He has just recovered from a second Covid and has just signed hundreds of signings for the press around the world, but the maestro nose is still ready to talk about his latest creation, an olfactory journey to the land of flowers, plants, seeds, roots, leaves and fruits.
This is his nature, simple, generous and passionate.
With the added bonus of the sunny patter of a child from Grasse.
Throughout the pages, co-written with the journalist Lionel Paillès, illustrated by the designer Aurore de la Morinerie and the photographer Sébastien Zanella, Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud lets us feel the world and makes us discover the secret treasures of perfumery.
To discover
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The Louis Vuitton Perfume Atlas.
Press/Louis Vuitton Parfums
Tribute to know-how
“I've wanted to write about our profession for a long time,” he confides, “and I wanted to start with the raw materials without which perfumes would not exist.
Besides, I learned geography with them.
I wanted to celebrate both nature and people.
We too often forget that these ingredients are rare, not offered but cultivated, collected, distilled, extracted, refined, recomposed, sublimated.
A tribute to Grasse know-how for almost five centuries.
I also wanted to show that the history of these natural raw materials follows the history of our civilizations.
If we take the example of Balsam of Peru, the Mayans used it 4000 years ago.
Thus, an invisible link is created with the past.
»
I learned geography with raw materials
Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud
Even the pillars of perfumery, the most used and best-known ingredients, still manage to surprise.
Who knows that bergamot comes from the hybridization between bitter orange and lemon?
That lavender doesn't only bloom in Provence?
We discover what the famous Assam oud really is, which many claim to have juice without really containing any because of its cost and rarity.
“The olfactory richness of real oud is at least as rich as its cultural richness,” underlines Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud, who takes the opportunity to point out that Louis Vuitton perfumes are the world's leading buyer of the magic oil.
“In writing this work, I learned that it was once a commodity as precious as gold, that in the inheritances of the great lords in Iraq or Jordan, it was transmitted to children in the same way as salt reserves and jewelry.”
Read alsoLouis Vuitton unveils, in Grasse, the house where its first perfumes were created
Even the rose, about which we think we know everything, still manages to enchant him.
“My secret passion, in fact not so secret anymore, is the centifolia rose or Grasse rose,” continues our expert.
It is the expression of absolute eternity.
Jasmine is magnificent but it only goes in one direction, the olfactory, flowery, spicy, animal stunner.
The rose, all in distinction and elegance, exudes incredible strength with fresh, spicy, tea, fruity, metallic facets... Eminently complex like the feminine character, it does not reveal all its mysteries and that is so much the better.
We have only identified 600 or 700 molecules of its odor and there are probably between 1200 and 1500. It brings key elements to perfumery which make it possible to create extraordinary perfumes.
Olfactory affinities
This great “olfactory fickle person” for whom “each perfume is an act of love” confesses a new passion, osmanthus, a flower that smells of peach and apricot.
A resurgent passion because he has already used it in the first Louis Vuitton perfumes, Rose des Vents, Mille Feux and Dancing Blossom.
“It was one of the first materials I saw in my father’s laboratory.
I must have been 14 years old.
I remember very well the hand-written label “Absolu Osmanthus de Chine”.
This name made me dream.
At the time, China still seemed an inaccessible world.
Since then, I have had the chance to attend the picking several times.
Osmanthus is harvested to make dried flowers for infusions or cakes, very popular in China.
It is from the same family as jasmine and olive tree.
Moreover, it was called the Chinese olive tree and its flowers grow like olives.
It’s the only flower that we put in brine, in salt water.”
He of course cultivates them at Fontaines Parfumées, his creative lair in Grasse.
“At flowering time, in October, visitors always stop in the osmanthus avenue, so charmed are they by their scent.”
The Louis Vuitton Perfume Atlas.
Press/Louis Vuitton Parfums
He of course has olfactory affinities, but when we ask him what smell disappointed him, he is categorical.
"None.
There are no bad ones, only bad perfumers.
But some are difficult to domesticate, to tame, like patchouli.
I usually say that he is an olfactory tiger.
We don't know who the master is.
And then, certain notes no longer correspond to the spirit of the times, such as galbanum, which does not pass well in consumer tests.
