Julien Rasquinet

Of our five senses, smell seems to have a direct connection to memories and emotions. Julien believes our olfactory memory is the strongest. "When I think of my childhood memories, the smells come first, associated with the feeling I had, then I see the images, and finally I hear a sound or music," he says. For Julien, our nose is always on the alert; even when we're not paying attention, it imprints sensations on the deepest parts of our brain.

Julien Rasquinet realized quite late, thanks to the intuition of the famous perfumer Pierre Bourdon , that he was destined to create perfumes. From a young age, Julien found creative arts a way to communicate his feelings and thoughts. He loved painting, drawing, designing, and making costumes for theater and puppets. But it wasn't until after graduating from business school that he discovered what would become his passion and profession.

When Pierre Bourdon met Julien, he instinctively recognized his sensitivity and his potential as a perfumer. He offered Julien the opportunity to become his master. During an intensive three-year training program, Pierre shared his creative philosophy, techniques, and passion with him. This encounter with Pierre Bourdon turned Julien's life upside down.

Julien was also fortunate enough to work with Christine Nagel for two years before demonstrating his entrepreneurial spirit by launching his own perfume company. For the past four years, Julien has been creating independently for various international brands.

"The goal of a creation is to evoke an emotion," says Julien. To achieve this, he enjoys evoking personal olfactory memories or creating a story that he carefully translates into music. His creations can be highly figurative or highly abstract, but they always aim to move.

Julien's inspiration always comes from an encounter; whether it's a person, a song, a line in a book, or a place. From these encounters, Julien draws sensations—like textures, colors, and raw materials—that will become the foundation of the story he's created in his mind. "I always take notes when I'm inspired by something, just like an author who takes notes of their daily life to use in their next script," he explains. "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with a new idea I just dreamed up. When this happens, I feel like I have to rush to the lab and create it right away!"

When Julien first traveled to the Middle East, he fell in love with oriental perfumery. He discovered new creative codes, perfumes crafted with intuition and passion. When IFF offered Julien the opportunity to join the Middle East team, he enthusiastically accepted, recognizing all the potential and new challenges the region had to offer.

"I knew I was moving to a region with a very rich perfume history, even older than France's. But if I were to be honest, I didn't expect to fall so deeply in love with the region's unique perfumery."

As soon as Julien boarded the plane, he was struck by unmistakable traces: intense, rich, impactful, distinctive… Far from Dubai, he could already smell the beauty of the Middle East and hear the call of his new life…