WA perfumer is an expert on creating perfume compositions, sometimes referred to affectionately as a nose due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions. The perfumer is effectively an artist who is trained in depth on the concepts of fragrance aesthetics and who is capable of conveying abstract concepts and moods with compositions. At the most rudimentary level, a perfumer must have a keen knowledge of a large variety of fragrance ingredients and their smells, and be able to distinguish each one alone or in combination with others. They must also know how each reveals itself over time. The job of the perfumer is very similar to that of flavourists, who compose smells and flavourants for commercial food products.
WHenri Alméras was a French perfumer, author, and painter.
WErnest Beaux was a Russian-born French perfumer who is best known for creating Chanel No. 5, which is perhaps the world's most famous perfume.
WRobert Bienaimé was a French perfumer, notable for his work at Houbigant.
WJohn Blocki was one of America's pioneer perfumers. His perfumes and cosmetics were widely sold and his unique presentation earned him a U.S. patent for perfumery packaging. He was well-known in the trade for his leadership and commitment to the advancement of the American perfume industry.
WGermaine Cellier (1909–1976) was a French perfumer. She was known for creating bold, pioneering fragrances such as Fracas and Bandit. Cellier was also one of the first prominent female perfumers, at a time when the industry was dominated by men.
WFrançois Coty was a French perfumer, businessman, newspaper publisher, politician and patron of the arts. During World War I, he became one of the wealthiest men in France. He gained control in 1922 of daily newspaper Le Figaro. To check the growth of French socialism and Communism, he founded two other daily papers in 1928. In later years his wealth was much reduced. The company he founded in 1904 is now Coty, Inc., based in New York City.
WRoja Dove is a British perfumer whose fragrances are sold at department stores worldwide. Born and raised in Sussex, South East England, his career in perfumery began in 1981 when he joined the French perfume house Guerlain, working there for 20 years before leaving to set up his own companies RDPR and then Roja Parfums.
WStephen V. Dowthwaite is an English perfumer, perfumery educator, programmer and writer. He is the founder of PerfumersWorld, a resource for professional perfumers. He is known for developing The ABC's of Perfumery, a comprehensive system of odour classification and perfume creation, and a training course in The Art and Technology of Perfumery.
WJosé Eisenberg, is an Italian entrepreneur.
WGiovanni Maria Farina was an Italian-born perfumier in Germany who created the first Eau de Cologne.
WÉlisabeth de Feydeau, is a French historian and writer. She is also an expert in fragrance.
WOlivia Giacobetti is a French perfumer. She has an independent line called Iunx and has also created fragrances for Diptyque, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Guerlain, and Hermès, among other lines. She is particularly known for a refined style as well as innovation such as her novel use of fig in perfumery, popularizing the note beginning in the mid-1990s. She is among the perfumers who became prominent in a late-20th and early-21st-century turn toward the "nose" behind the scent and independent lines that foreground these creators, a shift away from perfumes sold by fashion labels or celebrities in other fields.
WAzzi Glasser is a British perfume designer. Glasser started her career in 1991, working for CPL Aromas, and went on to start her own companies, Agent Provocateur Parfum Ltd in 1999 INA Crystals in 2007, Family Three in 2001, Bella Freud Parfum in 2013 and The Perfumer's Story, by Azzi Glasser in 2015.
WAdolph Goetting was a German chemist who founded the perfume company "Goetting & Co." The company was later purchased in 1896 by David H. McConnell, where it became part of the California Perfume Company, now called Avon Products. Goetting was in the perfume business for more than 50 years and had a reputation of making the finest perfumes in the United States.
WJacques Edouard Guerlain was a French perfumer, the third and most famous of the Guerlain family. One of the most prolific and influential perfumers of the 20th century, over eighty of Guerlain's perfumes remain known, though certain estimates suggest he composed some four hundred. Among his greatest fragrances are L’Heure Bleue (1912), Mitsouko (1919) and Shalimar (1925). Though his work earned him universal renown, a considerable fortune and honours such as that of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Guerlain avoided public attention, never once granting an interview. As a result, relatively little is known of his creative process or personal life.
