L'Artisan Parfumeur

Founded 1976 · Paris, France · Jean Laporte

L'Artisan Parfumeur invented niche perfumery as it is understood today: in 1976, long before the word existed, it was already selling author fragrances in short runs with literary names. Premier Figuier was the first fig perfume in history.

History

Jean Laporte, a chemist by training, opened the house in Paris in 1976 on what was then a marginal idea: perfume made as a craft, in small quantities and without advertising. A whole school came out of it. In 1994 Olivia Giacobetti composed Premier Figuier for the house, the first perfume built on the fig tree — leaf, milk and fruit — which opened an olfactory family that did not exist. Mûre et Musc, from 1978, is still in the catalogue. The house has changed hands several times and now belongs to the Puig group.

Iconic models

Premier Figuier (1994)
The first fig perfume in history. It opened a whole olfactory family.
Mûre et Musc (1978)
Blackberry and musk; still in the catalogue almost fifty years later.
Passage d'Enfer
Incense and lily, transparent; among the house's best loved.

Worth knowing

When it opened in 1976 the word "niche" did not exist in perfumery. L'Artisan is literally the house that founded the category every other name on this list competes in.