Christèle Jacquemin
Christèle Jacquemin grew up behind a camera before she ever mixed a bottle. After seventeen years in corporate marketing, she walked away from a stable desk and enrolled at Cinquième Sens in Paris, where she spent nine months mastering the chemistry of scent. The training ignited a habit of pairing each new photograph with a miniature perfume, a practice she calls “scentivising.” In 2019 she launched her first trio—Meandering Soul, Impermanence, and Underworld—each one echoing a place she captured on film during a solo trek through Asia. The collection earned a finalist spot at the 2020 Art & Olfaction Awards, putting her on the radar of collectors who value narrative‑driven fragrance. Since then she has expanded her portfolio, collaborates with independent labs, and curates pop‑up exhibitions where visitors experience her images and aromas side by side.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Christèle composes
Christèle favors natural absolutes and single‑note extracts that carry a strong character. She layers citrus top notes with green herbs to mimic sunrise over a cityscape, then grounds the blend with earth‑bound woods such as cedar, sandalwood, or oud. In Underworld she paired smoky birch tar with a whisper of incense to suggest subterranean corridors. She often finishes with a thin veil of amber or musk, letting the core ingredients breathe without heavy fixatives. Her compositions reveal a clear structure: a visual spark, a middle accord that translates texture, and a subtle dry‑down that lingers like a lingering after‑image.
Philosophy
What drives Christèle
Christèle treats a photograph as a memory capsule and a perfume as its audible twin. She believes scent can freeze a fleeting light, a distant market smell, or the humidity of a mountain pass. Her creative process begins with a printed image; she studies its palette, texture, and mood, then selects ingredients that echo those visual cues. She avoids trends, preferring raw materials that speak directly to the scene she recorded. For her, perfume is a bridge between sight and skin, a way to wear a moment long after the shutter clicks.
The houses