Founded MMXV • Paris VII
More than a fragrance.
A signature.
We were never interested in making many fragrances. We were interested in making six that could not be improved.
— The Perfumer
The house occupies two floors above a locksmith on the rue de Bellechasse. There is no showroom on the street, no signage and no seasonal calendar. Compositions are released when they are finished — in 2019 that meant nothing at all.
Our philosophy is subtraction. A NOIRÉ carries between fourteen and thirty-one materials, never more. Each one must survive a blind reading on skin across seven consecutive days before it is allowed to remain in the formula.
Materials are bought at origin and never blended across harvest years. What cannot be sourced to that standard is simply not used, which is why the house has no citrus-led summer edition and no annual flanker.
Every flacon is hand-poured in heavy French glass, capped in solid champagne-gold metal, wax-sealed and numbered. The weight in the hand is deliberate: a fragrance is judged before it is smelled.
The Art of Creation
Five movements.
INSPIRATION
A memory, a material, a room at dusk. Every NOIRÉ begins as a written brief of no more than three sentences — the discipline of the house is knowing what to leave out.
INGREDIENTS
Our perfumer travels to source: agarwood in Laos, roses in Taif, orris in Tuscany. Fewer than one in nine harvests is accepted into the library.
COMPOSITION
Between forty and two hundred trials. Each modification is weighed to the milligram, then read blind on skin over seven consecutive days.
MATURATION
The finished concentrate rests in darkness for six months. Molecules settle, edges soften — nothing about this stage can be accelerated.
FINAL BOTTLE
Hand-poured into heavy French glass, capped in solid champagne-gold metal, sealed with wax and numbered by hand.
The Library
Seven materials.
OUD
Laos • Cambodia
SAFFRON
Kashmir
ROSE
Taif • Isparta
AMBER
Andalusia
VANILLA
Madagascar
SANDALWOOD
Mysore
IRIS
Tuscany
