Getting to the Heart of Perfumery with Guerlain's Master Perfumer, Thierry Wasser

We had the privilege of sitting down with Guerlain's charming master perfumer Thierry Wasser and hearing about his compelling journey from a small town in Switzerland to being master perfumer for one of the most prestigious and storied maisons in the world. Be transported as you hear about his world in his own words. 

TRX: Hi Theirry! Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got into perfumery? 
TW: I grew up in Switzerland in a small town called Montreux on the lake of Geneva. We had a house on the border of the forest on the hills next to the Prealps. Next to my house was a farm, and I spent more time at that farm than at school, which was a disaster for my mother. 

I didn't really like that environment so I dropped out and I did an apprenticeship at a herbalist. Then when I was 19, after 4 years of this apprenticeship, I didn't really know what to do, and I ended up writing to two of the biggest companies dealing with flavours and fragrances – Givaudon and Ferminich. I ended up at Givaudon's perfumery school, without any idea of what the fragrance industry was, and the rest is history. 

TRX: When you joined perfumery school, did you have aspirations to work for Guerlain in particular?  

TW: When you start in this industry, Guerlain is the pinnacle, because it's the oldest beauty house with iconic perfumers. But it never occurred to me even once that it could be a possibility. It was too far ahead of time – those possibilities come slowly – and when I had the chance to meet Mr Guerlain, suddenly something happened but it was very circumstantial – it was not something you plan.  

TRX: It was happenstance.  

TW: Exactly.  

TRX: How does inspiration strike you for a new fragrance? 

TW: There are multiple ways. Creativity is the first sparkle, which triggers your imagination. So it could be a situation, landscape, a conversation – anything. But after that, you have to make those moments your own. You have to be aware of the moment to be able to remember it. So the answer is – be engaged in the moment, be present, a lot of people are here, but they're gone.  

Being present in the moment allows you to remember what makes you smile. And when you're back in the lab, when you put your creative hat on, you remember that moment that made you smile and you try to express it.

Designing a fragrance is a language that I speak. A lot of people hear that language, but very few speak that language. As a speaker of that language, every raw material – tonka, iris, bergamot, rose, whatever – each one of these is like a word which you use to express yourself. Then you get the finer definition of each one of them and that's where I come in with the analogy of words, and you use those impressions to tell a story. That's how your imagination goes from idea to bottle.  

TRX: Is it difficult for you to know which ingredients to put together?  

TW: No, because if your mind works by association, one calls to another one. So if you smell 'yummy pastry' from a tonka bean, are you going to go even further in the yummy pastry [direction] and call this one? (takes vanilla) or am I going to take my pastry here and refresh it? (takes bergamot).  

So you say okay – my world in that story is pastry – where do I bring it? Do I add even more pastry or do I go fresher? So that's how you go, step by step.  

TRX: What part of the perfuming process do you like most and why?  

TW: In perfumery you have the creation, manufacturing, sourcing. Sourcing is not exactly a process, but it's part of what's expected of me to do, it's my duty. There are two fragrances that we still manufacture from the nineteenth century, and believe me, sourcing for those historical, legendary fragrances is difficult, but to answer your question, I think that's my favourite part, because that's where there is the most humanity. You don't just buy rose, vanilla, or jasmine, you buy that rose, vanilla and jasmine from somebody and those somebodies, I know them all. I pay a visit to them at least once every couple of years because there are several of those partners around the world and when some experience difficulties, I try to go every year and support them and visit and so, definitely, with no doubt, my favourite part is sourcing.  

TRX: As Master Perfumer, you must travel often, is there a favourite destination that you have?  

TW: It's a good 35, 40 percent of my annual time. That's why you need a team around you to create, trust, to delegate to. But my favourite place? I cannot tell you that you buy those materials from somebody and now I get nitpicky and say I prefer this somebody over another somebody, so how do you want me to pick? You don't – you live those moments. I cannot tell you be engaged in the moment, and then tell you that you rather this moment over the other moment. It's part of you – all your friends are part of your self. You carry your friends inside you.

TRX: What's your favourite Guerlain fragrance that you've designed for the house?  
TW: Favourite – they're all a part of a moment of your life, because you tell a story. So of course, they all carry a part of you. One which is pretty dear to me is called Idylle, because it's the first one I did in-house.

And another one is Santal Royal, because I was challenged by an older man in Dubai, saying that European people didn't know how to design proper fragrances. But when he told me that, that discussion with that now-friend, opened to me all the doors of the middle eastern philosophy about fragrance. It's very different to what people think of fragrance in Europe. It's much more deep – there is a bigger love for fragrance in the middle east than in Europe, a better knowledge. So, this conversation was a very incredible moment in my life, and I designed Santal Royal after that encounter. So yes, there are fragrances which are your favourite, because of how they smell, but there are moments which they are created from which are strong in a different way. It's the memory of the moment that makes you express something.  

TRX: What about from the archives? 
TW: (almost immediately) Oh, Mitsouko. It's always fascinated me. And also Shalimar. To me, at Guerlain, it's the most inexplicable (about Mitsouko). It's magical, it's like a UFO for me. I don't know, I can't explain it, but it triggers a curiosity and reverence in me, to Jacques Guerlain's genius.   

TRX: What do you hope people take away from Guerlain and all the fragrances of the house?  

TW: What I wish people feel or remember about Guerlain is that beauty is about their joy, their self esteem, their love. When you fragrance yourself, or when you apply makeup, you're sitting in front of yourself in the mirror, and it's a moment for you, and it's a moment for you to feel good. You feel. You feel good about doing something for you.

And I think what I want people to realise is that Guerlain is there for them to feel good. If you wear a fragrance, maybe it gives you an extra attitude. The self confidence you have when you are looking and feeling good is a million bucks. That's what I want people to understand and to take away.  

Discover Idylle, Santal Royal, Mitsuoko, Shalimar and a world of exquisite beauty at the Guerlain Ultimate Boutique on Ground Floor at Beauty Galleria.