Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris: Courses and Diplomas

The most important thing is passion. Then the perseverance to keep going.
Miya Shinma (translated from Japanese)

Beyond the pleasure of choosing a perfume lies the pleasure of creating a fragrance yourself. In Japan, perfumer Miya Shinma has opened that door through Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris. Rooted in the educational activities she began in 1998, the school has connected creative work in Paris with learning in Japan.

Aroma composition uses natural aromatic materials, while fragrance design draws on a broader palette that includes synthetics. Both rest on the same foundation: smelling, comparing, making trials and developing a personal means of expression. Today, teaching centres on video courses studied with materials at hand and live instruction from Paris, with options ranging from introductory lessons to programmes leading to the school’s own diplomas.

Key Information
Miya Shinma and the Origins of Her Teaching
1. From the Pleasure of Music to Expression through Scent
2. Creating in Paris and Teaching in Japan
Teaching Approach and Learning Progression
Current Courses and How to Apply
Certificates, Diplomas and Activities after Completion
Key Milestones
References

Key Information

Name: Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris (AAP)
Founder and educator: Miya Shinma
History: Educational activities began in Japan in 1998. The founder’s official biography dates the school’s establishment to 2010.
Base: The Marais district of Paris, France. In Japan, learning takes place online, with materials and student support provided by the head office.
Japanese operator: Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris Co., Ltd.
Official website: Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris

Miya Shinma and the Origins of Her Teaching

From the Pleasure of Music to Expression through Scent

Miya Shinma grew up in Shizuoka and spent her student years in Kyoto. She studied French at university but did not initially intend to work in perfumery. While working in an office, she read a magazine interview with a perfumer that became a turning point. It explained that composing a fragrance resembled composing music: combining notes to create chords.

For Shinma, who had studied piano from childhood and enjoyed composing, these words opened a route into a familiar world of expression. Perhaps perfume was not merely a product: perhaps scent could express what she felt. That curiosity grew into a desire to learn.

In 1997, she began studying in Paris under Monique Schlienger. Schlienger had studied with Jean Carles and taught at ISIPCA. After working as a perfumer at Robertet, she founded Cinquième Sens in 1976. At this school, Shinma trained to memorise materials, understand combinations and construct fragrances.

An exceptional sense of smell is not the only way in. Shinma’s opening words concern the passion and perseverance needed to keep learning. Memorising hundreds of materials, identifying them within a blend and reconstructing them in the mind: repeated practice formed the foundation for personal expression.

Creating in Paris and Teaching in Japan

After completing her studies, Shinma returned to Japanese literature and created the perfumes Hana, Tsuki and Kaze, inspired by the natural world of waka poetry. The perfume house Miya Shinma Paris was founded in 1999. Her work was presented at the Paris department store Le Bon Marché in 2000. This creative practice continues alongside, but separately from, the school.

Her fragrance teaching in Japan, meanwhile, began in 1998. Rather than simply offering finished perfumes, it gave people opportunities to make fragrances with their own hands and discover their appeal. She held lessons and seminars under the Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris name, establishing the school in 2010.

Shinma has said that she enjoys teaching about scent and developing learning materials as much as creating her own perfumes. In 2017, while training instructors in Japan, she expressed a wish to create more places where people interested in fragrance could continue learning and growing.

I hoped there could be more places supporting their learning and growth, even if it took more time.
Miya Shinma, 2017 (translated from Japanese)

Her activities also extend to books. Alongside titles whose meanings include Lessons in Paris, Love Begins with Scent and The Golden Rules of Perfume, she published a new edition of Aroma Composition Lessons in 2021. It adapts the methods of perfume composition taught in France to blending with essential oils alone. In 2024, she also translated into Japanese a book on perfume culture and history published as Kōsui no Subete, or All About Perfume.

Creation, knowledge of materials and teaching are closely related, but they are not the same work. Shinma’s perfume house, the materials business Arômes & Parfums Paris and the educational institution Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris each have their own role. The school does not aim to reproduce a particular house style, but to develop students’ own judgement and expression.

Teaching Approach and Learning Progression

Two Paths: Essential Oils or a Broader Palette

Aroma composition uses essential oils to study the characteristics of scents and their combinations. Fragrance design moves into a wider range of materials, including synthetics as well as naturals. The distinction concerns both the materials studied and the student’s aims: working exclusively with naturals, or exploring a more diverse range of aromatic properties.

The two diplomas are parallel specialist certifications, not successive levels in a hierarchy. Someone wishing to deepen a practice centred on essential oils will choose a different starting point from someone seeking to create perfumes and other scent expressions with a broader palette.

Neither path stops at learning the names of materials. Students smell the course materials, record their impressions and compare them with other scents. After blending, they allow time to pass, check how the fragrance changes and revise their trials. The school’s idea of an “aesthetics of scent” concerns decisions made throughout this process: what to retain, what to restrain and when to consider a composition finished.

