Christine Nagel, Hermès’ in-house perfumer, is a synesthete and a storyteller. I met her for the primary time in individual earlier this yr (2024) to debate ‘Oud Alezan’, a heat and scent impressed by Nagel’s emotive encounter with a chestnut mare named Scheherazade, on the annual Saut Hermès in Paris. Her phrases, softly spoken in French, have been relayed by way of an interpreter. However I used to be captivated nonetheless.
‘Barénia’ is Nagel’s newest creation for the home since her appointment ten years in the past – and has taken virtually as lengthy to supply. It’s additionally the first-ever chypre scent profile in Hermès’ portfolio of fragrances. (The chypre perfume household is characterised by the distinction of recent high notes, often floral or fruity, and woody, mossy base accords).
In fact, within the arms of Nagel, Hermès’ iteration of a chypre is each distinctive and poetic. As she explains after we reconnect over a name, it’s a perfume that just about ‘melts’ into the pores and skin, shifting over time, just like the patina of the tender ‘Barenia’ leather-based it’s named after.
The story behind Hermès’ ‘Barénia’, a fragrance that took Christine Nagel practically ten years to make
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Anastasiia Duvallié)
Wallpaper*: ‘Barénia’ is the primary chypre perfume you’ve got created throughout your tenure at Hermès. What was the event course of like?
Christine Nagel: After I arrived at Hermès’, I instantly knew that I used to be going to make a chypre. As a result of, to begin with, I really like a chypre scent. It has essentially the most elegant construction. It’s sensual and it’s timeless. Hermès is a timeless home. However no person had straight requested me to make it, so I labored on the concept in my little nook, so to talk.
I wished to take my time to get to know Hermès and the Hermès lady. I saved coming again to the concept through the years. I could not simply go away it alone. And that’s shocking as a result of usually if you work on one thing for a really very long time, usually you get tired of it and transfer on to one thing else. However this really captured me.
I wished to take my time to get to know Hermès and the Hermès lady.
Christine Nagel
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Katie Burnett)
W*: Are you able to increase on the notes and elements utilized in ‘Barénia’?
CN: After I was growing ‘Barénia’ I used to be eager to search out uncooked supplies for a chypre fragrance which might be shocking and new. So, for the pinnacle notes, I used a bespoke Calabrian bergamot, made just for Hermès’. For the floral bouquet, it’s not rose, however slightly flower that comes from Madagascar, which known as the butterfly lily. That is the primary time it has been utilized in fragrance-making and is a fragile model of the large white lily that everyone knows. In terms of oakmoss, I choose to make use of one other a part of the tree, the roasted wooden, which just about makes you salivate. It makes you consider a rum; candy but additionally savoury.
I selected to work with two several types of patchouli. For the primary, I requested for Robertet to make a patchouli extract historically. I wished a really genuine patchouli, very sturdy. I mixed it with a second, artificial patchouli obtained by way of biotechnology from Givaudan known as Akigalawood, which resulted in a really distinctive signature.
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Anastasiia Duvallié)
W*: How does the miracle berry come into play?
CN: After I was round ten years previous, I had a whole assortment of legends and fairy tales from everywhere in the world. One stayed with me – it was a couple of magician residing in a baobab tree. He had magical powers of constructing all the things that was bitter, flip candy, even human nature. I assumed that story was so lovely.
So after I turned a perfumer, I attempted to search for one thing that will do that. Three or 4 years in the past, I found the miracle berry, which comprises a protein known as ‘miraculine’. This makes all the things bitter and bitter style candy. I obtained in contact with a younger Frenchman who was importing them and I requested to obtain 15 kilos to make an extract. What I ended up with was a bit like dried apricot. It makes your mouth water, however it isn’t too candy.
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Katie Burnett)
W*: The perfume is known as after Hermès’ ‘Barenia’ leather-based. Are you able to clarify how the 2 are related?
After presenting the perfume to Pierre-Alexis Dumas, and receiving his approval, I met with Philippe Moquet, who would design the bottle, to inform him the story of the scent. The design relies on Hermès’ ‘Collier de Chien’. Then, we had to consider identify. Naming it after ‘Barenia’ felt apparent, as a result of that’s the leather-based I really like essentially the most.
All perfumers are totally different. Some affiliate perfume and music. I’m half Italian, so I communicate with my arms. For me, tactility is essential. I describe my perfumes when it comes to texture; tender or spherical, onerous or crispy. And it was vital for me to make this chypre one thing that you just wished to plunge into. It’s the identical sensation that I’ve with ‘Barenia’ leather-based; I need to contact it. Artisans say that Hermès’ ‘Barenia’ leather-based ‘provides again the caress’. A chypre perfume is a perfume for the pores and skin; it too provides again the caress.
Artisans say that Hermès’ ‘Barenia’ leather-based ‘provides again the caress’. A chypre perfume is a perfume for the pores and skin; it too provides again the caress.
Christine Nagel
(Picture credit score: Pictures by Brigitte Lacombe)
W*: How does ‘Barénia’ communicate to the character of the Hermès lady?
Christine Nagel: A chypre is the essence of the Hermès lady: elegant, however not ostentatious. It’s an magnificence that’s virtually instinctive.
And I have to say, all the ladies who’ve impressed me in my profession have all the time been ladies with very sturdy instincts: Peggy Guggenheim, Sonia Delaunay, or Nancy Cunard, for instance. I believe the marketing campaign is gorgeous; the selection of Malgosia Bela felt becoming.
W*: Your perfumes all the time inform an emotive story. Why is that this vital to you?
Christine Nagel: Perfumers look to so many various sources for inspiration. It could possibly be an opportunity encounter, a meal at a restaurant, or a narrative from the historical past of the home they’re making a perfume for. However the story has to really feel genuine for the fragrance to be genuine. And each time, with each new perfume I make for Hermès, there can be an genuine story to inform.
hermes.com
Supply: Wallpaper
