Michel Almairac

While few people in the world today make a living as a perfumer, those who become true icons in this field are even rarer. Nevertheless, such was the destiny of Michel Almairac. He is the perfumer currently sought after by fashion houses looking to give their label a genuine olfactory identity. Michel Almairac appears to possess an innate gift for olfactory creativity combined with an extraordinary expertise. A look back at his career, his works and his sources of inspiration. Michel Almairac's beginnings in perfumery. Michel Almairac was born in Grasse in 1963. This Provençal city, located not far from Nice, has been considered the world capital of perfumery since the sixteenth century. Its landscapes are crossed by immense fields of flowers and many centuries-old perfume houses are established there.

Thus, the profession of perfumer always seemed self-evident to Michel Almairac. However, he admits with irony: Two things allowed me to become a perfumer: living in Grasse and being a bad student. From a very young age, he developed a passion for scents, iris rhizomes, baskets of flowers, distillation methods, and so on. On the other hand, he was not at all drawn to chemistry, a discipline that is nonetheless essential in this profession. Lacking this scientific background, he showed extreme perseverance instead. He went to see the management of the Roure house, which was rumored to be considering reopening its perfumery school. He presented himself and offered to restore their training center over the summer in exchange for being allowed to join their program. Against all odds, the house agreed. This is how Michel Almairac began his career in perfumery.

Michel Almairac's renown

At the end of his training, Michel Almairac ranked among the most talented students at his center. He was then selected by Jean Amic, head of Roure, to join the company's Parisian subsidiary. He moved to the capital in 1978. Little by little, he made a name for himself in the profession, which he today believes is above all thanks to his creativity. For him, perfumery is not the result of mathematical or physical formulas. Perfumery is a world of dreams, not of rigid formulas, he says. I think that by trying too hard to find chemists, we overlook talented personalities. Deeply committed to passing on his knowledge, he has been particularly involved in training up-and-coming perfumers, regularly mentoring young people with atypical profiles. At the same time, Michel Almairac worked for several companies such as Créations Aromatiques and Drom. Today, however, he is part of the staff at Robertet, a company he joined in the late 90s.

Michel Almairac now has so many best-sellers to his name that it would be impossible to list them all. He has notably worked for the brands Azzaro, Bottega Venetta, Burberry, Chloé, Armani, Gucci, Escada, Lalique, Montblanc, Rochas, Shiseido and Zadig & Voltaire.