Video Learning with Materials at Hand and Guidance from Paris

Students receive materials such as aromatic ingredients and lesson notes, then make their compositions while watching videos on a dedicated page. The palette expands as their studies progress, and diploma programmes also provide a “Grand Harmonium” for storage. This is not simply a course of on-screen explanations: students smell the same materials and learn through hands-on work.

Diploma programmes also include live instruction from the Paris atelier. The founder’s information specifies sessions once every two months, offering opportunities to ask about composition or questions arising during video study. Support arrangements differ by course, so not every individual video course includes the same assistance.

The principal mode of study is currently online. In-person lessons with Shinma are not held on a regular schedule; dates are announced to enrolled students. Having a base in Paris does not mean that every student travels to France to study.

Learning Perfume Culture alongside Composition

Diploma students take practical composition classes alongside the “Perfume Studies Master Course.” Beyond the basics of materials and smell, they study the history and trends of fragrance, the stories behind perfumes, styling and new releases. “Master” here is part of the school’s course title; it does not denote a university master’s degree.

Books provide another way to understand Shinma’s teaching. The preface to the new edition of Aroma Composition Lessons introduces not only essential-oil characteristics and blending examples, but also ways of perceiving scent in three dimensions and connecting it with imagery. Learning moves back and forth between material knowledge and what one wishes to express.

Current Courses and How to Apply

The following courses were listed on the official website when checked on 12 October 2026. The conditions and fees are those shown on the current application pages, rather than for a particular academic intake. The courses are presented in Japanese and are studied mainly at home through videos.

An Introduction to Fragrance Design

The One-Time Fragrance Design Trial Lesson is intended for beginners and people considering a diploma programme. Students practise combinations using three aromatic materials and create two original fragrances. The course consists of one lesson over a one-month enrolment period, during which the video can be watched repeatedly. The fee is ¥23,100 including tax, materials and one live lesson from Paris.

For a beginner, this provides an introduction to the way a small number of materials change when combined. It is a trial course offered separately from the diploma programmes.

Two Diploma Programmes

Fragrance Designer: Study composition with natural and synthetic materials. Completing the required subjects typically takes about one to three years. The programme combines beginner, intermediate and advanced practical work with perfume studies; the fee is ¥1,134,100 including tax.
Parfum Aromatique Designer (Aroma Composer): Study composition with natural aromatic materials. Completing the required subjects typically takes about one to two years. The programme combines foundation and master-level aroma composition courses with perfume studies; the fee is ¥935,000 including tax.

The listed prices for both programmes include delivery of the materials, with benefits described as a free diploma course and waived AAP membership registration fee. Students follow the curriculum in sequence and receive materials in the same order. Video access lasts one month for each course, except Initiation Master, for which it lasts two months.

Applications are made through each programme’s official page, and scheduling information is provided once payment has been confirmed. The pages mention two annual starts, in April and October, while also stating that students can begin at any time of year. Prospective students should therefore confirm start dates and live-instruction schedules with the office before deciding.

Parfum Specialist: A Deeper Study of Materials

Parfum Specialist is an advanced programme taken after either diploma. The current course page requires completion of all eight Esprit de Paris Matières Premières categories. Students explore 48 materials in each category, 384 in total, covering origins, constituents, aromatic characteristics, applications in composition and examples of use in perfumes.

Each Matières Premières category consists of four hours of in-person or live lessons and costs ¥227,700 including tax. The officially stated completion range is approximately two to nine years, which should be considered separately from the prior diploma studies. This is a path towards a broader command of materials and deeper work in creation and evaluation.

Certificates, Diplomas and Activities after Completion

The school’s certification policy distinguishes a certificate confirming completion of studies from a diploma recognising ability and attainment. A diploma is the school’s own educational certification, awarded after the required curriculum and assessment. It is not a national qualification, a state degree or an official professional credential. Nor is it awarded automatically simply for finishing the videos.

After qualification, support includes access to materials, information on new ingredients and perfumes, and assistance with bringing original perfumes to market. The diploma alone does not authorise graduates to represent the school or teach using its name, materials or methods. Although a certified-instructor scheme existed in the past, the system for training and accrediting new certified-instructor members has now ended.

The school states that its work centres on education that communicates the appeal of scent and that it does not provide job placement. This is private perfumery education, distinct from a university degree or in-house training after recruitment by a company. Students can move from a trial lesson to specialist study according to their goals: creating personal fragrances, exploring materials and culture, or applying their learning to future activities.

Key Milestones

1997: Miya Shinma studies under Monique Schlienger in Paris.
1998: Fragrance lessons begin in Japan, initiating the educational activities from which the present school traces its origins.
1999: Shinma establishes the perfume house Miya Shinma Paris for her creative work.
2000: Shinma’s perfumes are presented at Le Bon Marché.
2010: Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris is established.
2017: Shinma discusses training instructors in Japan and her wish to expand learning opportunities for people interested in fragrance.
2021: The new edition of Aroma Composition Lessons is published.
2024: Shinma translates the book published in Japanese as Kōsui no Subete (All About Perfume).

Ateliers Arômes & Parfums Paris: Miya Shinma, Perfumery Education, Courses and Diplomas