Perfumer’s word: Sophie Labbé

Who or what most influenced you to become a perfumer?

It all started when I read an article in Jacinte magazine highlighting the profession of perfumer and mentioning a school, Isipca. My family is not at all from the perfume industry and when I discovered this profession, I wanted to enroll at ISIPCA and meet perfumers. That was in 1985. I simply called Jean Patou, to meet one of the biggest fashion and perfume houses of the time, and Mr. Jean Kerléo. It was a decisive meeting. I discovered his universe. He made me smell ingredients and shared with me all the facets of his job. I told myself that this was exactly what I wanted to do. Later on, I took the competitive exam for the perfume school in Versailles, ISIPCA, and I found Jean Kerléo who was then president of the admission jury!

How do you work on a new perfume ?

First, there is a meeting with the designer, a brand manager or a marketing team. They will give us the inspiration through a brief. I then develop the creative idea that interprets the story and bring it to life through a perfume. The exchanges with the teams are crucial to understand the brand’s values and desires. As a perfumer, my role is to listen and create what they imagine while adding my own touch. It is important to think out of the box and suggest innovative ideas. I like to collaborate and also to surprise. I try not to be where I am expected to be in order to propose a strong and different olfactory idea.

What are your other great passions besides perfume ?

I love to travel, garden and read. I read much more than I did a few years ago. My favorite author is Aki Shimazaki, a Japanese-born author who now lives in Canada and writes in French. Her stories are very short but very powerful emotionally, with multiple points of view, about life and love. I like the titles she chooses for her books, they are always related to nature, to flowers or plants and it touches me. I wish I could write, it has always fascinated me to find the right word, the sentence generating emotion.

During your career, you had the opportunity to change compounding houses several times. Did you need to readjust to their ingredient palettes ?

Changing palettes is actually something that gives me a boost of inspiration. When I discover a new ingredient, whether it’s natural or synthetic, it opens up new possibilities, it’s like a Christmas gift ! That’s something I really liked when I arrived at Firmenich, discovering all these new ingredients from research, exclusive molecules, natural ones, and also innovative tools, like the EcoScent Compass application. This digital tool allows us to track our ingredients, their environmental and human impact. It opens up new possibilities in terms of olfaction and eco-responsibility. And of course, discovering a new team and collaborating with new perfumers is also very stimulating.