WYuri Gutsatz,, was a perfumer. He emigrated to Berlin in 1924 and then to Paris in 1933 where he worked for the Parfums de Mury. After the Second World War, he was hired by Louis Amic at Roure Bertrand Fils and Justin Dupont. As a perfumer, he created many perfumes like Carven Chasse Gardée in 1950. and PM of Mary Quant. He participated in perfume projects for Ungaro and Estee Lauder as well as for Cartier, Dior and Van Cleef & Arpels. On December 12, 1975, he registered the trademark Le Jardin Retrouve and founded the first niche perfume house, a few months before the I'Artisan Parfumeur (1976). Yuri Gutsatz was also a perfume critic and vice president of the Société Française des Parfumeurs, and one of the founders of Osmothèque- the perfume conservatory-, in 1990 with Jean Kerleo.
WLisa Jo Gottsegen Hoffman is an American businesswoman. She is the founder and president of Lisa Hoffman Beauty.
WJean-François Houbigant was a French perfumer who founded the second oldest perfumery in France. He established a modest shop in 1775 at 57 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. He chose a basket of flowers to identify the front of his shop and that emblem will remain the symbol of Houbigant through the years.
WJoanne Lesley Malone CBE is a British perfumer, who is the founder of the companies Jo Malone London and Jo Loves.
WPrince Georges Vasili Matchabelli was a Georgian perfumer. A nobleman and diplomat, he emigrated to the United States after the 1921 Soviet invasion of Georgia.
WDavid Hall McConnell Sr. was an American businessman who was the founder and president of the "California Perfume Company", which then became Avon Products.
WChristine Nagel is a Swiss perfumer. She has served as the in-house perfumer at Hermès since 2016. Prior to joining Hermès she created designer perfume hits like Narciso Rodriguez for Her and Miss Dior Chérie (2005), as well as niche perfume like Wood Sage & Sea Salt, one of 47 perfumes she created for Jo Malone London. She has been recognized with awards from the Fragrance Foundation France, the François Coty Foundation, and the Marie Claire International Fragrance Awards.
WPaul Parquet (1856–1916) was a French perfumer and joint owner of Houbigant. Called the "greatest perfumer of his time" by Ernest Beaux, he is widely regarded as the founder of modern perfumery for having pioneered the use of synthetics in works such as Fougère Royale. His bestselling perfume, Le Parfum Idéal, was described by Robert Bienaimé as a “masterpiece of fragrant equilibrium, harmonious and of good taste as shall never be surpassed”.
WRené Bianchi , commonly known as Maitre Rene, was a perfumer from Florentine who lived on the Pont St Michel. He was the official court perfumer of the queen of France, Catherine de' Medici from at least 1547 onward. He is infamous in history as the alleged poisoner of queen Catherine and was hired by her to use his poisons on enemies she did not wish to kill by sword.
WMaurice Roucel is a contemporary perfumer who has worked at companies IFF, Quest, Dragoco and presently Symrise. Roucel began his career in perfumery on February 19, 1973 while working as the head chromatography chemist at Chanel for 6 years. He commenced his apprenticeship under Henri Robert, Chanel's house perfumer at the time. He joined Quest International and for 12 years developed his craft as a perfumer before switching to work for Symrise in 1996. Most of the fragrances composed by Roucel have his signature scent of Michelia longifolia.
WEdmond Roudnitska (1905–1996) was a French master perfumer and author. He is known for creating perfumes such as Dior's Eau Sauvage and Diorissimo, and Rochas's Femme. Many of his creations are still in production. He was the father of perfumer Michel Roudnitska.
WHelena Rubinstein was a Polish-American businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. A cosmetics entrepreneur, she was the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein Incorporated cosmetics company, which made her one of the world's richest women.
WCaroline Scheufele, born December 14, 1961, in Pforzheim, Germany, is a German business woman. She is the artistic director and co-president of Chopard, the Swiss-based luxury watches and jewellery manufacturer. She is the daughter of Karl and Karin Scheufele, German entrepreneurs who purchased the company in 1963. During the 1980s, Caroline Scheufele expanded the business into the jewelry sector.