Jacques Cavallier

Famous for its fields of flowers stretching as far as the eye can see, the town has also seen the birth of many of the most celebrated perfumers of our time. Among them, Jacques Cavallier is unquestionably one of the most renowned today.

Jacques Cavallier, a perfumer with a destiny mapped out

Jacques Cavallier was born in Grasse in 1962. Beyond having grown up amid fields of roses and jasmine, he also comes from a family of perfumers. Indeed, both his father and his grandfather were themselves perfumers. He was thus immersed in perfumes from his earliest childhood, and becoming a nose in turn seemed to him entirely natural. Moreover, beyond simply following the family path, perfume has always been a true vocation for him. He recalls that, at the age of five, his father handed him a blotter of rose de mai, a variety grown exclusively in the Grasse region. He found it wonderful. He has held a genuine passion for his craft ever since. He has said: I do not believe in painful creation: even when it is difficult, it must remain an act of love. He thus took his first steps at Charabot while working on a degree in foreign languages at the same time. He then worked at Naaren, now Quête, then at PFW. From 1990 until 2012, he was a creative perfumer for Firmenich and collaborated in this capacity with the greatest creative houses. Nevertheless, in a form of consecration, he is today the official perfumer of the house of Louis Vuitton, since 2012.

Jacques Cavallier’s creative work

Jacques Cavallier is a perfumer deeply inspired by the seasons. He admits to being especially amazed by natural scents, particularly those of flowers. He thus enjoys using mimosa in January, violet flower in February, orange blossom in March, rose in May, and so on throughout the year. He always tries to offer fragrances that are fresh and evocative of youth. To do this, he gets up every morning at five o’clock and simply admires the exceptional view from his home, which sometimes allows him to see as far as Corsica. Jacques Cavallier is a creator driven by a constant urge to reinvent himself. Day after day, he tries to write what he calls the perfumery of tomorrow, more emotional and far removed from yesterday's figurative caricature.

Generally speaking, Jacques Cavallier crafts a sentimental, generous perfumery characteristic of his native Provence. Among his most celebrated creations are several flankers of Private Blend by Tom Ford, Ultraviolet by Paco Rabanne, Nina by Nina Ricci, Poême by Lancôme, Classique by Jean-Paul Gaultier, L’Eau d’Issey by Issey Miyake, and more. The fragrances born of his imagination are so numerous that it would almost be less tedious to draw up a list of the famous houses that have not yet collaborated with him.