In 2005, a young perfumer created a masterpiece of modern perfumery. I
have hundreds of niche perfumes, and this was my signature scent. Year after
year, year after year.

In 2011 I started working at Comporta Perfumes and I
thought I'd ask her to create the mythical seventh perfume in the line, that
number symbolic of the great perfection of all mythologies. 

A fragrance with her marveled me, but I couldn't stand
her saying "No!" and if she said "Yes!", I didn't know if I
could set limits so that she could create nothing less than another masterpiece
of devotion. I felt I couldn't have everything she deserved.  So, we launched Comporta Perfumes with six
perfumes.

A year later, I gained courage and called her!!!!

Since then, Stéphanie Bakouche has created
"Ocaso", "A olhar Trancoso", "Camélia",
"50" and, with Bertrand Duchaufour, the perfume "WILL".

She has been my dilettante companion since 2018, when
I first approached her (well, with Chris Maurice, too) for discussions around
non-relevant perfumes or "key history" from the past or from other
brands. With whom I've chased special perfumes on violet notes or sniffed and
challenged the reformulation of "Iris Gris"... endless hours of small
talk.

She is the girl who was adopted by Grasse, but she is
also the girl who returned to Paris from the small town in the south of France.
Nothing new in her life considering that she had been in Paris for several
years, mainly studying and working at the "school of modernity" that
was L'Artisan Parfumeur.

The girl who graduated from ISIPCA and now teaches at
the Ecole Supérieure du Parfum, the very active member of L'Osmothèque: she
ideally combines in-depth technical knowledge with a deep knowledge of the
history of perfumery. To be a great perfumer, I believe you must master all the
technique, but also know the history.

Today, Stéphanie is a great friend with whom I discuss
the world, since it is the world that is always behind the concept of a
perfume.

Steph ended up designing the perfume that I wanted to
give to my friends when I turned 50. Today, everyone can wear it and enjoy this
perfume called "50". 

I've always been totally in tune with her when it
comes to designing the perfumes and she was probably the perfumer with whom I
had the fewest revisions of the samples she sent me for each of the perfumes.

Until we set about creating the perfume that will be
launched in 2025. What I asked her to do was also a challenge for her and I
thought she would never succeed. When I received the first sample, I almost
gave up on the concept of the perfume because I felt she wouldn't be able to
make it happen. I think I even said that to her, very quietly... For the first
time, she and I weren't on the same page. But "being on the same
page" takes work, a lot of effort, not just creativity or flowing on the
same energetic frequency...

She is immensely creative, but also very hard-working
and we had to review the concept of the perfume, discuss its positioning in the
market, what we really wanted to achieve.

We weren't on the same wavelength. I came close to
giving up a second and third time when the third set of samples reached me...
we were already at dozens of samples produced over time. I thought, for the
first time, that the perfumer who I think understands me best when creating our
Comporta Perfumes didn't understand me.

I was wrong and, lo and behold, another great perfume
will be born in a few months' time.