Dissonance, Roughness and Coincidences

"I make perfumes and I like it. I am naturally cheerful and one of my assets remains boldness." Anne-Sophie Behaghel Anne-Sophie Behaghel is a perfumer and business developer at Flair Paris, an independent fragrance studio. She has also previously worked with prestigious fragrance companies such as Symrise and Firmenich. Anne-Sophie's fascination with perfume began during her apprenticeship at Cinquième Sens, a company specialising in the creation of fragrances and the training of brands and suppliers in the field of scented products. In 2013, Anne-Sophie and Amelie Bourgeois founded "Flair Paris", where they have since worked closely with laboratories such as Be Have, Elixens, Firmenich, IFF and Mane to create fragrances for various brands. Anne-Sophie's fragrances are often described as delicate, subtle and poetic. She approaches each project with academic rigour, but is always a little bit of a poet at heart. Her work reflects her passion for natural raw materials, which she believes should be more valued and respected. Trained by Monique Schlienger at the Cinquième Sens school, Anne-Sophie Behaghel has, since her first formulas, preferred abrasive molecules that clash with the typical floral or woody. "I have always had a passion for abstract synthetic ingredients that I knew would allow me to invent unique fragrances," she says. Rather than looking for the calm harmony that a perfume composer always strives for, she prefers dissonance, roughness and coincidences that can create surprises. To achieve her goals, she shows courage in the bold overdose of chemical molecules that she combines with the noblest, natural ingredients such as rose, jasmine, patchouli or vetiver. After her time at two major perfume companies, Firmenich and Symrise, she knows better than anyone how commercial demands can undermine creativity and often lead to severe limitations. One of her main concerns when setting up her own studio was therefore to create a counter-model to the large Swiss or Anglo-Saxon laboratories. The idea was to offer brands unconventional fragrances in which the strange meets the classic. 

Four questions for Anne-Sophie Behaghel

1. 1. 1. Perfumer, a calling? To live up to the clichés: yes. It is the meaning behind everything that has guided me the most since I was little. Growing up in Paris, a city of hot streets and crowded public transport, I was a curious child who observed everything around me. So I realized very early on that I wanted to be a "nose". Amélie (my friend) quickly joined me in my training.
   2. 2. Your favorite scent combination? Hemp and, of course, musk. Hemp is a plant used in perfumery as an extracted essential oil obtained from the seeds and stem. It is often used as a base note to add depth and warmth to perfumes. Musk is originally an animal ingredient derived from the scent gland of the male musk deer, a small animal native to Asia. Today, most musk fragrances used in perfumery are synthetic and designed to mimic the sensual, musky scent of the natural ingredient.
   3. 3. Your perfect combination in perfumery? I think it's Amélie Bourgeois my partner and me as a perfume because I consider her my ideal accomplice.
      4. Where do you find inspiration? Most of the time, I am inspired by people: their smiles, their gestures and facial expressions, the way they look at others and their lifestyle. I like to give free rein to the sensations and emotions that a fragrance conveys. I can explore and shape unexplained olfactory territories to create unique scents that will hopefully captivate the noses of those who smell them. 

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