Perfumes are an extension of lived experiences, rich heritage, and evocative storytelling for Kilian Hennessey. Known for his long-lasting accords that recall time-honoured techniques, the French perfumer extraordinaire is equally drawn to complex alchemies and creative interventions. Hennessey brings his luxurious portfolio of fragrances to India. 

In an exclusive conversation, the master of scents and founder of the brand, Hennessey reveals his bold take on traditional perfumery and shares insights into crafting the brand’s identity, and what brings him to the Indian market. Joining him, Rohan Vaziralli, general manager of Estée Lauder Companies in India, shares, “This launch marks a significant milestone, reinforcing our commitment to bringing the finest global luxury brands to Indian consumers. Kilian Paris embodies a new level of sophistication in perfumery, and we are thrilled to bring this globally celebrated brand to fragrance connoisseurs in India."

Harper’s Bazaar: India has a long history of fragrance appreciation, from attars to traditional incense. How do you envision crafting perfumes that resonate with an audience with a deep-rooted scent culture?

Kilian Hennessey: I love when I enter markets that have a great perfume culture. It was the case when I forayed into the Middle Eastern market, which is very diverse, between Saudi Arabia, the EU market, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, and Lebanon. 

We are doing fantastically well in these markets. The more a place has a strong perfume culture, the better my brand resonates. I love to use woods, incense, narcotic flowers, and spices. I'm not too much into citruses, transparent notes, and flowers rather known for my heavy, dry, damp perfumes. So, usually I resonate very well with these markets. 

HB: Coming from one of the most celebrated dynasties of fine liquors in France, how do you translate the inherited legacy into the realm of perfume? Take us through your journey.

KH: I have been working in this industry for three decades. I wrote my thesis in college on the semantics of scents and attended a novel school as well. I met Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud and he became my mentor for 10 years. I was the fragrance director for fashion designers like Paco Rabbane, Alexander McQueen, and Giorgio Armani. But at the end, I realised that the perfumes that I was putting on the market were always a compromise. In those big groups, you never make decisions alone. 

Once while having dinner at the Baccarat restaurant in Paris, I stopped by the Baccarat Museum where they were exhibiting a century of perfume Baccarat bottles. It's when I realised what used to be the level of luxury, the attention to detail—those coffrets with satin beddings of all colours, keys, tassels, and engraved bottles—I was mesmerised. I was convinced that customers deserved a collection of perfume that would be conceived with the same attention to detail as that of the perfume world 100 years ago, but done in a way that would feel and smell contemporary. And soon after, I launched Kilian Paris.

HB: Where do you seek creative inspiration from? 

KH: Inspiration comes from everywhere and every single way. It could be from a painting, ‘Woman in Gold’ was inspired by the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustave Klimt, or from travel-Moonlight in Heaven was inspired by a dessert that I ate in Bangkok. Intoxicated was inspired by a Turkish coffee I had in Istanbul, where they put a cardamom seed in the coffee. Good Girl Gone Bad is almost like an olfactive book-a part of a chapter of an olfactive book that I launched in 2012, In the Garden of Good and Evil.

For Angel's Share, the inspiration is my olfactory memory of the Hennessy Cognac Cellars. Now, every perfume has a different inspiration, but the most important is that this inspiration, I need to translate it in my brain into an olfactive accord.

HB: From ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ to ‘Love, Don't Be Shy,’ your perfumes have sensuous and evocative names. How do you name your fragrances? What role do names play in defining a fragrance’s identity?

KH: Names are crucial because in general, people have a hard time associating a perfume to a particular emotion. They don't know what they are smelling, it's complicated. So, by giving them a very emotional name, you narrow it down for the customer. So, if a perfume is named ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’, you know it's going to be a feminine fragrance. For Angel’s Share, it is what we call  the process of evaporation of alcohol from the oak barrels at the House of Hennessy. The name itself becomes an interesting conversation starter sharing my olfactive memory of the Hennessy cognac cellars. 

So, the name is like a script for a movie director. It allows me to choose the perfect perfume and express the emotion carried by the name. When I develop a scent, the name becomes my guiding principle. If I'm trying to make “Love, Don't Be Shy”, the perfume cannot be discreet, it has to be a little bit over the top for a woman. 

HB: How do you stay true to your brand’s identity? 

KH: The way I see it, there is no compromise in quality and creativity. And I think it’s my job to push the boundaries of creativity even further, and create scent harmonies that don't resemble any other perfumes created in the past. And what I am the most proud of is that nobody can say that my perfumes are copies of scents created by others. And no one is trying to copy my perfumes as it would be too expensive. I always have two or three expensive ingredients in my formula that I overdose in such a way that in order to copy me, you will need to go to the same supplier, ask for the same quality of ingredient, and then use it in the same proportions as mine. And frankly, no one has been able to match up to that.

HB: What’s next for Kilian Paris?

KH: There are a lot of things in the pipeline…We have new scents coming from Angel's Share—the highly concentrated, more beautiful, and expensive version. There will be a version that will be an on-the-box variant. Also, a new scent in an olfactory family that I haven't explored yet, chypre. Additionally, there will be bath and body products, candles, and home diffusers.