Jean Carles
His analytical approach trained generations of perfumers, and became the basis of teaching in many schools.
Jean Carles (1892-1966) was one of the great architects of 20th-century French perfumery. Initially self-taught, he joined Roure Bertrand Dupont in Grasse, before becoming the official perfumer for Dana and Caron, two prestigious houses for which he would sign his masterpieces.
A visionary, Jean Carles revolutionised composition by developing a rational learning method based on structure, contrasts and olfactory memory. His analytical approach trained generations of perfumers, and became the basis of teaching in many schools, notably Roure, where he created a learning programme that is still used today.
His fragrances have become legendary, including Tabu (1932, Dana), a boldly sensual fragrance, Ma Griffe (1946, Carven), a pioneering green chypre, and Pour un Homme (1934, Caron), a timeless masculine fragrance with lavender and vanilla.
Although he suffered from partial anosmia in the last years of his life, he continued to create using his exceptional olfactory memory - proof of his genius and rigour.
Jean Carles remains a founding figure of modern perfumery: an inspired creator, a genius teacher, and a man who transformed intuition into method, instinct into poetic science.
