Francis Kurkdjian has offered audiences the chance to smell sex, grief, and everything in between, and at 57, the master perfumer is showing no signs of slowing down. September brought Oud Velvet Mood, his latest experiment, which translates the feel of velvety fabric into scent.
In the new documentary ICON(S): Maison Francis Kurkdjian, he’s seen inviting artists to reimagine Baccarat Rouge 540 through music, sculpture, and even chocolate. “Music and perfume share the same invisible architecture,” he explains. “A note in music and a note in perfume are not so different; they have a tempo, a resonance, and an intensity.”
In his Oud collection, the perfumer uses scent to express how fabrics feel, look, and drape the body. With smoky oud as the throughline, Oud Velvet Mood—the newest in the collection—captures the embrace of velvet via a nuzzly peachskin accord. Oud Satin Mood uses a spicy green violet note for the lambent shimmer of satin; ethereal Oud Silk Mood floats with an easy-breezy rose. “Rather than creating an oud fragrance simply for the sake of it, my goal has always been to reveal facets that have never been experienced,” Kurkdjian shares.
Many historic fragrances relied on ingredients now banned or impossible to source, leaving their formulas to drift over time. “I wanted to go back much further—to the original state or as close to it as possible,” Kurkdjian explains.
What does a man who makes a living capturing the intangible hold dear? Speaking with CULTURED, we let Kurkdjian have the final word.
The people: “Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Maria Callas, Catherine Deneuve, and, of course, the women of my family: my grandmother, my mother, and my sister.”
The home fragrance: “Papier d’Arménie is iconic because it has remained almost unchanged through generations. It is modest and poetic at the same time—a simple object with an instantly recognizable scent and emotional power.”
The note: “Oud is the most sophisticated and complex wood in the perfumer’s palette—a material of extraordinary expressive potential, with incredible, raw, animalistic nuances, which was neglected for a long time by Western perfumers.”
The book: “Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu. Proust’s work transformed memory and scent into something universal and deeply artistic. As a perfumer, I am fascinated by the way he expressed the invisible power of smell through literature.”
The drink: “A great Bordeaux is the result of patience, transmission, and balance. Like perfume, wine is about composition, texture, and emotion evolving over time.”
The room: “The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles captures the grandeur and artistic ambition of French culture. It is immersive, theatrical, and emotionally unforgettable.”
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