But I think he will come back shortly.
In the 90s, at the time of Issey Miyaké's Eau d'Issey, I also participated in the eclipse of patchouli.
Considered too dark, he disappeared for a decade before returning in majesty to Chanel with Coco Mademoiselle.
What next eclipse does he predict?
“Food notes.
We've had enough.
Every excess calls for its opposite.
From apprentice in Grasse to luxury houses
With this book, the star perfumer confides that he has not said everything, far from it.
“I would like to share my experience, to say that nothing is certain but nothing is impossible.
As an apprentice perfumer in Grasse, I never imagined working for one of the most prestigious luxury houses in the world.
I would like to write about a method for creating because creation requires method and rigor.
I see a lot of young people who don't have the right foundations.
The training is quite weak;
a fault of the times.
Before, communication was 5% of the job.
And today, 50%.
To the detriment of the essential.
Above all, you must not make the wrong objective.
The goal is to make the most beautiful perfumes in the world, not to be on TV.
We must not forget that recognition is only the consequence of work.”
Apprentice perfumer in Grasse, I never imagined working for one of the most prestigious luxury houses in the world
Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud
Like any perfumer, he dreams of creating a universal success that stands the test of time.
“We can't create if we don't have an ego, but no matter how hard we look for the recipe, we'll never find it.
This is the marvelous coincidence of our professions.
Why has one perfume become cult and another, just as good, forgotten?
Mystery.
No one can predict anything.
I have worked with the greatest developers, the greatest presidents… I have always seen in them this uncertainty and this anxiety until the launch.
Also read “A perfume should help you feel better”
Failures
and successes
However, it is difficult to forget that Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud has already left his mark on the history of perfumery, notably in 1992 with the iconic Eau d'Issey, by Issey Miyaké.
That he signed - among others - Le Classique by Jean-Paul Gaultier, Midnight Poison by Dior and more than twenty juices for Louis Vuitton.
“In our professions, we experience more failures than successes.
I have experienced both.
It's hard to swallow but easy to understand in hindsight.
My biggest disappointment is the Feu d'Issey which didn't work but had a definite influence.
I loved Issey Miyaké.
He had great confidence in me, hence my disappointment.
In 1998, we launched this perfume at the Museum of Decorative Arts on the evening of the France-Croatia football final and he was so Francophile that he wore a blue-white-red bow tie.”
At Louis Vuitton, Imagination eau de parfum works fantastically well.
“It took me five years to create it.
I classified it as men's and it's the one I wear but today, 50% of women buy it for themselves.
I have given it to lots of friends and I enjoy smelling it on them as much as on myself.”
He admits that his “big favorite” is spotting a Louis Vuitton perfume in the street.
“I recognize all my perfumes and those of others, at least the headliners.
The other day I was in Los Angeles and at the top of Rodeo Drive, I smelled Ombre Nomade.
It’s a child’s joy to see that someone likes their work.”
Louis Vuitton Imagination Eau de Parfum.
Press/Louis Vuitton Parfums
At 62, this bon vivant says he has no nostalgia for the past, other than an attachment to people.
Having fun quoting this sentence: “In every old person, there is a young person who wonders what happened.”
He affirms his passion intact and is already thinking about 2026 or 2027. “What matters is creative eternity, to work until the end if I am physically capable of it.
Three days before his death, at age 87, my father gave a lesson on local neroli to my brother.
We are entering the era of women
Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud
Today, his daughter Camille has worked with him for seven years.
“She has as much character as me, so it’s a balanced relationship.”
And he really thinks that a woman doesn't create like a man.
“Obviously not.
Women don't see the world the same way we do.
We are entering the era of women.
I expect a lot from them for creativity.”
The perfume atlas and the box of raw materials from Louis Vuitton Parfums.
Press/Louis Vuitton Parfums
The Atlas of Perfumes, Louis Vuitton is presented under three different covers to choose from (lemon, jasmine or rose) and available in English and French. A luxurious limited edition is offered with 45
vials containing the finest extracts of raw materials.
On sale from April 2 in all Louis Vuitton stores, €160 and €5,000 for the exceptional edition.