Interview with Sebastien Lacouture | Discovering the magnificent world of perfumes

 

What’s Up! Sabadell hosted guest speaker Sebastien Lacouture. Sebastien is an internationally recognised French & Swiss perfumer. He works in creating fragrances for the Carinsa Group.

Sebastien led a Masterclass called “Behind the perfume” where students turned their senses on and let their noses do the work! 

Hello Sebastien, tell us a little about yourself.   

Well, I have always been interested by smells from an early age as well as science.  At the age of 14, I discovered that I could combine both passions and I started looking for information on the industry of perfumery. I then studied chemistry and was lucky enough to be able to enter a school specialising I flavour and fragrance in France (ISIPCA). I wake up every day feeling lucky to be able to fully enjoy my passion.

I started my career in Paris, then Geneva and spent 12 years in the UK. By the end of 2015, I had the opportunity to join Carinsa and moved with my family to Barcelona.

Do you think your target audience has changed in the last decade? 

Well, I believe that a change has come with new technologies and internet. It impacts our life and the way companies work. People are after new fragrances and change their taste very quickly. In the top 20 of the best-selling fragrances today, several ones were created after 2010. It can be compared to the music industry. Who listens to a CD several times today? We are now used to quick changes and fast availability for everything. To give you numbers, there were over 2000 new fragrances launched in 2016 compared to 60 in 1980!!! The same applies to fragrances used in the home care and cosmetic products. This industry is very dynamic.

What can you tell us about the latest discoveries in the field?  

Perfumery is my passion because every day is different. We have new challenges and more than anything else, we can smell new ingredients.

New chemicals are released every year and available to perfumers. Also, new methods of extractions, biotechnologies, a better understanding of the nature give us the opportunity to rediscover natural ingredients.

I am always amazed to smell a bit of the nature in a small bottle. New chemicals also give new dimension to our creations.

We know perfume and sensorial marketing go hand in hand. What changes could we expect in the future? 

Marketing is generally very important in our industry. It goes in hand with creation. You can compare this to a present. When you open a gift, for any occasion, the package is as important as what is inside. I believe it is the same with fragrances. I often bought fragrances because I thought the bottles where amazing, my favourite being “Midnight in Paris” by Van Cleef&Arpels.

So marketing is key to fragrances. Sensorial marketing is pretty new, it’s a way to provide people another sensory dimension to discover an object. How sensory inputs can drive consumer behaviour? The sense of smell is very primitive, people don’t usually have an “educated” nose. I suppose that the perception of a smell can lead to unpredictable reactions. A photo can shock you, make you dream, travel … the same goes with the smell.

Marketing communication was essentially a monologue, it now becomes more of a multidimensional conversation. We need to find ways for consumers to viscerally remember a product or a brand, using the sense of olfaction is a very powerful one.

How important is it to have English Skills in order to work in your field? 

This is indeed very important! To be successful, you needto be able to communicate with the world. It is very often the only way to communicate with our customers, when doing business with the Middle East, Asia, America and Europe, for example. It can also offer more opportunities, if you are confident when you speak English, you will be more inclined to expend your business abroad. Furthermore, most of the literature and conferences today are in English.

Name 3 moments in which English has been personally and/or professionally rewarding for you. 

1. Personally, I still communicate with my (Spanish) wife in English and watching a movie in its original (often English) language is an evidence to me.Dubbing movies should be internationally banned!

2. I also need it to communicate with half of my friends, my life would be pretty sad if I couldn´t speak English.

3. Professionally, I need it on a daily basis. And I am not even talking about travelling abroad …

At the end of your Master class our students received a What’s up! perfume tester. What does it smell like? 

This fragrance is a cologne, from the citrus family. It opens with fresh and light top notes of citruses, orange, lemon and bergamot. The heart is created around the cedar wood from Virginia (think of the smell when you sharpened your pencil) and modern woody ingredients. The base notes are very musky and ambery and help the fragrance last longer on your skin. It also adds a very soft and gentle accord of “ambregris”. Ideal to seduce!

                                                   

Si quieres perder el miedo al inglés de una vez por todas… ¡Apúntate a la English Revolution en Sabadell!