Jean Claude Delville
Jean Claude Delville began studying perfumery at the age of 17. He is living in Manhattan where he enjoys walking and exploring the always evolving New York urban landscape and sometimes unexplored gardens. He is a marathoner who enjoys running for the physical and meditative state of mind and a way to pulse imagination and creativity. He has worked for international major groups such as Quest, Creations Aromatiques, IFF, Firmenich, Symrise and more recently for Drom. Jean Claude is the creator of acclaimed and timeless fragrances for Designers and major Fashion Houses such as Jean Couturier, Gres, Givenchy, Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, Jo Malone, and Vera Wang to name a few. His creation Clinique Happy (1998) entered the Fragrance Foundation Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017, Jean Claude Delville co-founded The Society of Scent, an innovative digital platform dedicated to Scent Culture, with its own Laboratory located in the South Bronx. Here is what he had to say about himself in a recent conversation:
“Combining colors, music notes, taking pictures of flower arrangements were a simple passion and I knew that I could have spent long hours playing with any of these elements. As a teenager, life caught me by surprise and gave me a chance to become a perfumer, a rare job, fascinating, different, full of joy and tears. I was born in Paris France but very early, traveling, exploring and discovering new sensations were like an addiction. After many years on the road I realized that my heart and soul would always be away from my roots and after experiencing America I realized that New York City was the place where I belonged and felt free to create. When life is inspiring me to create a perfume, I escape, I transcend, I forget the world and disappear into my research. It is a very particular experience. I have been called a French revolutionary and I love it, if that’s what it takes to capture a new emotion in a bottle , tell a new story, a new melody. I am a lucky man, I love what I do and I want to continue to design very special fragrances.”
Jean Claude Delville in retrospect by Miguel Matos/ Fragrantica
