Aurélien Guichard

Perfumer

Five years ago, Aurélien Guichard decided to return to Tourette, near Grasse, to carry on the tradition of the seven generations of perfumers who came before him. There, he planted Centifolia roses, uncovering the secrets of the growing business through contact with the men and women who practice this craft: grafters, pruners and harvesters. A long road lay ahead for Aurélien, born in Grasse; raised in Paris by a father who is a perfumer-creator and a mother who is a sculptor, and trained at the Givaudan school of perfumery, from  which he graduated in 1999. “The day I came back was the day I discovered perfumery, and it has become my entire life.”

Fourteen years later, he was hired by Firmenich and then, in May 2018, he joined Takasago. This perfumer-creator divides his time between the city and the countryside with equal pleasure and has an immense desire to share and pass on his expertise.

Karine Dubreuil Sereni

Perfumer

Born in Grasse, Karine Dubreuil-Sereni loves her city and its architecture, the local cuisine, and the wonderful scent-filled gardens of her grandmothers. Karine attended the Roure school of perfumery in Grasse, training there for three years with an appetite  and joy that have never left her. In 1986, she found herself in Paris,  also a milestone, since it was the year when she achieved her dream: learning to sing. A lyric soprano, Karine takes weekly singing lessons, “I couldn’t do without them, they let me breathe.” Next came the golden years at Sanofi, crazy, full of laughter and interesting  projects, followed by Florasynth and in 1994, Drom, “a great experience as we had to build the Parisian subsidiary from scratch”. She then worked for ten years at Mane, where her artistic touch won over Asian consumers: “The delicacy of flowers, a memory of  my childhood in the gardens of Grasse”.

In 2012, Karine set up her company, Vox Profumi, and created a number of fragrances for L’Occitane, among others. In 2015, she  joined the ranks of the Takasago Fine Fragrance studio, which also produces her personal creations. Her first teacher, Jean-Louis Sieuzac, taught her to “simplify formulas and leave out bases”. She still does so today. A confessed formula-freak, she works by olfactory family, in a very structured way. “My formulas have an olfactory legibility they can be read like a melody on a sheet of music.”

Catherine Selig

Perfumer

From an early age, Catherine Selig knew she was going to become a perfumer. She draws her inspiration from her great-grandfather, the Maitre Gantier Parfumeur Meinrad Hilfiger, who headed his Perfume house in Switzerland, creating distinctive, high-quality fragrances in the 19th century for many royal families and influential elites

After discovering and studying her great-grandfather’s formulas book and distillation cabinet, Catherine perfected her own unique art of perfumery through intensive education at France’s best perfumery schools (ISIPCA in Versailles with an internship in Grasse) and subsequent training at Firmenich where she worked for nearly 13 years.

Today, Catherine focuses on creating unique fine fragrances for Takasago that blend her client’s individual tastes with her own creativity, producing one-of-a-kind, luminous scents that inspire the senses and the imaginations of those who wear them.

Steven Claisse

Perfumer

A native of NYC, Steven grew up in the Bronx as a curious student - interested in drawing, art, baking, cooking and building. Initially, he pursued a degree in architecture, but then got a job at the Aramis counter at a department store in the evenings, and less than a year later, got a job as a lab tech at Alpine Aromatics. There he worked in his early 20s for a chief perfumer and started to develop an interest in perfumery.

His interest in perfumery intensified when he received a prestigious apprentice award at ASP and made a trip to France to meet Edmond Roudnitska. A turning point in Steven’s career, this meeting with Roudnitska set him firmly in the direction of perfumery and he dove into the subject with a blind, all-consuming passion to learn more.

Prior to joining Takasago, he has worked at Robertet, Felton, Manhaimer and Belmay. He joined Takasago in 2013, where he continues to share his love for perfumery.

Sylvie Fischer

Perfumer

Sylvie Fischer’s career path is unique: her mother was a perfumer-creator and Sylvie still works for the company that trained her 35 years ago, both of which are very uncommon. Perhaps it was coming into the world on July 14th (France’s Bastille Day) that shaped her destiny. Who knows? Her future had been mapped out, and while a career as a youth court judge might have seemed appealing for a time, her holiday jobs were at Robertet and IFF. Having enrolled at the ISIP after her baccalaureate, she had to come up with a plan B when the perfume school  stopped taking students for three years to become the ISIPCA, which would train students with a baccalaureate certificate, two years of university studies and a degree in a scientific field. The perfumer Pierre Bourdon took her under his wing and  trained her for a year at Takasago. Her second mentor would be none other than  Michel Almairac, who arrived at the company on the same day as Sylvie.

