{"id":5,"date":"2026-04-26T03:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/?p=5"},"modified":"2026-05-04T15:21:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:21:55","slug":"everything-i-cannot-say-with-words-i-put-into-perfume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/2026\/04\/26\/everything-i-cannot-say-with-words-i-put-into-perfume\/","title":{"rendered":"FRANCIS KURKDJIAN: \u201cEverything I cannot say with words, I put into perfume.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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It was in Christian Dior\u2019s own gardens, at the heart of Ch\u00e2teau de La Colle Noire, that we met Francis Kurkdjian. In Montauroux, among cypress trees, olive groves, and golden light, this Proven\u00e7al estate, acquired by Dior in 1951, was conceived as a refuge, a territory of silence and inspiration. Carefully restored by the House of Dior in the 2010s, it now welcomes creators in search of suspended time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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For Francis Kurkdjian, a perfume is a narrative.\u00a0\u201cI express stories. Everything I can\u2019t say with words or images, I put into perfume,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he confides. A statement that sets the tone: the perfumer does not begin with emotion, but with an internal narrative.\u00a0\u201cEmotion comes later. Story always comes first. If you don\u2019t know what you want to say, you drift, waste time, and it goes up in smoke.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0For him, creation is a quest: the pursuit of a fantasized fragrance. \u201cEach trial is like a recipe. And each time, you think it might be the one. But if it\u2019s not right, you start again. There\u2019s a kind of hope in every formula.\u201d And that search can last a long time\u2026 A very long time.\u00a0\u201cYou can chase an idea for months.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>During these creative phases, Francis Kurkdjian admits to entering a nearly obsessive, almost reclusive state.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t see many people, I\u2019m vulnerable. I love that phase, but it demands effort. Otherwise, it can become chaos at home\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Asked about the link between fragrance and architecture, Francis Kurkdjian responds with nuance. Yes, there are structures, balances, lines of force.\u00a0\u201cBut you can\u2019t be too literal. A perfume belongs to an olfactory family, just as architecture belongs to a style. Leather, for example, is a theme in itself in the history of perfume.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Leather is precisely at the heart of his latest creation for Dior\u2019s Collection Priv\u00e9e. Cuir Saddle, inspired by the House\u2019s iconic bag designed by John Galliano for the Spring-Summer 2000 collection, explores a new kind of sensuality:\u00a0\u201cI wanted a morphological leather, one that clings to the skin like a continuation of the body. The most beautiful perfumes, for me, are those that die at the nape of someone\u2019s neck. The ones you can no longer distinguish from the skin. They make you believe it\u2019s the skin itself that smells.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Cuir Saddle is thus composed with a leather note that melts into the pores, as close as possible to the intimate.<\/p>\n\n

This creation follows a remarkable path. Francis Kurkdjian has been Dior\u2019s Director of Fragrance Creation since October 2021, succeeding Fran\u00e7ois Demachy. He is also the founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian, launched in 2009 with Marc Chaya, and a pioneer of niche perfumery. From the beginning, he introduced the concept of bespoke fragrance, a then-radical approach that affirmed a deeply personal vision of perfume: more intimate, more narrative, freer. In his Dior atelier in Paris, spacious and serene, he embraces a certain comfort. The setting matters. And some places, like La Colle Noire castle, add an even more personal dimension. It is there, in Montauroux, at the countryside home Christian Dior acquired in 1951, that we met him. Restored by the House in the 2010s, this place is much more than a Proven\u00e7al retreat.<\/p>\n\n

It is a manifesto. Dior himself wrote in his memoirs:\u00a0\u201cI dreamed of one day living in a true Proven\u00e7al country house, surrounded by cypresses and olive trees.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Francis Kurkdjian enjoys spending time in this sun-drenched and tranquil setting, gently punctuated by the sound of cicadas, and still imbued with the designer\u2019s protective presence. Just as exacting in language as in composition, he pushes back against terms he finds disrespectful:\u00a0\u201cThe word \u2018juice\u2019 (the French slang often used to describe a fragrance, ed.) is simply unacceptable. You wouldn\u2019t call a book a rag. A perfume is a creation.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0He likewise resists being reduced to a mere \u2018nose\u2019:\u00a0\u201cI am a thinking being. I compose; I don\u2019t just sniff.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Nor does he identify with the label \u201cmaster perfumer\u201d:\u00a0\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean anything. It\u2019s not like a MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France). There\u2019s no official diploma. I\u2019m a perfume composer. That suits me just fine.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Creating also means working with materials:\u00a0\u201cLemon lasts 20 minutes. Vanilla, hours. You have to juggle those constraints. Like an architect with stone, a couturier with fabric, or a musician with an orchestra.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Paris, of course, remains a cornerstone.\u00a0\u201cI always wanted to live there. As a child, I watched the city pass by through the window of my father\u2019s DS. Rue de Rivoli, the Seine, the \u00cele de la Cit\u00e9\u2026It was a dream.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0But when asked to create a scent inspired by a city, he draws a clear line:\u00a0\u201cThe smell of a city doesn\u2019t mean anything. Paris is as much the 8th arrondissement as it is the 13th or 19th. You can\u2019t reduce it to a single note.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>And does he wear perfume himself?\u00a0\u201cNever. I don\u2019t like it. I love creating them. I wear them when I\u2019m working, to test. But otherwise, no.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>As for his grooming routine?\u00a0\u201cJust hot water. My dermatologist told me 25 years ago to stop using soap. I listened.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Beneath this precision and conviction lies a touch of anxiety: the fear of failure, of disappointing. Yet that pressure never stops him from believing in the power of perfume.\u00a0\u201cCan a scent comfort? Move you? Yes, absolutely. It can be the scent of someone you love. Of someone who\u2019s no longer here. That alone is a story.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>And with Francis Kurkdjian, each perfume begins as just that: a story, shaped in the silence of a studio, somewhere between memory and architecture, in the shadows of the skin.<\/p>\n

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