Benoist Lapouza: Fragrant Harmonies Nurtured by the Sea and Music

“I grew up in Normandy, moving between the conservatory and the sea.”
Benoist Lapouza, from an interview with Rose Desgranges

From Normandy, France.

The resonance of the cello and the expanse of the sea: these two things shaped Benoist Lapouza’s senses. Studying music, traveling by boat, and encountering local food and nature, this perfumer has connected those experiences to the work of considering how materials combine and harmonize.

Although Kilian Paris’s Angels’ Share brought widespread recognition, Lapouza’s career began in the 1980s. Years alongside mentor Pierre Bourdon, collaborations with colleagues, and reinterpretations of old perfumes: the rich scent of cognac also emerged from that accumulation of experience.

A Life in Perfumery
Creative Philosophy
1. Traveling to Understand Nature
2. Rereading a Perfume Like a Musical Score
Major Creations and Their Backgrounds
An Aside…
Perfume Creations
References

A Life in Perfumery

A Boy Who Studied the Cello and the Meeting with Bourdon

During childhood in Normandy, Lapouza studied the cello at a conservatory. The brand’s profile recounts that, while training as a musician, Lapouza had also dreamed of becoming a perfumer from an early age.

A major event in choosing that path was meeting Bourdon after leaving school. Lapouza recalls its significance in clear terms.

“Meeting Pierre Bourdon was a revelation. I studied as his apprentice at Takasago for four years.”
From an interview with Rose Desgranges

In 1986, Lapouza joined Takasago, studying ingredients and perfume-making under Bourdon. Lapouza observed at work the mentor who would later create fragrances including Davidoff’s Cool Water.

In 1991, Lapouza followed Bourdon to Quest International. Then, in 1993, Lapouza helped establish the French operation of Fragrance Resources. The relationship between mentor and apprentice developed into one of creating a shared place to work.

Collaboration Nurtured at Fragrance Resources

Lapouza worked as a perfumer at Fragrance Resources and eventually took on a role leading creation. Collaborations with Christine Nagel, Delphine Lebeau, and others were also important work from this period.

The team gave form to the identities of different brands through Lolita Lempicka’s Si Lolita, limited editions for Kenzo, and work for Fendi, Mauboussin, Les Parfums de Rosine, and others.

Lapouza also helped develop younger talent. In a later interview, Julie Massé recalled continuing to use Lapouza’s advice in daily work. Someone who learned from a mentor becomes a mentor to the next generation. Fragrance Resources was also a place where skills were passed on in this way.

Nagel is also described as Lapouza’s partner in private life. While building separate professional careers, the two have appeared together in the credits of several creations.

Drom, Then Givaudan

In 2014, Lapouza joined Drom’s fine-fragrance team in Paris. The move was also reported by the trade publication Perfumer & Flavorist in November of that year.

In 2019, Givaudan acquired Drom. Following an announcement in July, the acquisition was completed in September. Lapouza has continued working as a Givaudan perfumer and appears in the company’s profiles and presentations of natural ingredients.

In 2025, Le Couvent’s Anori received silver in the classic-fragrance category of the Golden Osmanthus Awards in Shanghai. Givaudan presented the award as recognition of Lapouza’s work.

Creative Philosophy

Traveling to Understand Nature

For Lapouza, travel offers both rest and time to encounter materials. Landscapes, people met along the way, and dishes particular to a place: experiences that are not limited to the nose lead to ideas for fragrance.

“I feel connected to nature, and I like to respect it.”
Lapouza’s words, published in a profile by parfumstaaltjes.be

Interested in sailing, diving, and sometimes piloting aircraft, he values sensations of spaciousness, freedom, and power. In fragrance, too, Lapouza seeks both dense sensuality and a freshness that allows room to breathe.

Vetiver is among Lapouza’s favorite materials. In Givaudan’s presentations of natural ingredients, Lapouza also discusses a peach material. The approach to a familiar fruit through the contrast between softness and juiciness intersects with an interest in cooking. A collaboration with chef Alain Passard is also described: combinations of foods offer a way to expand ideas from somewhere outside perfumery.

Rereading a Perfume Like a Musical Score

Musical experience also informs the way Lapouza thinks when arranging materials. This does not mean treating music and perfume as if they simply worked in the same way. What matters is that a single composition can allow different interpretations.

