He prefers evenings to mornings, warm beach sand to snow, a hammam to a Finnish sauna. His life could be shared among several people: photographer, filmmaker, hotel owner, creator of the perfume brand Les Bains Guerbois. And all the recipients would be satisfied, because Jean Pierre Marois was born under a lucky star — most of his ventures simply succeed. “It’s thanks to enthusiasm, a character trait that best describes me,” he says. 

1885 Bains Sulfureux 

You climb the steps and enter Bains Guerbois. Paris, 1885. A newly opened temple of wellbeing and beauty, filled with the scent of flowers and herbs. An imagination-stirring mixture combining mandarin, rosemary and orange blossom. Its aroma rises above the Russian and Turkish baths. 

In the early 1970s your father became the owner of the tenement that housed the most famous 19th-century Parisian spa… 

Yes, he bought the building from the Guerbois family. He knew it was historically important, but he didn’t fully realize how much influence the Guerbois family had on culture.  

Did people talk about art at the spa? 

It’s not about the spa. If you Google “Guerbois,” the first results will show a café by that name. The Parisian bohemian crowd met there. At the end of the 19th century, the Impressionists held regular gatherings there. The café is gone today, but there is a commemorative plaque on the building that reads: “At this place the Impressionist movement was born.” Artists and art enthusiasts gathered around Édouard Manet used to come every Saturday to discuss painting, literature, theater: Émile Zola, Marcel Proust, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley. When I took over management of Les Bains Guerbois a dozen years ago, I hired an archivist to dig through the history of the place as if I were making a documentary about it. One day the fellow came to me and said, “I have good news — August Guerbois, the founder of the famous café, is the same person who owned the spa.”  

1978 Les Bains Douches 

Another endless night in one of the wildest nightclubs in the world. Follow the powdery scent. Downstairs, yuzu negroni for her, sage whisky for me. Ribbons of tobacco smoke weave a kind of magic. I lean against a cedar bar and watch her moving on the dance floor. 

What occupied the historic spa after your father bought the building? 

At first the lower part, where the baths used to be, was closed. Dad didn’t know what to do with it. Then two young guys (Jacques Renault and Fabrice Coat), in their early twenties, came to him and said: “Rent that space to us, we’ll make a restaurant, a concert hall and a nightclub like nothing Paris has ever seen.” Father politely declined (laughs). They kept calling him, so he stopped picking up. They came to his university lectures (he taught medicine). They stood up in the lecture hall — dad thought they were students — and in front of the full audience they said: “It’s us, the two guys you don’t pick up the phone for.” Then my father decided they were bold and pretty cool, gave them his lawyer’s number, and they rented the old spa. The rest is history: the two youngsters founded one of the most famous nightclubs in the world and called it Les Bains Douche. The interior design was done by a then-unknown designer, Philippe Starck; regular guests included: Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Jean Paul Gaultier, Emmanuelle Seigner, Linda Evangelista, Robert de Niro, Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson… 
 

Add the guests of Café Guerbois to that and you have an impressive roll call of famous names. 
 
And that’s just the guests. Intimate concerts at Les Bains featured: Joy Division, Depeche Mode, even Prince.  

Prince played for a handful of people in a nightclub? 

That was in 1992, after Les Bains had been taken over by subsequent tenants (Hubert Boukobza and Claude Challe). Prince came to Paris for a few days; he had a concert at the largest stadium, Palais Omnisports. He ate dinner at Les Bains every evening. One day he told the club manager: “If you put a drum kit on stage, get an electric guitar and a good microphone, I might use them.” That’s what happened. He played for thousands at the stadium and for 300 people at Les Bains. 

1992 Purple Night 

He arrives at Les Bains by limousine. Rumors have preceded him. A crowd outside, a crowd inside. He leisurely eats his dinner, then goes down to the club, leaving behind a trail of strong perfume. Tuberose, patchouli, mandarin. He goes on stage. For fun, not for money. For the pleasure. For the club. For those who happen to be there. A concert! Total magic. 

Do you remember the big opening of Les Bains Douche? 

I was a teenager then; it wasn’t my world yet. But already as a literature student I used to come there every weekend.  

You worked in various artistic fields: literature, photography, film. When did your artistic life begin? 

When I was born (laughs). My parents — both scientists; dad was a professor of medicine at the University of Paris, my mother is a doctor of biology — loved art. I grew up in the 6th arrondissement of Paris surrounded by beauty. I listened to classical music, went to museums, galleries, theaters and gardens with my parents. From the start they told me that beauty is an invaluable asset, that it enriches life. Maybe it’s a cliché, but an important one. I was most drawn to literature. My father wrote very well — not fiction, but scientific essays and articles; he was very well read. He hoped I would become a doctor like him. But I got into the Sorbonne to study literature.  

And quite quickly you began your adventure with photography… 

My friend, who was taking photos, decided to publish a book about beach volleyball in California. He played the sport himself, was fascinated by it and thought it was a photogenic subject. He asked me — as a literature student — to write the text. I agreed, went to the States; in Los Angeles I went to the beach with the whole team, watched how they played and how my friend photographed them. I was fascinated. I was about 24, finishing my studies, and decided: I will do fashion photography. First I was an assistant to Steven, and because I knew the right people, I quite quickly started working on my own. At 25 I took my first photos for Madame Figaro. I also worked for the Danielle Mitterrand – France Libertés foundation, for which I, among other things, photographed famous filmmakers: Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Anthony Quinn, Costa-Gavras, Andrzej Żuławski. I got to know them, had many fascinating conversations and thought that I preferred film to photography. Especially since I had already had contact with that world — I had been an intern on Jean-Paul Belmondo’s set. So I finished the Sorbonne and went into film.  

An intense life? 

