine ingredients and the color used in the oriental paintings. I was fascinated by the fact that the orientalist painters use their imagination to depict a harem scene as they were not allowed to enter in a harem. They were in the same spirit state than we are when we compose. I was also touched by the sensuality depicted in the oriental paintings and I wanted to create very sensual and warm perfumes.

What role does perfume play in our memories and in our lives. Which fragrance from the Annick Goutal line expresses this best?

Camille Goutal: As you probably know our perfumes are the reflection of our lives, the people we met, and the people we love. We launch a perfume when we have finally succeeded to describe the emotion we have chosen. I find it really interesting when people, wearing my creation, share my feelings! You convey a message. I am so pleased when I see mothers buying Petite Cherie (little darling) for their daughters. It is the same love declaration that my mother did to me when created this perfume.

Please tell the story of Petite Cherie...

Camille Goutal: My mother created this perfume for me when I was 20 to mark the special time in life when a girl becomes a young woman. Petite Cherie or “my little darling,” is a fresh combination of fruity and floral ingredients including peach, musk rose, pear, fresh cut grass and vanilla. The fragrance was created as a symbol of a mother’s love for her child.

Do you have a daughter? If so is she interested in perfumery?

Camille Goutal: I have 2 daughters. They're 6 and 9 and like wearing perfumes. They steal mine in our bathroom as soon as I turn my back... Especially the little one who literally "bathes" herself in Vanille Exquise...

Un Matin d’Orage is your newest fragrance created with the assistance of Perfumer Isabelle Doyen. What was its inspiration?

Camille Goutal: Imagine yourself in a Japanese garden - not a Buddhist Zen-type place, but a real garden with lots of greenery - and smell the plants, leaves and white flowers after a storm as the sun creates a scented mist.

What is next?

Camille Goutal: We are continuing to develop Annick Goutal into a lifestyle brand beyond fragrance; we are expanding our skincare in 2009. Within the next two years we will be introducing an Annick Goutal cosmetics line, extending the brand into Potpourri, household linens and jewelry co-designed by Virginie Monroe are also in the works. We will be busy!

Writer’s Note: I have been wearing Heure Exquise Eau de Parfum since its creation in 1984. With its rich orris and rose heart notes and powdery sandalwood drydown, it is as quintessentially elegant and modern today as it was twenty five years ago.

Author: Michelyn Camen
Michelyn Camen is a New York City based Fragrance Specialist and a Contributor to Fragrantica. In addition, she is the Fragrance Columnist/Diversions for http://www.uptownsocial.net.

Michelyn is the former Senior Contributing Writer for Sniffapalooza Magazine, New in Niche Columnist for Basenotes and Editorial Director/Fragrance Editor for Beauty News NYC & LA

Ms. Camen provides personalized fragrance consultations based on body chemistry, psychology, fashion and lifestyle and is a consultant for luxury perfumers and fragrance companies. She may be contacted @ fifthsensenyc@aol.com