Matiere Premiere: A New Direction in Niche Perfume

Caius von Knorring: For us, watching the flowers grow on our organic flower farm—the largest in the South of France—has always been essential. The idea was to go from farm to bottle, embracing a simple yet fully controlled process. By overseeing everything vertically, from sourcing to quality control, we ensure that anyone wearing a Matiere Premiere fragrance knows exactly what they are wearing and where it comes from.

First and foremost, quality and traceability are paramount. The other key element, as Aurélien mentioned, is style. Maintaining a consistent style across our entire collection is crucial. When you connect with the way Aurélien formulates for Matiere Premiere, you can relate to all of our fragrances, as they are created with the same philosophy. This consistency is something we deeply value.

What truly sets us apart is our unique way of formulating fragrances—you experience the raw material in its purest form when you smell a Matiere Premiere fragrance.

So even if you wear different Matiere Premiere perfumes, you can instantly recognize that they come from the same brand.

Aurélien Guichard: Yes, it’s all about short, direct formulas where you can truly feel the texture of the overdose.

When creating a perfume, what is your starting point? Is it like writing the first sentence of a story—where everything begins to take shape? And how do you know when it’s truly ‘finished’?

Aurélien Guichard: When I create fragrances in general, I work as a perfumer in service of a brand. But when I create for Matiere Premiere, I work in service of the main ingredient. The process always begins with selecting that ingredient—I search globally for different producers to find the perfect expression of the raw material, one that aligns with my vision while also working with people who have true expertise and a deep respect for nature. Once I find the ingredient, I study it—I smell it, I wear it in its raw form, and I ask myself, How can I turn this into a perfume? After countless modifications and trials, I turn to the people around me—my close circle, including Caius and Cédric, my friends and co-founders. We refine the fragrance together.

But the final test comes when people outside our team start wearing it. When industry experts, friends, or even strangers begin getting stopped in the street and asked, “What are you wearing?”—that’s when we know we’ve got something special. We never launch a fragrance until we reach that moment. It’s a must for us. Whether it happens in an elevator, while shopping, or just walking down the street—when people stop and take notice, that’s the magic.

Caius von Knorring: There’s a subjective side to fragrance—whether you personally like a perfume or not. But there’s also a more objective aspect: its performance. For Matiere Premiere, of course, smelling good is essential, but beyond that, the technical elements are just as important. Longevity is key—we want our perfumes to last all day—and so is projection, ensuring that people can smell you from one or even two meters away. These technical factors are something we always prioritize and refine.

Another thing I’ve noticed after working with Aurélien for so many years is that he always has a visual representation of the perfume in mind. His creative process is guided by this vision, and the composition of each fragrance moves toward realizing it. This is also reflected in the names of Matiere Premiere perfumes. For example, with Crystal Saffron, the idea was to create a bright, crystalline interpretation of saffron. Vanilla Powder was about transforming a vanilla bean into something airy and white, leading to the name. It’s this fusion of creative vision, meticulous craftsmanship, and technical excellence that defines Matiere Premiere—ensuring both a distinctive style and outstanding performance.

Aurélien Guichard: I think this is really important because, in most brands, there’s a name, a concept, and then a perfumer creates a scent to fit that vision. But at Matiere Premiere, it’s the other way around—we create the fragrance first, and from that creation, the name follows. The olfactive process is the cornerstone of everything we do. It drives the entire creative journey. Once we perfect the fragrance, the name comes naturally, and then we develop the visual identity to reflect the scent. But it always starts with the olfactive.

Longevity is key—we want our perfumes to last all day—and so is projection, ensuring that people can smell you from one or even two meters away.

Each of your perfumes has its own unique character, but which Matière Première creations stand out the most to you, and why?

Aurélien Guichard: I would say, without a doubt, my number one favorite is Radical Rose. It’s a dream come true—not just because it’s my favorite fragrance, but because it represents everything I’ve worked towards. Being able to grow our own roses, extract the essence, and use that in our own brand to create a fragrance with the purest rose essence in a bottle—Radical Rose is truly special to me.

