Interview/ Jean-Claude Ellena Perfume up against the market

Jean-Claude Ellena has been the in-house perfumer at Hermès since 2004. Before joining Hermès, he created a number of perfumes including First (1976) for Van Cleef & Arpels, l’Eau parfumée (1992) for Bulgari and Déclaration (1998) for Cartier. At Hermès he created the Hermessence collection (sold exclusively in the Hermès stores), Un Jardin sur le Nil (2005), Terre d’Hermès (2006) and Kelly Calèche (2007). In 2008, he created the third part of the Parfums-Jardins d’Hermès collection, Un Jardin après la Mousson. He has also created scents for the Artisan Parfumeur, the Editions Frédéric Malle and The Different Company.

In September 2007, Jean-Claude Ellena published the new version of Que sais-je ? Le Parfum with the Presses Universitaires de France that followed on from the original that was written in 1980 by the perfumer Edmond Roudnitska and most notably the creator of Eau d’Hermès in 1951, the first perfume ever brought out by Hermès. Jean-Claude Ellena has also published Mémoires de parfum (with Josette Gontier, Equinoxe, 2003).