This Maradona is fundamentally different from the fiery Diego. Tall, slim, reserved with strangers, he only gets going after a glass of champagne and discovering that they share his passion – perfume. The starting point from which he moves to poetry, sensuality, life. At least that was how it was when I talked to him this spring. We met on the occasion of the launch of the fragrance he composed for Maison D’Orsay. I met Dominique Ropion a dozen years ago, during the promotion of Thierry Mugler’s Alien perfume. It was my debut interview with the famous nose (Dominique had already collected accolades then, among others for Dune created for Dior, Amarige for Givenchy, Jungle for Kenzo). I was nervous, and he probably felt tired of answering almost identical questions from journalists. (Does he believe Alien will match Angel?). It went as it went – without fireworks. 

This time I was hoping for more.  It started intimately with a light spring breakfast in a Parisian townhouse, in the studio belonging to Amélie Huynh, owner of the Maison D’Orsay brand. It was pleasant; we were getting to know perfumery owners from various parts of the world, curiously sniffing the new composition – powdered iris, delicate, soft, you wanted to wrap yourself in it like a fine muslin. And then Dominique Ropion arrived, which electrified everyone. A small Korean team began almost jumping with excitement, an excited Portuguese woman reached for cold water to cool her blushes, and the previously composed Japanese woman sobbed into a handkerchief: “I never believed I would meet him.” Ah, that Maradona! 

I didn’t join the first wave of fans, I waited, drank coffee and watched. I had never before seen a perfumer cause such a stir. But after all, he composed so many hits that lasted longer than a season that more than one rock or rap star or whoever else could envy him. I approached when he reached for his second glass of champagne and was already warmed up. Without the watchful eyes of PR people we spoke freely, like acquaintances. I told him about our first meeting.

Dominique Ropion: You must have been nervous, I’m not the best conversationalist and I don’t like crowded events. Did you at least manage to write something from it? 

Joanna Lorynowicz: I did, but I had the impression that I had wasted the opportunity, and a second one might not come along.

Fortunately it did. You can ask me whatever you like.

About love?

About that too.

We won’t escape love, because Maison D’Orsay is a perfumery house that weaves stories on that very subject.

I knew that when I took on the collaboration with Amélie. I like to tell stories about love. By means of scents, of course. When I learned the name of the perfume, Sur tes lèvres (On your lips), I thought of lovers about to kiss. Of the tense moment when one pair of lips is just about to embrace the other. 

How do you turn that very intimate moment into a scent? 

Oh, just imagine it! And my imagination suggested the aroma of a luxurious lipstick, powdery-violet. Innocence and sensuality, a good pair to start the story.

Is the main protagonist the iris?

The iris was an obvious choice; it has violet notes. Although it’s not just any iris, I worked with an ingredient of exceptional quality, the absolute from the Monique Remy Laboratory – the best you can use today. I achieved a powdery softness by adding ambrette absolute (Abelmoschus moschatus) from the same source. There is also jasmine – sensual, animalic, wild. The whole is not cloying or heavy, but warm and dry, because we also have pink pepper and cashmeran molecules.

Do you like synthetic ingredients?

I do. I don’t divide them into synthetic and natural. Both are needed. And that’s not new. Without aldehydes, for example, there would be no Chanel N°5. 

Today you have a lot of synthetic molecules to choose from, yet some perfumers claim that using them is a shortcut – chemically obtained in a laboratory, always identical. Unlike natural ones, those are variable, “they have a soul.”

Luckily I don’t know any such perfumer; I would tell him that it’s a pointless discussion. Everything has its pros and cons. And usually we combine natural ingredients with synthetic ones anyway. Quality matters, it is the most important. New technologies allow us to obtain plant extracts of a class never seen before, and the same goes for synthetic molecules.

Is contemporary perfumery more science or art?

Art, of course! You know, I even dreamed of studying the hard sciences, but I’ve always had artistic leanings and they won. Science, however, supplies us with ever better tools.

Not only science causes the perfumery world to change. Once in France it was a profession reserved for men…

I’m glad there are more and more women in it; they bring a lot to perfumery. You have a different sensitivity than we do, and the more points of view, the greater the diversity and choice for those who reach for fragrance. We have many talented women at International Flavors & Fragrances (editor’s note: a corporation bringing together the best perfumers, dealing, among other things, with the production of scents for various industries).

Which one should I pay attention to?

I watch with interest how Caroline Dumur’s career is developing. Very talented and she also collaborated with Maison D’Orsay – she created for them a beautiful composition Une rose au paradis R.B. I teach the next generations of perfumery and I’m quite pleased that I’ll have successors, both men and women.

When you look back at your fragrances, are there any you are particularly proud of?

I don’t single any out. They’re all my children, I love them. I always recognize on the street when someone smells of a perfume I invented.

In your opinion, what makes a good fragrance?

One that is memorable, even when you don’t like it. It’s a sign that the perfumer did his job well. You know, it’s similar with people: someone who has a distinctive character, beauty, some special trait, is remembered. 

You speak poetically. 

Poets love words, that’s how they can write poems. On the same principle, a perfumer should love the ingredients he works with. Only then will he compose a good whole from them. And one more analogy – the finished result of my efforts is not meant to please me, but the audience. I create for them.

Sur tes lèvres – in short: powdered iris. If you like the scent of skin freshly dusted with talc, you’ll enjoy it. But don’t look for childish notes in this perfume; it’s a scent for adults, subtly sensual. It doesn’t stupefy, and it pleasantly surprises when it reveals its spicy side.