I had a great time. New York and Paris in the ’90s were dazzling; so much was happening in them.  

How did your film career develop? 

I started with short films. But I didn’t give up photography entirely; I kept taking pictures. Until one of my short films caught the attention of the film world and I won several awards for it. I arranged a meeting with a well-known American agent, a big name in the business. I told him I wanted to make more shorts, that I already had ideas and plans. He said, very candidly in American fashion: “Listen kid, stop wasting time. Go home, write a feature film script and make it. What are you waiting for?” I went home, canceled all my short film plans and began to write a script, collaborating with Ira Israel. I sent the finished script to a studio and production soon began — American Virgin with Mena Suvari and Bob Hoskins in the lead roles. I directed my first feature film! But I wasn’t satisfied with the production side, so I founded Central Film. I produced, among others, “Mary,” directed by Abel Ferrara, with Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard and Forest Whitaker. In 2005 the film received the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.  

2015 Le Phénix  

In Paris nothing truly disappears, everything can be brought back to life. In 2015 Les Bains was reborn. Once again much happens in Maison Guerbois under domes in a subtle spiral of cardamom, papyrus and incense. All past days and today. This is Les Bains: 1885, 1978, 2015.  

How did the new era in Les Bains’ history begin? 

In 2009 the building that housed the Les Bains Douche club came under my family’s management. Tired of making films, I went on vacation to Bali. While there my mother called and told me I should immediately contact the building manager because the Les Bains tenant had gone mad and was doing illegal renovations. The manager confirmed my mother’s words. I called an architect, who checked the situation and said that if the tenant didn’t stop work, the building could collapse. I obtained an immediate order to stop the renovations (I handled everything from Bali), but it didn’t help. I fought for a long time until in July 2010 we finally evicted that madman from Les Bains for good. Then the city of Paris politely informed us that we had to repair the building or my mother, who owned it, would face prison. I consulted with her and proposed: let’s renovate it and turn it into a luxury five-star hotel. 

Where did that idea come from? 

I love architecture and good hotels. Before I took on the Les Bains renovation, I invested in them. 

Your three favorites are... 

Chiltern Firehouse in London, Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, Palace Bagni di Pisa in Tuscany. 

You opened Les Bains Guerbois in 2015. 

Since that year the hotel, restaurant, nightclub and spa have been operating. The tradition was preserved. 

Did you immediately want Les Bains to have its signature scent? The trend of hotels creating their own perfumes has been going on for quite some time. 

As soon as I started thinking about the hotel, I knew it should have a unique scent, like the famous Parisian Hotel Costes or the concept store Colette. And once I stuck my nose into the world of perfumery, I was hooked. 

Did you know perfumers? 

Only by reputation. I knew who Olivia Giacobetti and Jean-Claude Ellena were. The first time I met anyone in person was Dorothée Piot. I was obsessed with the Trudon Spiritus Sancti candle. It smells wonderful — comforting, but also refined and sexy. So I decided to find out who made it. It turned out to be Dorothée Piot, so I said I wanted to work only with her. I set a little trap to get her, we arranged a meeting, and I told her I wouldn’t leave her alone until she agreed to invent a scent for me to be diffused in Les Bains Guerbois (laughs). That aromatic elixir turned out beautifully, so I decided we should also make a candle and call it Atmosphère. 

Nice. 

Later I named one of my companies that. After the candle came the cologne, but that composition was created by Michael Almairac. In 2018 I debuted with three eaux de parfum — each of them tells the story of Les Bains — and I immediately received a FIFI Award.  

Did you know that it’s one of the most important awards in the perfume world? 

I had no idea! The name struck me as childish. FIFI sounded like “goofy.” Representatives of The Fragrance Foundation contacted the head of PR at Les Bains and asked if I would come to the ceremony. She said she didn’t think I would, and they replied that I should. I did some research and learned that the FIFI Awards for perfumers are like the Oscars for filmmakers. I went to the gala and accepted the award for 2015 Le Phénix — Best Scent of the Year in the Independent Brand category. On that occasion I met Dominique Ropion. I stood with him on stage smiling for a photo, so I told him I admired his compositions (truthfully) and asked if he would make a perfume for my brand. And he created — 1979 New Wave. 

Weren’t you tempted to direct commercials for your brand? 

I only produced them; the director and photographer was Ellen von Unwerth. 

Present 

Who are you now? 

That’s a question I ask myself in the morning when I look in the mirror still unshaven. Who is that man? 

That’s interesting too, but I mean which part of your professional life is the most important to you today. Are you a quarter hotelier, filmmaker, photographer, creative director of a perfume brand? 

Half of my time I spend on perfumes, and the other half on everything else. I didn’t realize how much time it takes to create a good scent and present it properly — I prepare descriptions for perfumers, invent new projects, write all the texts that tell the story of the perfumes. The Sorbonne gave me a good foundation for copywriting (laughs). Had I known how absorbing it all would be, maybe I wouldn’t have started. 

Have you gifted Les Bains Guerbois scents to the celebrities you worked with? 

I gave 1992 Purple Night to singer and model Lou Doillon, Jane Birkin’s daughter; Ellen von Unwerth also received it and loves that scent. It suits her perfectly! Nicolas Ghesquière received 2015 Le Phénix.  

Which Les Bains composition do you most like to wear yourself? 

I love them all. 

That’s a diplomatic answer. 

Really, I love them all! But I can’t wear all of them. I’ve taken a liking to 1900 L’Heure de Proust (bergamot, black tea, violets, Tuscan leather), 1978 Les Bains Douche, and in summer I love wearing 1979 New Wave (mint, iris, sandalwood). And of course 2015 Le Phénix — it suits my personality. 

And its most important trait is… 

Enthusiasm. First comes enthusiasm, and then the hard work is needed.