Perfume Creation Director at Parfums Christian Dior

A graduate of the prestigious International Perfume Institute in Versailles (ISIPCA), Francis Kurkdjian has enjoyed dazzling success in his career. At the age of 25, having admitted that he initially wanted to be a couturier, he composed “Le Male” by Jean Paul Gaultier, which was an international best-seller. Resolutely independent, he made a visionary move in 2001, when he opened his bespoke perfume workshop in the spirit of haute couture, which has never ceased to inspire him. Very soon, he was working with numerous legendary Houses, including the House of Dior, for whom he created two of the three initial fragrances for “La Collection Privée Christian Dior,” Cologne Blanche and Eau noire, under the artistic direction of Hedi Slimane.

He was a trail-blazer when he also decided to open perfume up to a field of possibilities and give fragrance creation an artistic dimension. Since 2003, artists such as Sophie Calle, Christian Rizzo and Sarkis have sought him out to create olfactory works, which provided the starting point for an aesthetic quest to decompartmentalize the disciplines and the senses. He has provided dream-worthy material with incredible olfactory performances in France and internationally, in majestic locations and art world institutions such as the Grand Palais, the château de Versailles and the Grande Mosquée de Paris, as well as at the World Expos in Shanghai and Milan in 2010 and 2015. In 2009 he co-founded his eponymous perfume house. In October 2021, Francis Kurkdjian was named Perfume Creation Director at Parfums Christian Dior.