“As someone who studied music and is also an enthusiastic music lover, I find that performing a score can sometimes be difficult. There are many interpretations.”
From an interview with Rose Desgranges

When reinterpreting an old perfume, Lapouza seeks to understand its original structure and considers how to make it resonate with today’s materials. The task is not to make each scent stand out, but to find balance when they are combined.

Major Creations and Their Backgrounds

Angels’ Share: Turning Memories of Cognac into Fragrance

Angels’ Share, released in 2020, was the first collaboration between Kilian Hennessy and Lapouza. Its subjects were the cognac-making tradition of the Hennessy family and Kilian’s own memories.

The name, meaning the angels’ portion, refers to the alcohol that evaporates while it ages in oak barrels. Something gradually lost over time is instead preserved as fragrance. That idea became layers of cognac, wood, spice, and sweetness.

According to the brand’s description, an essence derived from cognac contributes not only to the scent but also to its natural caramel color. Cognac oil is combined with oak absolute, cinnamon, and tonka bean, while sandalwood, praline, and vanilla create the lingering impression.

Rather than merely emphasizing the bite of the spirit itself, the perfume brings together the aged barrel and the sweet, warm sensation of a sip. It helped make Lapouza’s work connecting impressions of food with fragrance widely known.

In 2025 came Angels’ Share Paradis, with raspberry and rose, and Angels’ Share On the Rocks, with impressions of cool citrus and aldehydes. The latter reconsiders the original’s warmth through the sensation of drinking cognac over ice.

Si Lolita: Another Expression Created with Nagel

Si Lolita, from 2009, was co-created with Nagel. While continuing Lolita Lempicka’s fantastical world, it introduced a distinctive spicy, floral expression.

The pair also created ICONOfly’s Attache-Moi that same year. In 2010, they also worked on Kenzo’s Once Upon A Time for women and for men. This was not a one-off collaboration: the two brought their respective sensibilities to multiple commissions.

British Bouquet: Taking Part in a Historic House’s Relaunch

When Atkinsons, founded in 1799, set out on a new beginning, Lapouza also took part in creating new perfumes. British Bouquet, from 2013, was one such project.

The role was to make a name with a long history into a fragrance people could wear today: not simply to reproduce the past, but to connect the identity of a British brand with the present. That collaboration continued with The Excelsior Bouquet in 2015.

Rose Desgranges: Reading a Formula That Had Slept in a Safe

Rose Desgranges involved bringing a perfume formula from the 1950s into the present. Receiving the formula carefully preserved by the family, Lapouza reworked it to suit available materials and current standards while retaining its original framework.

Lapouza focused on the quality of flowers, including rose, Egyptian jasmine, ylang-ylang, and iris. Of rose in particular, Lapouza explains:

“The rose essence I use is from Turkey. It is very special and extremely fruity, with something slightly reminiscent of lychee.”
From an interview with Rose Desgranges

Lapouza selects the desired fractions of the distillation and combines them with a fine absolute to enhance persistence. Vanilla and ambrette create a pear-like tone, while Sicilian mandarin and Calabrian bergamot bring brightness.

The phrase “rereading a fragrant score” takes on a concrete meaning in this work. What mattered was not adding more notes, but finding how to make the original flowers’ expressions resonate with today’s materials.

Rose Muscade: Layering Rose with Spice and Suede

In Rose Muscade for La Closerie des Parfums, Lapouza gives the same flower, rose, a different outline.

“I created a fresh, sensual, spicy rose with a subtle leathery quality from suede. That suede facet gives the perfume a fleshy impression.”
From an interview with Lapouza by La Closerie des Parfums

The warmth of nutmeg and the texture of soft leather: by setting different materials alongside the splendor of rose, Lapouza seeks to convey even the sensation of touching a flower.

Anori: Depicting a Cold Wind with Flowers and Wood

Anori, from 2019, is a Le Couvent creation. Jean-Claude Ellena oversees olfactory creation for the brand, and the fragrance is documented as a work in which both Lapouza and Ellena were involved in perfumery.

Its world, evocative of a cold northern wind, is composed of impressions of cardamom, magnolia, and driftwood. For Lapouza, long familiar with the sea, spaciousness and the movement of air were perhaps natural subjects.

It was this Anori that received silver at the 2025 Golden Osmanthus Awards. It is also an example of a fragrance receiving renewed recognition years after its launch.

Vie Eteree: Following Infinity through Poetry

Brunello Cucinelli’s Incanti Poetici is a collection of poetic perfumes introduced in 2024. Lapouza’s Vie Eteree takes inspiration from Giacomo Leopardi’s poem L’Infinito, “The Infinite.”

