Zavelier · The perfumers
An apprenticeship with Pierre Bourdon and an instinct for emotional clarity
Richard Herpin grew up around the French Riviera, with the smells of precious woods in his father’s antiques workshop among his early impressions. Pierre Bourdon, part of the family’s circle, became an important teacher.
Herpin began as Bourdon’s apprentice, learning to treat each perfume as a complete creative work and to identify the essential idea rather than fill a formula with unnecessary details.
His later commissions included Tom Ford Oud Wood and work for houses such as Amouage and Van Cleef & Arpels. In his account for Endseen, Herpin describes a preference for an immediate emotional response, approaching creation as a form of improvisation. The idea begins with a feeling and is given shape through materials, colour-like associations and proportion. His career connects the discipline of a close apprenticeship with a spontaneous, personal response to the world around him.
Explore the fragrances
Discover the compositions represented at Zavelier. Shared credits identify fragrances created with other perfumers.