André Fraysse: The Perfumer Who Brought Elegance to Arpège

Perfumery Career

Born in 1902 into a Swiss family of perfumers, André Fraysse made a debut as a perfumer at Lanvin (in Japanese) in 1925, at the age of 23. That debut fragrance was called My Sin. Fraysse’s father, Claude Fraysse, and older sister, Jacqueline Fraysse, worked as perfumers for Weil, while younger brother Hubert Fraysse worked at Synarome.

Fraysse, whom Edmond Roudnitska (in Japanese), renowned as the greatest perfumer of the twentieth century, would later call the finest perfumer of all time, initially worked as an assistant to Paul Vacher (in Japanese). Together they created Arpège in 1927, one of the masterpieces of the floral aldehyde family. As Lanvin’s in-house perfumer (in Japanese), André Fraysse went on to create celebrated fragrances such as Scandal (1933) and Rumeur (1934).

Fraysse’s son Richard Fraysse and grandchild William Fraysse have each worked as an in-house perfumer for Caron.

The circumstances in which I created my first perfume were beyond anything I had imagined. I was still young, living in Paris and working at Lanvin. I was always surrounded by elegant models and lovely, charming women. My work as a perfumer consisted of nothing more than experiencing all of that through my sense of smell, and it helped me develop my skills.

André Fraysse

Fragrance Creations