He made Drake’s favourite scent (supposedly), but he’s not into celebrities (also supposedly)
- Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, whose Baccarat Rouge 540 fragrance is reportedly Drake’s favourite, worked with several famous brands before creating his own
- While he says he does not pay attention to the market and is ‘not into celebrities at all’, he knows Drake’s manager and sent the rapper a bottle of Rouge 540
Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian is the founder of a company owned by LVMH, the largest luxury group in the world, but he doesn’t like to talk about business, or celebrities for that matter (more on that later).
The French fragrance maker of Armenian descent established Maison Francis Kurkdjian 15 years ago after years spent behind the scenes creating scents for brands such as Burberry and Jean Paul Gaultier (he is the mastermind behind Jean Paul Gaultier’s signature Le Male perfume).
Kurkdjian’s brand was instrumental in the rise of so-called “niche fragrances”. The category was created around 20 years ago but soon became oversaturated as newcomers rushed to appeal to customers looking for something different from the perfumes found at Sephora or large department stores.
Kurkdjian believes that his brand should not be defined so much as “niche” but rather “small” when compared with beauty conglomerates that mass-produce fragrances.
“I don’t look at what’s going on in the market,” says Kurkdjian in an interview in Paris. “I only go to department stores and visit my counters and that’s it. We don’t think of our brand as a niche brand; we always say ‘small’ and small is different from niche.”
He is at pains to emphasise that his job is to make beautiful scents that please the senses and says that he leaves all corporate matters to his co-founder, businessman Marc Chaya.