“The two  of them convinced me that I wouId save three years, and they were right. They taught me theory and practice.” The best school there is, without any doubt. That was back in 1982, and Sylvie Fischer is still at Takasago. Fine fragrances are her specialty, but she has also learned to compose fragrances for cosmetics for luxury brands. It is a demanding job, a constant challenge that requires passion  and considerable investment in time, energy and the ability to remain calm, to manage the frustrations that are inherent to this profession that she loves.

Leonardo Lucheze

Perfumer

Born in 1986 in Rio de Janeiro and descendent from Italian grandparents, Leonardo considers himself to be thorough, curious and demanding. He has a very strong connection with his hometown, but loves to travel and to be in touch with nature.

His journey in the world of perfumery began in 2007, as a quality control intern for Mane. In 2013, he began training as a Perfumer, first in Brazil, then in France, where he stayed from 2015 to 2017. In 2020, he decided to enhance his studies and specialized himself in Aromatherapy.

In 2021, Leonardo joined Takasago’s team of perfumers in Brazil, with a focus in fine fragrance creation.

Michelle DeFina

Perfumer

Senior Perfumer Michelle DeFina fell in love with the fragrance industry right after graduating college.  Like many perfumers who began their career in the US, Michelle began in the fragrance industry as a lab technician.  During this time she became fascinated with the process of creating fragrances.   Michelle has extensive cross-category experience and many success stories in home care, personal care, air care and fine fragrance.  As a resident of New Jersey, she is inspired by her fond memories of beachy summer vacations at the shore and her favorite scent is the freshness of the ocean.

Cutler Whitman

Sales

With over 25 years’ experience within the fragrance vertical, including senior positions at Beauty Fashion and Cosmetic World, Fragrance Resources, Mane, IFF and now Takasago International, Cutler, who heads the New York Gallery, focuses on unexpected approaches to customers, operational culture and fragrance development excellence.

“It’s a hybrid fragrance model that’s been designed to pivot and perform unlike any other company in the industry” , he explains.  This approach affords  the Gallery team unparalleled creativity to build new alliances both internally and most importantly with existing and new customers.  It is the Takasago Advantage.

Stéphane Zwaans

Procurement

As far as he can remember, Stéphane has always been fascinated by the science of procurement. “I’m driven by the need to understand supply chains inside-out and get closer to source. Going upstream brings competitive advantages and business opportunities while optimizing costs. I can’t stand throwing money out of the window!”, he quips.

Stéphane started his procurement career 30 years ago in the food industry with Mondelez, where he developed expertise in chocolate/cocoa markets.  In the Ivory Coast, he was one of the first to set up and manage a cocoa sourcing operation upcountry buying directly from local farmers. This was in 2000 for Cargill. Since then, chocolate and sourcing have been a passion. And the perfect introduction for the next logical step in his career…

In 2002, when he went to work for Givaudan, where he was successively Head of Global Fragrance Procurement, Head of Global Procurement and Head of Natural Ingredients Origination, he fell in love with the flavors and fragrance industry. “I’ve never stopped loving the business since”, he says.

Today, Stéphane heads Strategic Procurement Initiatives for Takasago, a position he has held since 2018 and that has taken him from the lavender fields of Provence, where he spearheaded a ground-breaking, 10-year agreement with a leading farmers’ cooperative, to the patchouli harvests of Indonesia.

“There, I had a very good surprise”, he remembers. “I discovered that Takasago had already set up an infrastructure for the procurement and processing of patchouli oil 40 years ago. The most surprising thing is that for three years I was very regularly in Indonesia for sourcing raw materials, without ever being aware of Takasago’s pioneering presence! It’s true that discretion is part of the Japanese character…”

During his tenure, Stéphane has successfully led high performing global procurement organizations and transformational procurement projects such as post M&A integrations, and strategic supplier alliances.

He has a passion for development and sourcing of unique natural ingredients in countries of origin. He was an early adopter of supply chain backward integration. Not only to master costs, supply, quality, but more importantly to weather the ever increasing climatic, social, and economic storms and address consumer’s expectations for improved traceability and sustainability.

Originally from the French Alps, Stephane and his family traveled the world. He designed, implemented, managed natural ingredients sourcing and manufacturing operations in Western Africa, Madagascar, and South-East Asia. He relentlessly strives to position Takasago Procurement as the partner of choice of farmers, creation, sales, and marketing teams. Amongst other strategic project he runs for Corporate Procurement, Stéphane is currently in charge of deploying “TaSuKI”, Takasago’s natural ingredient sustainable sourcing and manufacturing capabilities in countries of origin.

