Maison Francis Kurkdjian

IdentityMAISON FRANCIS KURKDJIAN

Maison Francis Kurkdjian was co-founded in 2009 by Francis Kurkdjian, a renowned perfumer with scores of successful creations to his name, and his long-time friend and business advisor Marc Chaya, a former partner in business advisory at Ernst & Young. The founding duo have applied their complementary talents to conceive a new territory of free expression in contemporary fragrances – sensual, generous and multi-facetted – where the perfume is naturally the hero.The Maison is guided by precise codes: purity, sophistication, timelessness and the boldness of a reinvented classicism. Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian’s remarkable creative talent defines the unique personality of his eponymous house, where different facets of exceptional expertise come together and echo one another, providing the fundamentals on which Maison Francis Kurkdjian has been built, shaping its singular quality. With a focus on deliberate and sound international expansion, Maison Francis Kurkdjian is currently present in more than fifty countries.Maison Francis Kurkdjian is committed to a long-term vision and to passing on unique savoir-faire. Since its creation, our teams and our partners have been united by meaningful values that anchor the renown of the Maison. A deep respect for creativity, a love of the product and an unwavering focus on detail and quality have always guided our choices, enabling us to bring customers exalting experiences through fragrances.

Francis Kurkdjian and Marc Chaya © François Roelants

Maison Francis Kurkdjian is committed to a long-term vision and to passing on unique savoir-faire. Since its founding, our teams and our partners have been united by meaningful values that anchor the uniqueness and renown of the Maison. A deep respect for creativity, a love of the product and an unwavering focus on detail and quality have always guided our choices, enabling us to bring customers exalting experiences through fragrances.

Marc Chaya

CEO and co-founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian

2009
CREATION OF MAISON FRANCIS KURKDJIAN
5
RUE D’ALGER, PARIS. ADDRESS OF THE MAISON’S FIRST BOUTIQUE
60
COUNTRIES WHERE MAISON FRANCIS KURKDJIAN
FRAGRANCES ARE SOLD

ICON

Internationally-renowned perfumer Francis Kurkdjian has designed visionary fragrances that meld uncompromising quality and contemporary flair. For more than 20 years he has explored new creative territories in fragrances through his own bespoke fragrance atelier, collaborations with artists and pop-up installations.

Francis Kurkdjian, Creative Director and Perfumer © François Roelants

ENGAGEMENT

Long-term projects supported by Maison Kurkdjian spring from sharing of savoir-faire and mutual sensibilities. Conceived by Francis Kurkdjian and the gardeners of the Trianon estate at the Château de Versailles, the Perfumer’s Garden is the fruit of a mutual desire to share their respective knowledge and know-how with a broad public. Open since 2023, the Perfumer’s Garden enables visitors to discover hundreds of plants, their use in perfume-making and the rich history of perfumes in the court of Versailles.Maison Francis Kurkdjian continues its active support for the living world by partnering the nonprofit Longitude 181, which works to protect sperm whales in the Mediterranean. The whales secrete ambergris, a natural material long used in crafting perfumes. Studies conducted by Longitude 181 enable a better understanding of how the sperm whales live in order to better protect them.

ARTISTIC CONVERSATIONS

The founding vision of Maison Francis Kurkdjian is inspired by creativity and its myriad expressions through unique artistic and cultural projects, bringing fragrance into unexpected realms.In 2003, Francis Kurkdjian met artist Sophie Calle, who asked him to create “The Scent of Money”, his first fragrance installation. This marked the beginning of an ongoing aesthetic quest to erase the lines between disciplines and the five senses, leading to striking olfactory creations for some of the world’s most renowned cultural institutions. Drawing on his passion for music, Francis Kurkdjian has recently explored new experiences, composing scents whose notes resonate with concerts and operas, guided by the interpretation and emotion of the musicians. In March 2024, for the Cocteau/Philip Glass trilogy at the Cité de la Musique in Paris, he composed three fragrances that created a unique harmony with the performances by pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque in a thoughtful staging by Cyril Teste and Nina Chalot, all friends of the House.

OUR EXCEPTIONAL TALENTS

I’m International Education and Customer Events Manager at Maison Francis Kurkdjian. I develop our training strategy and implement it worldwide in liaison with our local teams, creating specific tools and content. I also work on different types of events for our customers to bring them an immersive experience as they discover the universe of our Maison. At the same time I work with our Master Perfumer, Francis Kurkdjian, to smell, evaluate and express in words his different creations for the Maison.