Hellenist: Welcome to the Temple of Memories

“Greece is a temple. And Hellenist is a temple of memories.”

— Jean-David Jacoby, founder

Essential Information
The Founder and the Origins of the Brand
What Defines the Brand
The Fragrance Lineup
1. The Mythology Collection
2. The Mystical Landscapes Collection
By the Way…

Essential Information

Founded: 2024
Founder: Jean-David Jacoby
Official website: https://hellenistparfums.com

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

A Summer on Santorini at the Age of Six

It all began with a boy’s memories.

In the late 1980s, six-year-old Jean-David Jacoby visited the Greek island of Santorini with his family. Cycladic architecture with its dazzling contrasts of white and blue, the clear waters of the Aegean, and the stories of Greek mythology his father told him in bed at night: the experience left a deep impression on his young mind.

“My journey with Greece began when I was six. On a family holiday, I fell in love with the place, its culture, and the myths my father told me. It really became something central to my upbringing.”

— Jean-David Jacoby, in an interview with The Perfume Guy

Jacoby’s love of Greece only grew deeper. He went on to visit every year for around 15 years, traveling to at least 20 islands in the Dodecanese, Sporades, and Cyclades.

Twenty Years in the Luxury Industry

With his passion for Greece close to his heart, Jacoby pursued a career in the luxury and fragrance industry. He held senior positions at major groups including L’Oréal, LVMH, and Google. At the fragrance company Symrise in particular, he took on a hybrid role combining evaluator, responsible for assessing and selecting fragrances, with commercial director, working on projects for Coty, Escada, and Calvin Klein, among others.

“At Symrise, while I was deeply involved in evaluation, I also made a point of having a say in creative direction. For someone setting up a brand, that experience was truly important.”

— Jean-David Jacoby

Throughout at least 20 years in the industry, Jacoby kept returning to one question: “There are hardly any brands devoted to Greece in the world of high perfumery. Why has no one created one?”

The Birth of the Brand: Two Years of Development and a 2024 Launch

As an answer to that question, Jacoby began developing Hellenist around 2022. Drawing on his network of French perfumers, he built careful collaborations with perfumers at Symrise. Jacoby himself reportedly set the direction of the fragrances as creative director, briefing each perfumer with a thorough understanding of their preferred materials and fragrance libraries.

On July 8, 2024, Hellenist finally made its debut at the Appartement Étoile in Paris, a space with the Arc de Triomphe directly in view. Twelve journalists and at least 30 beauty influencers attended the launch, where perfumers and the artist Carlo Amen joined Jacoby onstage.

According to the brand’s explanation, the name “Hellenist” means “people living in the Hellenistic period who were not of Greek ancestry but spoke Greek and chose a Greek way of life.” Jacoby himself is French and has no Greek roots. Yet that is precisely why the word also reflects who he is.

Hellenist presents itself as a brand “made in France, dedicated to Greece.”

“I’m not Greek. But the first thing people always ask me is, ‘Are you Greek?’ That says it all.”

— Jean-David Jacoby

A “Return” to Greece

On May 18, 2025, the brand held its official Greek launch event in Athens. The venue was the rooftop terrace of the Woo Suites hotel. Laurence Auer, the French ambassador to Greece, also attended to celebrate a brand bringing together French savoir-faire and the Greek spirit.

That evening, Jacoby is said to have welcomed guests not simply as an entrepreneur, but as a “storyteller.”

“Hellenist is an ode to identity. To the soul of Greece. To fragrances born of memory, light, and myth.”

— Jean-David Jacoby, at the Athens launch event

What Defines the Brand

The Philosophy of Scent: A “Temple of Memories”

What Hellenist seeks to express through fragrance is the theme of “Time Continuity.” The myths, heroes, and landscapes of ancient Greece form a “collective memory” that shaped our childhood imaginations. By summoning that memory through scent, the brand hopes to give wearers a “sense of eternity,” as though time has stopped. This is its “Temple of Memories” concept.

In interviews, Jacoby also touches on the origins of the word “perfume.”

“Greece is actually the country that invented perfume. The ancient Greeks first used scent to connect with the gods. By burning incense and letting its smoke rise into the heavens, they sought to communicate with the gods.”

— Jean-David Jacoby

This brand narrative, which regards ancient Greece as a point of origin, also connects directly to the philosophy of the candle line. Drawing on the derivation of the word “perfume” from the Latin “per fumum,” meaning “through smoke,” the brand positions the very act of lighting a candle as a re-creation of an ancient ritual.

In his approach to fragrance, Jacoby places importance on remaining faithful to the standards of high perfumery. For example, rather than using the synthetic molecules often found in aquatic fragrances, the so-called “marine molecules of the 1980s,” he works with perfumers to pursue formulas focused on natural materials and ingredients from the Mediterranean.

Bottles and Packaging: The Rustic Beauty of the Mediterranean

Jacoby’s guiding concept is “Slow and Quiet Luxury.” Its philosophy of valuing substance rather than showing off is also reflected in the choice of materials. Simple, high-quality materials such as paper, wood, glass, and ceramic are used, and the bottles are shaped with rounded corners and gentle curves. The design gives tangible form to a “respect for nature.”

The bottle labels feature artwork by Mediterranean artist Carlo Amen. His style is described as “neo-cubist”: flat outlines, lines, and depictions of faces have a simple yet contemporary character. Through its collaboration with Carlo Amen, Hellenist deliberately positions itself as an heir to the great Mediterranean artists “Fassianos, Picasso, Miró, and Cocteau.”

