Perfumer Quentin Bisch is no stranger to the industry, having worked on some of the most iconic fragrances for brands like Jean Paul Gaultier, Ex Nihilo, L’Artisan Parfumeur and more. His first project with Issey Miyake reinterprets the famed L’Eau d’Issey to bring about a new idea on what masculinity is today: Le Sel d’Issey.

ESQUIRE SINGAPORE: How did you become a perfumer?

QUENTIN BISCH: I have always been fascinated by scents, but I didn’t know anyone who worked in perfumery, and unfortunately I wasn’t good at science. I thought I couldn’t be a perfumer without it. So, I decided to focus on the performing arts and even managed a theatre company for six years. But the pull of perfumery was too strong and I ended up writing to Jean Guichard, director of Givaudan Perfumery School. He thought my profile was interesting and recommended that I start as an assistant perfumer. I began working with Michel Almairac at Robertet in Grasse, who taught me about raw materials and accords. The following year, Givaudan contacted me and I was accepted into their school.

ESQ: What is your first olfactory memory?

QB: The perfume my mother used to wear: Shalimar by Guerlain. She had a bottle of it with her when she gave birth to me, so I probably smelt it as soon as I was born.

ESQ: How did you come to connect L’Eau d’Issey with salt?

QB: Launched 30 years after L’Eau d’Issey pour Homme, Le Sel d’Issey is a tribute to today’s masculinity, reconnected to its senses, conjuring up the image of a beneficent nature that transmits to men the impetus, drive and desire to live intensely.

ESQ: Scents are often tied to one’s memories. Because salt inherently has no scent, what’s your personal memory to salt that conjured up the eventual fragrance that is Le Sel d’Issey?

QB: I wanted to create the smell of that exact transition point that exists between land and sea, when the waves recede. The memory of the water left on the earth, this salt deposited like an imprint.

ESQ: How did the salt accord for Le Sel d’Issey come about?

QB: I wanted to work on the concept of movement, the infinite surf of the waves and salt as a mineral memory deposited on the earth. The idea of working with a large, salty and pure woodiness took hold. We, with the Issey Miyake teams, sought to facet the subject while preserving the singularity of the initial idea.

ESQ: You included upcycled ingredients as part of making Le Sel d’Issey. Is this something that you’ve done before?

QB: Many key perfume ingredients are part of our certified upcycling portfolio. As a result, they are used regularly.

ESQ: Are sustainability and the use of more earth-friendly ingredients (sourced ethically and with lower impact on the environment) things that perfumers take into account nowadays?

QB: By 2030, Givaudan aims to achieve a fully renewable and responsibly sourced ingredient palette, which serves as the perfumers’ essential tool. This ambition underscores our eco-conscious approach to enhancing fragrance ingredients by incorporating materials derived from renewable sources, while simultaneously improving processes to minimise carbon and energy consumption.

ESQ: You’ve worked for both niche and designer fragrances. Is there a difference in how you conceptualise a scent for each?

QB: There is no difference in fragrance conceptualisation, but there is a difference in the way the perfume is developed. Often, more niche or high-end perfume brands have an artistic director with
whom we are in direct contact. On the prestige side, the stakes are much higher, in terms of distribution and at the economic level for example. There are therefore more decision-makers and competition.

ESQ: Are there ingredients or scents that you personally would not use in your own creations?

QB: Never, because even if we hate a colour, maybe one day this colour will be very useful in a painting to bring out something else. Colours like smells are tools to create something, so I think rejecting some of them would be closed-minded. In reality, you never know what you will need tomorrow.

ESQ: TikTok has somewhat brought to light cheaper fragrances that are regarded as “dupes” (or similar) to luxury fragrances. What are your thoughts on such fragrances that smell almost identical to niche or luxury fragrances?

QB: I hate the idea because it is totally disrespectful to the original creations.

ESQ: What is the most quintessential men’s fragrance, in your opinion?

QB: There is not one, but several masculinities. And they are constantly reinventing themselves and we therefore cannot define masculinity. It is up to everyone to define it and moreover a feminine perfume can be extremely masculine on a man or on a woman.