L'Artisan Parfumeur
Premier Figuier
Premier Figuier appeared in 1994 and gave the fig the leading part in alcoholic perfumery. Olivia Giacobetti put the whole tree into it: the crushed leaf, the milky sap, the ripe fruit, the wood. Two years before the Philosykos she would sign for Diptyque, the creation opened a category niche perfumery has never left.
- Brand
- L'Artisan Parfumeur
- Launch year
- 1994
- Perfumer
- Olivia Giacobetti
- Gender
- Unisex
- Olfactory family
- Woody
- Concentration
- Eau de Toilette
Where to buy
L’Artisan Parfumeur launched Premier Figuier in 1994. The formula is the work of Olivia Giacobetti, then early in her career, and it is what established her.
The fig tree in the leading part
Before 1994 the fig appeared only in touches, in a few compositions since discontinued. Auparfum recalls that the Figuier candle at Diptyque, also signed by Olivia Giacobetti, had brought the accord closer to centre stage; the eau de toilette gave it the leading part.
A leaf that cannot be extracted
Auparfum explains that the fig leaf may well have a smell, but it does not lend itself to extraction. The perfumer therefore built around Stemone, a molecule Givaudan brought to market in the 1970s, with its scent of fresh leaf and cut grass, joined by a milky gamma-octalactone and an aldehyde with a tropical fruit effect.
Two years before Philosykos
Olivia Giacobetti returned to the subject in 1996 for Diptyque, with Philosykos, which became that house’s best seller. The two creations rest on the same tree; the first opened the way, and a good part of the niche field turned to the fig tree in the following decade.
A stronger version in 2004
From the eau de toilette the house drew a Premier Figuier Extrême in 2004, more concentrated, whose formula is also the work of Olivia Giacobetti. The original of 1994 now sits in La Collection, the set the house keeps for its timeless pieces.
What the house says today
Its page keeps only three materials and names them by their botanical names: Ficus carica for the leaf as for the fruit, and cedar under its two species, Juniperus virginiana and Cedrus atlantica, which it says makes the fragrance vibrate.
Olfactory pyramid
- Top notesThe first minutes
- Heart notesThe heart of the perfume
- Base notesWhat lingers
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The advertising
No face, no film
No known campaign since 1994: no face, no film, no named photographer. The reputation came from the innovation and from the reviews.
L’Artisan Parfumeur ran no advertising campaign for Premier Figuier. No face, no film, no photographer or art director is named, neither in 1994 nor since.
What carried the fragrance has to do with criticism and with imitation: Luca Turin made it, in his guide, the creation that established Olivia Giacobetti, and the niche field covered itself in fig trees over the following decade. No advertising credit comes out of that.