Kilian Hennessy: "Perfume should be a pleasure"

On February 19th, Kilian Paris arrived in Milan. The luxury fragrance house - renowned for its sophisticated style and refined approach to scents - has opened its first Italian boutique, choosing Corso Matteotti 1, right in the heart of the city. At the same time, the brand launched Angels' Share Paradis, a new fragrance. An intense and enveloping elixir where the sweetness of raspberry meets the elegance of Bulgarian rose, resting on a warm base of cognac, cinnamon, and tonka bean. To celebrate both the opening and the new scent, we had the opportunity to interview Kilian Hennessy, the brand’s founder, right inside his new boutique.

Kilian Paris: interview with the founder Kilian Hennessy

Do you like Milan? If you had to associate it with a scent, what would it be?

I really like Milan, but to me, it has always been a place of work, of business. I worked for Giorgio Armani for three years, a long time ago now. I used to come every month with products to show him. I can’t associate it with a specific scent, but for me, Italy in general smells like citrus.

How did your passion for fragrances begin?

I was at university and wrote a thesis on the semantics of scents. To better understand their language, I attended a perfumery school. I literally immersed myself in the ingredients. From that day on, fragrance took over my life.

What is the first fragrance you associate with a memory?

I have so many scent-related memories. I grew up in a family where all the women wore tuberose perfumes by Le Galion and Robert Piguet. My grandmother wore Poison by Dior. My first fragrance was from a perfumery in Cognac. Back then, there weren’t many men’s fragrances. I chose Vetiver by Guerlain. I still remember that day vividly: smelling all the fragrances, making my choice. I also remember my first big crush on a woman who wore Classique by Jean-Paul Gaultier, one of my favorites. I must have been 17.

Can you tell us a bit about the process of creating a fragrance?

Fragrance creation can take different forms. Sometimes it starts with a liquor. In that case, the process is more straightforward—I choose a liquor, like whiskey, gin, cognac, or absinthe, taste a few, and pick the most interesting one for its complexity. That’s how I created Roses on Ice, inspired by Hendrick’s gin, with notes of cucumber, rose, and juniper berries. For the The Cellars collection, the inspiration comes from travel. Intoxicated was inspired by Turkish coffee - hence the notes of coffee, vanilla, and cardamom. Moonlight in Heaven was inspired by a dessert I had in Bangkok: sticky rice with mango. For Good Girl Gone Bad, I started with Eve - the good girl created by God who bit the apple. I wanted to create a very feminine scent, using only flowers, from "good girl" ones to dangerous, narcotic ones. And so on.

And what about naming?

The name comes first. It’s my guide, my script. It depends on the emotions I want to evoke. I choose it like a director selects an actor. You don’t pick DiCaprio and Al Pacino for the same role. They’re different, and the performance changes depending on who you choose. It’s the same for me with fragrance names.

In a world increasingly fascinated by perfumery, what sets Kilian Paris apart?

I like to think it’s our uniqueness that makes us different. When you smell one of our fragrances, it’s not something you’ve encountered before. My approach is to overdose on the most expensive ingredient, which ensures I don’t get copied. I protect myself with the quality and quantity of ingredients in my formulas. Also, all our bottles are refillable. I believe true luxury shouldn’t be disposable. It’s wasteful to throw everything away after a single use. Uniqueness is hard to define, but I think you can feel it—even unconsciously.

Angels' Share Paradis is one of the most concentrated fragrances in the world. Was it challenging to create?

Creating an elixir, making a fragrance even more elevated, prestigious, luxurious, and intense, requires different approaches. Sometimes, it’s simply about increasing concentration. That’s what we did: we pushed the most powerful ingredients to their limit to make them even more present in the air. The challenge is that many of these ingredients, especially when used at high concentrations, exist only in powder form. In the end, a third of the formula is made from powdered ingredients! So, we had to develop it ourselves in our factory.

How many perfumes do you wear? How do you choose them?

At least 12. I go by my mood, but also the weather, what I'm wearing, and the occasion. If I’m going for a long walk, staying home with a book, or relaxing on the terrace because the weather is nice. In winter, I want something warm and comforting, while in summer, I prefer something fresh and light. I never do layering, though I did create a fragrance called Musk Butterfly specifically as a base. It enhances whatever perfume you apply on top, like a blank canvas, ready to be painted.

What do you think about TikTok trends that seem drawn to unusual, almost unpleasant scent notes? Why do small brands use them so much?

I wasn’t aware of this trend. Some of these notes, like animalic ones, have actually always been used in perfumery. They help fragrances last longer on the skin. Today, they’re no longer the original ones but synthetic versions that serve the same purpose. I also use gasoline notes, but in moderation. I really like them, I’ve used them in Can't Stop Loving You and Dark Lord. If a floral fragrance is too soft, too pleasant, I use them to add a bit of edge. We have 3,000 scent notes in perfumery, and many of them aren’t necessarily pleasant on their own. Using them is a quick way to stand out, which is why brands go for them. But my question is: even if a scent is unique and different, if it doesn’t actually smell good, will you really enjoy wearing it? That’s where things shift.

If a young person came to you asking how to become a perfumer, what would you tell them?

Go to school. Start there, with the ingredients. It’s a long journey, it takes 10 years. You have to be truly passionate.

And for someone who simply wants to explore perfumes as a consumer?

The best way is to smell samples. Brands now offer small discovery sets. Try them all, see how they make you feel. Do you react to them? Do you enjoy them? Do you like wearing them? Perfume should be a pleasure, not something overly complicated. Enjoy the journey.