That said, all the fragrances are my favorites in their own way. Vanilla Powder, for example, holds a special place because it added such a new dimension to Matiere Premiere. Since we launched it, whenever we travel the world to talk about the brand, people come up to us and say, “We’ve heard about you because of Vanilla Powder.” When we’re out in the street, we smell Crystal Saffron or Vanilla Powder and think, Wow, it’s magical. It’s incredible to think that just four years ago, we never could have imagined this.

Caius von Knorring: One of my personal favorites is Parisian Musc. I connected with it immediately. It felt effortlessly cool and wearable. The fragrance was all about capturing the energy of Paris during Fashion Week, and I think it does that beautifully. Falcon Leather is another very special one. It was almost like a lucky charm for us. We first launched it as an exclusive at Harrods, and it quickly became a top-selling fragrance there. That success led us to launch it globally, and it was also the first fragrance that earned us an article in Vogue. Interestingly, some of our most popular fragrances have also received industry recognition. Parisian Musc won Marie Claire’s Best Perfume of the Year award, and Falcon Leather has received multiple accolades as well.

And then there’s Crystal Saffron, which holds a special place for me. The saffron used in it comes from Kozani, in Greek Macedonia, where 900 families have been cultivating it for over 400 years through a cooperative. It’s incredibly meaningful for us to work with people who have such deep knowledge and respect for raw materials.

Aurélien Guichard: We love the idea that behind every creation, there are people. It’s something we’ve noticed often gets overlooked. But when you return to that balance—something real, tangible, shaped by hard work—you begin to appreciate the beauty of raw craftsmanship. There’s something deeply meaningful about the labor-intensive work of people who truly love what they do.

For us, creating fragrances isn’t just about the scent. It’s about honoring the raw materials and, in turn, respecting the people behind them. That philosophy runs through everything we do at Matiere Premiere, from formulation to ingredient selection to the very essence of what our brand represents. We may not always express it this way, but as we talk about it now, it’s clear that this idea is at the heart of everything we create.

For us, creating fragrances isn’t just about the scent. It’s about honoring the raw materials and, in turn, respecting the people behind them.

Today, the line between niche and commercial perfumery is becoming increasingly blurred. What does ‘niche’ mean in the world of perfumery today, and where does Matiere Premiere position itself within this landscape?

Aurélien Guichard: We never set out to create a “niche” brand. Instead, our goal was to build a brand that resonated with what I felt—and what we collectively shared—was cool and high-quality in perfumery. For me, it’s less about fitting into a category and more about staying true to quality while infusing it with a distinct style. Style is tied to uniqueness, and quality is rooted in expertise. Striking this balance is what we aim for.

I see some niche brands that are exceptionally high quality, while others are not. Similarly, there are selective brands that lack uniqueness, but also ones that stand out. So, categorizing a masterpiece as niche or not is always challenging. I see masterpieces everywhere. What we strive for is a commitment to savoir-faire, luxury, and uniqueness, setting ourselves apart in a meaningful way.

Caius von Knorring: Yes, I completely agree with Aurélien. This shared vision and intuition were at the core of Matiere Premiere from the very beginning. We never set out to create something exclusive for a select few—on the contrary, our goal was to make high-quality perfumery more accessible. We believed that the more people experienced true quality, the better.

That said, we didn’t anticipate just how much this category would expand or how passionate Gen Z and millennials would become about fragrance. It’s been a fantastic surprise, and I see it as a positive shift—it’s elevating the entire industry. Thanks to social media and the work of journalists like yourself, people are more informed than ever. The more you understand perfume, the more you appreciate its quality, craftsmanship, and the creators behind it. This growing awareness is driving the industry forward, encouraging brands to prioritize quality and helping people make more conscious choices about what they wear. So, overall, it’s a very exciting time.

Aurélien Guichard: And in a very humble way, I think fragrance houses like Matiere Premiere, along with a few others, have had a significant influence on the direction of the category in just five years. Today, we see more brands focusing on sourcing, growing their own ingredients, and emphasizing raw materials. It’s something we started working on over a decade ago when it was almost unheard of. It’s rewarding to see this shift happening. Of course, this evolution isn’t just because of us; there are other brands doing incredible, distinctive work as well. But looking back, as Caius mentioned, we never anticipated the extent of the impact we would have when we first started.

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