An aromatic woody fragrance layering bergamot and citron with basil, cardamom, and cedar, it adds a grassy expression to bright citrus before moving toward the calm of wood. The sense of spaciousness gained from the sea and travel is expressed here through poetry.

Bon Parfumeur 701: The Fresh Expression of Natural Materials

Bon Parfumeur’s 701, or 701 Eucalyptus, Coriander & Cypress, dates from 2017. It is an aromatic, woody fragrance centered on eucalyptus, coriander, and cypress.

Pepper, rosemary, woods, amber, and incense are layered together, combining plant freshness with the substance of a perfume. The work conveys an affection for materials and an approach that retains sensuality within freshness.

An Aside…

In La Closerie des Parfums’ questionnaire, Lapouza names blue as a favorite color, Thai curry as a favorite dish, and boat journeys as a preferred form of travel. The musical choice is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, the “Emperor.”

The favorite film is L’Odyssée, which depicts the life of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Music and the sea continue not only as childhood memories but also as present-day tastes.

Lapouza has been friends with Rami Mekdachi, who founded Lola James Harper, since 1997. Mekdachi says that Lapouza and Bourdon opened up the world of fragrance. Later, Lapouza also helped create the brand’s eaux de toilette.

Passing what one received from a mentor to younger colleagues and other creators: beyond the perfumes, Lapouza’s career also retains these human connections.

Perfume Creations

Major works are listed chronologically. The collaborator credits also include supervision and collaboration described in the brands’ production materials.

Year	Brand	Fragrance	Co-perfumers
1998	Yves Saint Laurent	Opium Fraîcheur d’Orient	—
1998	Yves Saint Laurent	Live Jazz	—
1999	Tan Giudicelli	Zen	—
2000	Tan Giudicelli	Annam	—
2000	Joop	Rococco	—
2003	Anna Sui	Dolly Girl	—
2005	Jean-Charles Brosseau	Collection Homme / Atlas Cedar	—
2007	Esprit	Connect Him	—
2007	Pierre Cardin	Pour Femme & Pour Homme	—
2008	Pierre Cardin	Pour Femme & Pour Homme Winter Edition	—
2009	ICONOfly	Attache-Moi	Christine Nagel
2009	Lolita Lempicka	Si Lolita	Christine Nagel
2009	Pierre Cardin	Collection Iris Sauvage	—
2010	Kenzo	Femme / Once Upon A Time	Christine Nagel
2010	Kenzo	Homme / Once Upon A Time	Christine Nagel
2010	Pucci	Miss Pucci	Christine Nagel, François Demachy
2011	Bensimon	Gallery S. Bensimon	—
2011	Les Parfums de Rosine	Glam Rose	Delphine Lebeau
2012	Fendi	Fan di Fendi pour Homme	Delphine Lebeau, François Demachy
2012	Mauboussin	Rose	Delphine Lebeau
2013	Atkinsons	British Bouquet	—
2013	Fendi	Fan di Fendi pour Homme Acqua	Delphine Lebeau
2013	Fendi	L’Acquarossa	Delphine Lebeau, François Demachy
2013	Les Parfums de Rosine	Vive la Mariée	—
2013	Mauboussin	à la Folie	Delphine Lebeau
2013	Mauboussin	Lovely à la Folie	Delphine Lebeau
2013	Alysonoldoini	Oranger Moi / Rose Profond / Black Violet / Marine Vodka / Cuir d’Encens (and many others)	—
Around 2014	Rose Desgranges	Rose Desgranges	—
2014	Les Parfums de Rosine	Ballerina No. 2	—
2014	Grès	Cabotine Rosalie	—
2015	Atkinsons	The Excelsior Bouquet	—
2017	Bon Parfumeur	701	—
2018	La Closerie des Parfums	Rose Muscade	—
2019	Courrèges	Wild Ocean	—
2019	Lalique	Soleil	Alexandra Monet, Barbara Zoebelein
2019	Le Couvent	Anori	Jean-Claude Ellena
2019	Hollister	Festival Nite for Him	—
2020	Kilian Paris	Angels’ Share	—
2021	Roberto Cavalli	Velour Saffron	—
2021	Roberto Cavalli	Wild Incense	—
2023 / 2024	Giorgio Armani	Privé Blanc Kogane	—
2024	Brunello Cucinelli	Vie Eteree	—
2025	Kilian Paris	Angels’ Share Paradis	—
2025	Kilian Paris	Angels’ Share On the Rocks	—