Roger Pellegrino

The rather mysterious career of Roger Pellegrino

Roger Pellegrino is a man who does not like to be talked about. Moreover, very little information is available today concerning his personal life and career. Famous some twenty years ago, the name Roger Pellegrino is associated with some of the greatest perfumes of the late twentieth century. Roger Pellegrino is the creator of Anaïs Anaïs by Cacharel, Armani Eau pour Homme by the eponymous house, Nocturne by Caron, and l’Eau de Courrèges.

Anaïs Anaïs, the collaboration between Robert Pellegrino and Raymond Chaillan

If there were only one perfume to symbolize the great career of Robert Pellegrino, there is little doubt it would be Anaïs Anaïs. However, he did not create this perfume alone. Raymond Chaillan recounts that he had just arrived at Firmenich when he collaborated with Robert Pellegrino on this perfume. It all began when he saw a bouquet of lilies proudly displayed on his desk. Raymond Chaillan had then been given the directive to create a perfume for young women based on this ingredient. He set to work for nearly 18 months. He combined the floral character of a heady, sensuous bouquet with a woody, somewhat sharp base. He started from this guiding principle and gradually built a formula, constantly adding, removing or modifying ingredients. He recalls having doubted most, in particular, about the orange blossom and the ylang-ylang. Although his idea was original, Raymond Chaillan could not finalize it or make it convincing. He was going around in circles and called on a friend to help him: Robert Pellegrino. The latter had the idea of adding sharper blackcurrant notes to the composition, and it was thus that he created Anaïs Anaïs after 137 trials. To this day, Raymond Chaillan admits that Anaïs Anaïs remains the formula that obsessed him the most. Robert Pellegrino, for his part, maintains that it is one of his finest creations.