Heritage
A house, in its own words
The story of Voyages Imaginaires begins with the collaboration of two perfumers who first worked together at the House of Annick Goutal. Camille Goutal, daughter of Annick Goutal, brought family heritage in perfumery alongside her background as a classical musician. Isabelle Doyen served as the right hand to Annick Goutal for years, accumulating deep expertise in botanical and aromatic materials. Their partnership, built on mutual respect and shared creative instincts, laid the groundwork for Voyages Imaginaires. In 2020, the two perfumers launched their own house with a clear ambition: to create 100% natural fragrances that captured the spirit of travel and place. This commitment to all-natural perfumery distinguished them in an industry where synthetic materials had become dominant. The name Voyages Imaginaires, meaning imaginary voyages, encapsulates their philosophy of transforming scent into a vehicle for escapism and discovery. Their initial collection comprised five fragrances, each representing a destination: London, Morocco, the Mediterranean coast, Asia, and French Polynesia. The house continued expanding its range, releasing Le Grand Jeu, La Couleur de la Nuit, and L'échappee Sauvage in 2020, followed by L'Eau des Immortels in 2023 and Comme Un Gant in 2024. Fragrance journalist Ida Meister identified the house as representing the best of natural fragrance creation, while their appearance on Persolaise Love at First Scent episode 574 brought their work to collectors worldwide. The collaboration between Goutal and Doyen, longtime partners united by their devotion to natural materials and narrative-driven perfumery, continues to shape every composition that leaves their workshop.
Voyages Imaginaires operates from a conviction that smell serves as a direct pathway to memory, imagination, and emotion. Rather than constructing fragrances around a single hero note, they build multi-layered compositions that unfold over hours, mirroring the experience of a journey that reveals new dimensions as time passes. Their creative process treats each fragrance as a narrative, beginning with a story before selecting botanical ingredients that can convey it. The concept of travel underpins their entire approach. These journeys may recount specific passages through landscapes the founders have experienced or distill an emotional encounter into olfactory form. Each fragrance invites the wearer into an imaginary voyage, a sensory escape that transcends the physical act of moving between places. The name of the house itself emerged from this belief in the imaginative power of scent. Natural perfumery forms the philosophical backbone of their work. This choice reflects not ideology but genuine curiosity about what botanical materials can express and how they behave in combination. They embrace the volatility of natural ingredients as an asset rather than a limitation, working with their unpredictability to create compositions that feel alive. The house has articulated that natural fragrances possess a temporal dimension that synthetics cannot replicate, as ingredients evolve differently on skin and throughout the day. This philosophy shapes every decision, from initial concept to final formulation.