Olivier Gillotin

While perfumery is a profession most often passed down from father to son, sometimes people enter this field in a different way. It must be said that, at first glance, the perfumer's craft remains rather mysterious. How does one truly learn to recognize so many different scents? How does one make a name for oneself in this highly selective world? In this instance, it was thanks to his cousin that Olivier Gillotin took his first step into this universe.

Olivier Gillotin’s remarkable career

Olivier Gillotin is not like other perfumers. Indeed, he was not born in the Provençal region of Grasse, the world capital of perfume, a fact rare enough to be worth noting. He comes from Brittany. It was therefore in air laden with sea spray that he developed a taste for scents. He first pursued a scientific path and studied biology in Paris. Indeed, his love of perfumery came only later in life. In fact, it was his cousin, a perfumer for the house of Chanel, who explained to him in greater detail what the profession entailed. Having introduced him to the olfactory arts, he encouraged Olivier Gillotin to enroll in a perfumery school. Olivier Gillotin did not hold back, as he entered the prestigious Givaudan perfumery school, a leader in the fragrance and flavor sector. Being among the rare few chosen to join this program, he was then hired by Givaudan. Little by little, through creating notable fragrances sold around the world, he rose through the ranks. Today, Olivier Gillotin is Vice President of Fragrance USA for Givaudan. In other words, considering that this house holds 25% of the perfumery market share, it is no exaggeration to say that Olivier Gillotin is one of the greatest perfumers on the planet.

Olivier Gillotin’s finest works

Generally, Olivier Gillotin likes to draw his creativity from his memories. He draws on distant places, life experiences, encounters, or travels. In fact, he states that his earliest olfactory memory dates back to one of his first trips. Olivier Gillotin had traveled to Grenoble at the time and recalls precisely his astonishment at the mountain air, having until then only known the scent of the sea throughout his life. Nowadays, however, Olivier Gillotin can draw just as much inspiration from nature as from a work of art or from cooking. Endowed with an innate sense of observation, he turns his everyday life into a permanent source of creativity. For him, a successful perfume must have a direct effect on the person wearing it and provide an immediate emotion. If he could choose the symbolism of his perfumes, he would want his fragrances to smell like happiness. Olivier Gillotin seeks above all to provide comfort when developing a new product. For him, a perfumer is a mood composer. This philosophy has allowed him to work with the greatest creative houses, including, among others, Dior, Balenciaga, and Ralph Lauren, to name just a few.