“Understanding and managing natural ingredients sourcing means having an open, constructive, well-balanced, and fair dialogue with producers. This is a prerequisite to establish long term mutual benefits. The times of short-term tactical gains is over.

Pierre Bongert-Marlier

Evaluation

It was while studying chemistry at the University of Versailles that Pierre Bongert-Marlier, who initially wanted to become a photographer, discovered his chosen career path, after attending a talk by a fragrance evaluator.  “I immediately recognized myself in the job, because I love human contact. Working as part of a team is very important to me.  Interacting with marketing, perfumers, sales, consumer analysts and our clients: it’s like being in the core of the reactor of a project. You can appreciate all the different perspectives.”

While attending Isipca, Pierre joined L’Oréal in 2010 as a trainee fragrance evaluator for line extensions of prestige projects. A two-year stint at Firmenich as a Junior Fragrance Development Manager (2012-2014) allowed him to work on niche perfumes for the L’Oréal portfolio, with wins for brands such as Armani/Privé, Lancôme, Maison Margiela or Yves Saint Laurent .

It was in 2015 that Pierre was hired by Takasago. For three years, he worked as a Creative Group Fragrance Manager, in charge of American prestige and masstige projects, as well as prestige European accounts at Coty and Shiseido.  “I love products”, Pierre says. “I love the world of brands, immersing myself in their olfactory identity, parsing and analyzing markets.”

Three years later, in 2017, he was named Fine Fragrance Category Manager, developing fragrances for global accounts in close collaboration with perfumers, developing proactive creative strategies, identifying future trends, working with Japan on research on future ingredients, managing the company’s global internal fragrance library…

“It’s a position where you can express your creativity”, Pierre explains. “You’re there to support perfumers, to challenge them, and help them surpass themselves. You can infuse some style into the project, archive ideas… It’s a very important dimension of the job for me.”

As a Millennial, Pierre believes his management style reflects his generation’s values: caring, gender equality, work/life balance… Within his team, he focuses on developing each evaluator’s specific strengths.

Among the wins he is most proud of, Pierre names Narciso Eau de Parfum Ambrée for Narciso Rodriguez, by Aurélien Guichard. “It’s a magnificent brand. We were very driven by the intention, the vision, and the taste of the designer, because Aurélien knows him so well.  The note, based on ylang, tiaré and amber, is absolutely sublime, infinitely couture, ultra-qualitative. To my mind, it’s in the tradition of the great icons of perfumery.”

Sylvain Eyraud

Marketing

“I am a brand lover. A beauty lover. A fragrance lover. And a storyteller.” That is how Sylvain Eyraud defines himself with very Mediterranean warmth and enthusiasm. Communicating the world of perfumery, of houses, know-hows, and the stories of the men and women who carry them, is his passion.

Hired by Takasago in Paris in 2017, Sylvain has a 360° vision of the world of perfumery. He has driven change both within brands and within a composition house.

A challenge he met with success at Puig as France Marketing and Communication Director from 2013 to 2017. In this position, he brought together, for the first time, operational marketing, media and digital, press relations and retail. He developed the premium operational strategy with Prada, Valentino and Comme des Garçons, as well as integrating Jean-Paul Gaultier within the portfolio and successfully launching Invictus by Paco Rabanne.

From 2008 to 2013, at L’Oréal, as a Global Fragrance Axis Director for Giorgio Armani Parfums, he developed the Italian house’s strongest feminine offering, the blockbuster Sí Eau de Parfum fronted by Cate Blanchett. He completely redefined the niche offer and global strategy of Armani/Privé, pushed further the worldwide masculine pillars of the brand, Acqua di Gio and Armani Code, and revived the house’s heritage through the mythical Eau pour Homme embodied by Mr. Armani himself.

“Today at Takasago, I see my mission as transforming from the inside a challenger with a leading position in Asia, identifying its strong suits, its key differentiators, to make them bloom and make them known”, he says.

Part of the challenge consists in bridging the gap between the world of brands and the world of perfumery. Between designers or creators and perfumers. In getting them to speak the same language.

To Takasago, Sylvain believes he has brought a connection between the raw, natural world and its sustainable ingredients and the world of perfumers. But also a vision for the future of fragrance and beauty, nourished by the house’s partnership with major trend agencies and external consultants. For him, one cannot go without the other. His motto? “Hands in the earth, eyes to the stars.”