Mathilde Bijaoui | Perfumer

Sensory imagination supported by new ways of extracting scent

Mathilde Bijaoui’s interest in a perfume career began with a visit to the Osmothèque in Versailles. Food, colour and everyday aromas also formed part of the sensory world she later brought into composition.

She joined Mane in 2004, beginning in Le Bar-sur-Loup before moving to Paris. Her work has included close creative collaborations, such as Like This with Tilda Swinton for État Libre d’Orange, and shared projects including Mugler Womanity.

Bijaoui’s first-person accounts connect invention with research. New molecules and extraction methods can make previously inaccessible smells available to a perfumer, opening different possibilities in a formula. For Like This, Swinton’s personal world and the colour orange helped develop a composition involving ginger, immortelle and a pumpkin-like accord. The project illustrates how technical resources, a creator’s sensory imagination and a direct relationship with a collaborator can come together in one fragrance.