INDEPENDENT PERFUMER
It is in the heart of the Parc Naturel Régional des Volcans
Chandler Burr
Critique Parfum of the New York Times will write in the mid-2000s, on 02 Coze:
“How a young French chemist concocted Europe’s coolest new fragrance…”
“
The perfume is a wonderful self-enhancer,
it is the artistic expression of a scientific discipline
combining technique and poetry.
02 COZE:
the brand's origins
Fascinated by odors and then perfumes, from an early age, Pierre GUILLAUME grew up in a family of chemists and collected essential oils and fragrant materials from childhood, a prelude to what would become, years later, his real organ of perfumer. He’s a young chemist barely 25 years old when he tries to reproduce the smell of his father’s cigar cellar.
This Spicy-Tobacco named 02 Coze agreement built on the famous Epicene-Gamma base (a mixture of chili, cloves and nutmeg) was quickly spotted by the Critics who popularized it in the perfume blogosphere and with professional buyers around the corner of the planet in the early 2000s.
Independence
In 2010, the PIERRE GUILLAUME DIFFUSION company was created and internally equipped with a production tool including a composition studio, a raw material cellar and a packaging line entirely dedicated to the manufacture of perfumes designed by Pierre GUILLAUME.
A second workshop is inaugurated in 2015, to support the growth of the company.
Pierre GUILLAUME creates and manufactures his perfumes in total creative and financial freedom in his own workshops, under the brand that bears his name, which are broadcast in a network of nearly 400 points in 37 countries.
today and tomorrow
Offer a contemporary, inventive, poetic and wearable perfumery. Always master the design and internalized manufacturing to guarantee high quality products at realistic prices. To be a force for proposals for our loyal customers, to constantly renew themselves to never tire, innovate and produce in a reasoned, clean and sustainable way. Growing through the satisfaction of the women and men who wear and talk about our fragrances. Develop customer after customer, without overworking and staying true to our values, because reputation goes up the stairs and down through the elevator!
At PIERRE GUILLAUME PARIS, we only make perfume… and it’s already a lot.
Interview - Technikart Magazine #284
PIERRE GUILLAUME “at the service of a fragrance...”
In 2023, you took possession of a new Manufacture in Auvergne. Is the House preparing to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2025? Pierre GUILLAUME: Yes, our new factory is a hybrid facility housing the administration, design studio, production units, logistics and a boutique. Delayed by the pandemic, this project has finally been completed, allowing us to adapt our production capacity to our growth.
Your new site has been designed as a life-size work of art. Is it important to be able to create in an attractive setting? Considering the amount of time we spend in the workplace, I’m inclined to say that it’s better to choose your colleagues than your spouse or partner – and better to choose your office chair than the sofa in your living room. Working in a well-designed and well-tended environment is a comfort for our teams and our customers. The brand has a collection of contemporary art, which was launched in its first year of existence, so visitors can also discover the works.
When we walk through the doors of your manufacture’s boutique, we come face to face with a bronze wolf cub, a sculpture by Roland Cognet. Your boutiques are more like art galleries than shops… I like to think and design my shops around a work of art, particularly an animal totem pole. Beyond the design, each of our stores is tinged with the personality of these ‘bronze guardians’. Symbolically, their presence gives you the feeling of arriving at someone’s home and calls for a certain contemplation and attention. This creates the right conditions for an olfactory experience.
Is this factory your way of opening up? Above all, to open up our backstage area. Architecturally speaking, it’s a place designed to welcome a large number of customers, both professionals and private individuals. It’s a bit of a novelty for me, because I’m not someone who opens up a lot, especially not professionally.
It’s true, you are discreet… Nine years ago, I thanked our Press Officer and hid behind my products, concentrating on an exclusive dialogue with my customers. My personality is inevitably reflected in my creations, there’s no need to add to it. My customers aren’t interested in my life, but they are in my fragrances.
Your premises are located in Auvergne. Is it a special place for haute parfumerie? Not at all, but you can compose and create perfumes anywhere, and Auvergne is my native land, where I find my equilibrium and a quality of life I can’t do without. The Auvergne is home to many subcontractors in the French luxury industry: leather goods, jewellery, Hermès has just opened a second production unit. The jeweller Van Cleef et Arpels has also chosen to set up here.
“Discretion” being the watchword? Yes, it’s a value that’s deeply rooted in the local culture and goes hand in hand with luxury craftsmanship.
A life far removed from Paris… Paris is a city that remains fascinating despite the more or less prosperous times, and when I haven’t been back for a long time, I start to love it all over again. To have the privilege of being able to enjoy the best of both worlds, to appreciate it, to leave it, to come back is in itself a real luxury… And then to miss it is one of the driving forces behind pleasure.
And what would you say is the greatest lesson learnt in a career spanning twenty years? Perfumery is a discipline of continuous learning. You learn new things every day. You get stuck on a technical difficulty for years, thinking that ‘it’s not possible without a new molecule’, and then one fine day, a combination of known and classic ingredients in different proportions and the miracle of the balance of forces and chemistry appears. Like the bottom of the ocean, perfumery is a territory of which only a tiny part has been explored.
What is your relationship with current olfactory trends? To find an audience, a designer has to find the right balance between the trend and the zeitgeist and his or her own universe. As an independent house, if you systematically follow the flow, you’re bound to get heckled. Conversely, going retro gets you nowhere. Tempo is everything. Take a step aside and create fragrances that are narrative, contemporary, sincere and above all wearable, and there will always be someone who appreciates your work and will buy it.
How do you react when you recognise one of your fragrances in the street? So the first time, I cried. I’m always touched when I see someone getting dressed up to go to a club or restaurant wearing one of my creations. I tell myself that maybe they’ll experience something cool with a bit of my work… That’s what this job is all about.
THE INFLUENCES
The artists who inspire Pierre GUILLAUME are legion. Top 3
TAMARA DE LEMPICKA
“A short but shimmering chromatic palette, canvases composed like logos that make an irrevocable impression on the retina, architectural bodies, powerful and often erotic. Transposed to olfaction, it’s a coded manifesto for young perfumers.”
GIACOMETTI
“He sculpted his subjects in their distant appearance, posture and movement. These figures have become ‘signs of the human’ that are understood everywhere and by everyone. A look at fragility too.”
ROLAND COGNET
“I’m particularly taken with Roland’s eye, and it would be simplistic to define him as an animal sculptor. Cognet doesn’t try to reproduce the animal’s features or silhouette; he freezes the animal’s presence in bronze. His bestiary observes us as we admire it.”
Pictures speak louder than words...
watch some interviews with Pierre GUILLAUME