A Commitment to Mediterranean Sustainability

The origins of the materials also align with the brand’s world. Its fragrances use carefully selected natural materials from Mediterranean countries including France, Italy, Greece, and Spain. Everything from the bottle glass and paper to the caps is manufactured in countries around the Mediterranean, with environmental considerations incorporated through choices such as FSC-certified paper and upcycled and recyclable materials.

The Fragrance Lineup

Hellenist’s fragrances are broadly divided into two lines.

The Mythology Collection

The collection comprises five eaux de parfum inspired by the heroes and gods of Greek mythology or by ancient stories. Each fragrance depicts a mythological scene or setting through scent, with something of the character of “mythological literature” read through the nose.

Le Chant d’Achille / The Song of Achilles
Perfumer: Alexandra Carlin
Floral & musky. Inspired by the novel of the same name published in 2011 by American author Madeline Miller, known in Japanese as “Akireusu no Uta.” Centered on the story of Achilles and his lover Patroclus, it unfolds through neroli, geranium, and musk imbued with the sun and salt of the Trojan War. According to Jacoby, “We treated neroli and orange blossom in a very original way. Rather than sweetness or innocence, there is a mineral quality, saltiness, and even a sexual aspect. It’s almost a fragrance with two sides.”

À l’ombre d’Artémis / In the Shade of Artemis
Perfumer: Suzy Le Helley
Woody & fruity. A fragrance depicting the air before dawn in the sacred forest where Artemis, goddess of hunting and nature, lives in seclusion. The green freshness of fig leaves, a symbol of the Mediterranean, takes the lead, intertwined with blackcurrant and rose. It uses materials obtained through Symrise’s proprietary “SymTrap” extraction technology, along with ambrette, an expensive botanical material with a musky scent, and is distinguished by a naturalness that seems to melt into the skin. Suzy Le Helley has attracted attention as a young talent and also created Acne Studios par Frédéric Malle for Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle.

Les Bras de Morphée / In the Arms of Morpheus
Perfumer: Suzy Le Helley
Ambery & powdery. Dedicated to Morpheus, the god of dreams and sleep, this fragrance has been received so well that it could be described as Hellenist’s first bestseller. It moves from top notes of violet leaf, peach, and heliotrope to a heart of orris (iris), violet, and hazelwood, then a base of vanilla, tonka bean, and Cashmeran. Jacoby says of the fragrance, “Combining iris and violet can easily produce something vintage, but here the base of vanilla, hazelnut, and tonka bean creates just the right degree of addictiveness.” It was selected as a finalist in the “Best Niche Fragrance from a Brand Less Than Five Years Old” category at the Fragrance Foundation Awards France 2025, also known as the FiFi Awards France 2025.

Les Dieux aux Bains / The Gods at Their Bath
Perfumer: Pierre-Constantin Guéros
Aquatic & sensual. Inspired by a secluded natural waterside setting in Cyprus known as the “Baths of Aphrodite.” The turquoise pool, said to be where Aphrodite, goddess of love, and Adonis made love, is expressed through the crisp aromatic notes of juniper berry, eucalyptus, and rosemary, together with the sensuality of a patchouli fraction, whose earthy character is restrained by using the top fraction, and Ambroxan.

La Nuit des 300 / The Night of the 300
Perfumer: Maurice Roucel
Sensual & magnetic (released in 2025). The fifth and latest fragrance, inspired by two stories from ancient Greece: the 300 Spartan warriors at the Battle of Thermopylae and the Sacred Band of Thebes. The Sacred Band is said to have been the strongest unit made up of soldiers who were lovers. Sensual musks and aromatic notes depict the warmth and tension of “souls drawing close to each other on the eve of battle.”

“The story of the Sacred Band reminded me of the story of the 300 at Thermopylae. Warriors arm in arm, soldiers filled with courage and desire. I wanted to capture that mingling of metal and skin. The sight of armor glowing in the colors of dusk as the mountains release the day’s heat. That was the starting point for this fragrance.”

— Maurice Roucel, perfumer

As the perfumer himself describes it, this aromatic fougère fragrance develops from top notes of bergamot and artemisia (wormwood), through an aromatic heart of lavender and tonka bean, to a “second-skin” base of Muscenone, patchouli, and sandalwood.

The Mystical Landscapes Collection

A collection offered as a candle line, re-creating mythic Mediterranean landscapes through scent. It includes Figuier Sacré (Sacred Fig Tree), Lavande Olympe (Olympian Lavender), and Moissons Célestes (Heavenly Harvests). According to the brand, the act of lighting a candle is conceived as a return to the origins of fragrance in “per fumum,” or “through smoke”: a ritual for connecting with the gods.

By the Way…

The choice of the word “Hellenist” The brand name “Hellenist” is an English word, but in French the initial h is not pronounced, producing something closer to “ell-en-ist.” In an interview, Jacoby explains with a laugh, “In English it’s Hellenist, in French it’s elléniste.” His way of speaking leaves an impression of light self-deprecation mixed with pride in calling himself a “Hellenist” despite being neither of Greek descent nor a specialist in ancient Greek.

A background at Symrise Jacoby’s background at Symrise has also influenced his selection of perfumers. Several members of the perfumery team have connections with the Symrise Perfumery School, while Maurice Roucel, who created La Nuit des 300, is also a mentor to perfumer Alexandra Carlin. Suzy Le Helley names both Annick Ménardo and Maurice Roucel as mentors. It is fascinating to see the industry’s “circles of mentorship” intersect so beautifully around this brand.

Pierre-Constantin Guéros’s Greek roots One of the perfumers, Pierre-Constantin Guéros, was born into a Franco-Greek family, and his father ran a furrier’s atelier serving haute couture. His upbringing at the meeting point of Greek and French aesthetics resonates deeply with Hellenist’s brand philosophy.

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