Camille Goutal

A Life in Perfumery

Every moment I spent with my mother is connected with a scent.

Camille Goutal

Camille was born in 1975 to Annick Goutal (in Japanese), who had not yet established her fragrance house, and a father who loved collecting antiques.

After studying literature at the École du Louvre, she completed courses in art, photography, and design and began working as a photographer. Her mother Annick was happy for her to pursue a life in photography, and Camille had no intention of taking over the company.

When her mother Annick died in 1999, Camille felt that “if someone else takes over, the spirit of the brand will change.” She decided to continue the house together with Isabelle Doyen (in Japanese), who had composed fragrances alongside her mother. Camille was only 24 at the time.

I was only 24 when my mother died. It was then that Isabelle taught me how to make perfume. When I turned 27, I stopped working as a photographer and was able to devote all my time to the company.

Camille Goutal

In 2006, Camille released her first perfume, Songes.

She has two daughters, aged 19 and 22 as of 2022. Isabelle’s children are close in age, so the two women also seem to be good friends as fellow mothers.

My mother and I make perfume in the same way, but of course we are different people, so our tastes differ. My mother loved all kinds of roses (in Japanese), whereas I prefer white flowers. I therefore like simple materials and straightforward formulas, while my mother sometimes preferred a softer, more delicate approach.

Camille Goutal

Goutal Reborn

When my mother was creating perfumes with Isabelle, the brand was called “Annick Goutal,” so it was perfectly logical for customers to mention only my mother’s name. But when I began working with Isabelle, I felt uncomfortable with people thinking that I had made the perfumes when she was the one creating the scents.

Camille Goutal

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In 2011, Starwood Capital sold Annick Goutal to Amorepacific. At around this time, William Bouheret and Anne-Cécile Vidal, who went on to found Parfums de la Bastide (in Japanese), were directors at Annick Goutal.

In 2018, the name was changed from Annick Goutal to Goutal Paris as part of a rebranding.

At the first stage, we asked outside consultants to identify the house’s strengths and advantages. It was good to establish early on which of those we needed to focus on. At the next stage, we analyzed ways of expressing the brand’s strengths, through words and design, for example, and commissioned designers and illustrators.

Without thinking about marketing at all, we thoroughly examined what gave us our individuality and made us unique. When considering the brand name, we even had the origins of “GOUTAL” and the impression created by its sound researched.

Camille Goutal

I think our customers fall into two groups. One is made up of very feminine, sensitive women who like classic things. The other consists of very fashion-conscious, artistic, cheerful women. The feminine women like delicate scents, while the stylish ones like something different from everyone else, something of high quality with a story behind it.

Camille Goutal

The Challenge of a New Brand

In 2020, Camille and Isabelle introduced a new brand, separate from Goutal Paris, called Voyages Imaginarires. It is a 100% natural perfume brand that uses only natural fragrance materials (in Japanese) and organic wheat alcohol.

Scent is very personal. That is why I always tell our saleswomen never to say no when a customer thinks there is a particular ingredient in a perfume. First, you cannot know what is happening in that person’s mind. Second, even though there are actually 30 to 50 fragrance materials in it, even sales staff are only told about five of the principal ones. Some customers are very good at identifying what is in a perfume. When you talk about perfume, you can never be wrong.

Camille Goutal