June 24, 2025 |
Elegant, precise, soulful, intelligent: Francis Kurkdjian has all the intriguing qualities of one of his own blockbuster fragrances. It’s a big day for Christian Dior Parfums’ perfume creation director. Paris Fashion Week roars on outside, but here, in a serene art gallery in the 17th arrondissement, only the excitement of anticipation disturbs the calm. Today, Kurkdjian unveils Bois Talisman, his latest unisex fragrance creation for Dior’s exclusive La Collection Privée (the pinnacle of fragrance-making at the house, where the distinct olfactory silhouettes are inspired by Dior’s couture heritage). As the name hints, Bois Talisman is a woody oriental with bass notes of smoke and cedarwood and, like every Kurkdjian creation, it comes with a great story.
Kurkdjian, 55, believes in the power of narrative over concept. “A story has more possibilities; you create a story. A story resonates, there is a different savour. It’s more tactile, more tangible. A concept seems a bit more like a chemical formula and the story is the actual product. One has more soul and depth and feeling in touch than the other,” he says.
Bois Talisman is Francis Kurkdjian’s latest fragrance for Christian Dior Parfums, La Collection Privée
Since he joined Dior in 2021, Kurkdjian has viewed each scent he has created as an intimate conversation with the founder, Monsieur Dior. The two men may be separated by generations but Kurkdjian, who is as fascinated by their differences as their shared values, finds many points of intersection. The story of Bois Talisman starts with Christian Dior himself. During his research of the house’s archives, Kurkdjian came across a clip of the famed designer being interviewed on an American talk show in 1955. Dior was an early pioneer of far-flung fashion shows and was visiting the US to showcase a collection. In the clip, he talks of the good luck talismans he habitually carried on his person at all times. Among them a pair of hearts, a sprig of lily of the valley, a gold star, a four-leaf clover and a little piece of wood, which he touched several times a day for reassurance. It was the original bois talisman.
Francis Kurkdjian, Christian Dior Parfums’ perfume creation director; photography by Brigitte Lacombe for Christian Dior Parfums
“I knew that Christian Dior was superstitious even before I came to Dior, it’s a very well-known fact,” says Kurkdjian, relating how the designer would consult a fortune teller to help him with every major decision. “He wanted reassurance and wanted to be guided or have direction.” The perfumer’s own relationship with superstition is not quite so intense. He remembers his mother doing an ouija board and family members teaching him how to read the grounds in coffee cups as a child. “It was always playful, but for Dior it was very serious,” says the perfumer. And Kurkdjian does have a talisman of his own: a sugar cube he puts into the left pocket of his jacket. Unlike Monsieur Dior, who carried his talismans everywhere, the perfumer has only relied on it twice in his career. The first time was in 1995 when, aged just 26, he composed Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier, the fragrance which launched his career and went on to become a global blockbuster. The second was four years ago when he was interviewed by Bernard Arnault, the founder, chairman and CEO of LVMH (which owns Dior). He got the job (of course!). “So far, so good,” he says of the dynamic era he has ushered in at the house, where his approach is two-pronged. He has refreshed house classics, notably J’adore, launching an updated interpretation, L’Or de J’adore, in 2023. Meanwhile, last year, he introduced Sauvage Eau Forte, the first alcohol-free, water-based male scent that the French maison has produced. Alongside that, he has introduced exciting new additions to the Dior fragrance universe, with Bois Talisman his latest creation.
For the unisex Bois Talisman, with its cedarwood base note, Kurkdjian was inspired by a small piece of wood Monsieur Dior carried around as a good luck charm
For inspiration, he took Monsieur Dior’s wooden good luck charm, imagining it as a cedarwood pencil, and mixed it with his own lucky sugar cube. “The story is there: a piece of wood, a piece of sugar, see that, wood in vanilla – done. Easy. I think the great stories are the simplest ones,” he says of his supremely elegant thought process. But this apparent simplicity belies the mercurial sophistication of Bois Talisman – its powerful cedarwood core is layered with opulent sweet vanilla notes. Kurkdjian explains how he got there. “We didn’t know what type of wood it was,” he says of the house founder’s original talisman. “We don’t have the object, but we have pictures of the piece of wood. It looks like the tooth of a tiger or the tail of a pig. It’s kind of weird,” he says. “I decided to relate it to a pencil because I use pencils to write my formulas and Christian Dior used pencils to sketch the dresses. There was a common link between us and I used cedarwood because pencils are made from cedarwood. It’s a simple story.”
Added to that was the sweetness of vanilla in multiple nuances, from the lightest to the most opulent. Kurkdjian layered vanillin, one of the first synthetics used in perfumery, with the much richer (and far more expensive) vanilla essence, which smells more like the bean. “Vanillin is more powerful in terms of strength and it’s more long-lasting, but the vanilla brings the complexity and richness of the product. When you combine both you give texture, elegance and chicness,” he says, likening his layering of the scents to the construction of a tailored couture jacket. “You have your outside fabric, which is your vanilla bean, and inside it’s lined in linen, which is a cheaper fabric, but it’s the one that helps to maintain the whole thing. They both have a job to do.” Together with the dryness of the cedarwood, those vanillas create a warm, creamy richness that strikes an emotional chord.
La Collection Privée Christian Dior Bois Talisman, dior.com
Kurkdjian has always had the ability to go deeper. His story speaks to a life dedicated to fragrance and innovation, as well as an uncanny ability to catch the moment with scent. Born in Paris to Armenian parents, his interest in fragrance began aged 13. He studied at ISPICA (Institut supérieur international du parfum, de la cosmétique et de l’aromatique alimentaire, to give it its full name), a prestigious perfume school in Versailles, before doing a master’s in luxury marketing. He quickly made his way in the industry, with Le Male establishing Kurkdjian as a scent superstar. In 2001, he set up his tailor-made perfume workshop to create bespoke scents and over the years has worked with a plethora of designers (Rick Owens, Hedi Slimane, John Galliano) and luxury houses. In 2013, Baccarat commissioned him to create a fragrance to celebrate its 250th anniversary. Rouge 540 became one of the most coveted fragrances of the 21st century.
A new era of creation beckoned with Dior, one where Kurkdjian brings his unique creative approach. The perfumer has an encyclopaedic knowledge of essences and ingredients, but every time he sets out to create, it’s his heart he listens to. “How can I explain the technique?” he muses. “Basically, it’s like when you have the story in mind, you smell the perfume, at least I do. I have this story in my head and in my body, the feeling I have if I would smell the perfume, but there is no scent and my whole work is to create and blend with my raw materials the perfume that will give me that feeling.” It’s a long, careful, experimental process as formulas evolve. “I stop when what I had in my head matches what I have in my bottle. When I get there, then I am happy. And relieved,” he says, because there are occasions when heart, head and fragrance do not coalesce. Thankfully, for Bois Talisman everything came together beautifully but, says Kurkdjian, “I don’t always get there. Some stories and projects I have put on hold because I was not able to do it,” he sighs, subconsciously touching his pocket, where that lucky sugar cube lives.
Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 74 – MUSIC, TALENT, CREATIVE – on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
