How did your mother, Annick Goutal influence your love for Perfume? She did not really influence me as she wanted me to do what I wanted. It was really important for her to be passionate by the job you are doing so she wanted me to find my real passion and it was photography. I started as a photographer and when my mother was really ill she asked me if I can continue her work with her assistant and friend Isabelle Doyen. I did not have the chance to work with my mother but I had my own teacher at home Isabelle. She is teacher at ISIPCA our nose school in Paris. It was quite easy and normal for me to become a perfumer as I always saw my mother working her notes and as it is another way than photography to express your feeling.What are your most memorable childhood olfactive memories:My grand father house scent and also all the walk I did with my mother when she crumbled leaves in her hand and try to educate my nose….What are some of your favorite notes?The white flowers…I am a real fan of those very fragile flower that have a so strong sensual scent. I have created a perfume for me called Songes and it is really the kind of scent I treasure. It was in memory of my honeymoon in Mauritius. When you are walking at nightfall on the beach there a very strong scent is surrounding you and it is frangipani flower so when I came back to Paris I wanted to capture my feeling on that beach and this particular flower in a perfume. I took me 5 years to create it and each time I spray it on me I travel on an island!What's is the fragrance that you're currently working on?We are working on our vision of an Italian romantic garden called Ninfa. We imagine it through pictures and word of mouth and we have created a perfume based on that as it was really inspiring. It is a very wild luxurious private garden with so beautiful plants and trees that we were completely travelling out of time. Our perfume is called Ninfeo in homage to the river of that garden.What is the most enjoyable part of creating a perfume?Tough question…I like the whole process. I like when smelling completely new ingredients as you imagine new perfume, you are being inspirited and also the step when you found a new mix or a new ingredient to add that match perfectly your idea. It is another step to your final scent….What are some of your personal favorite classics created by your mom?My favourite perfume is Ce Soir ou Jamais (Tonight or Never), undoubtedly because I watched my mother working on this perfume for a ten year period, even at the hospital, looking for her ‘perfect rose’. It is the story of a rose she smelt in a garden near an abbey in the South of France, over 15 years ago now. The smell of this rose intoxicated her so much that she obsessed over it and wanted to make a fragrance from it. The result is a delicate breathtaking rose ensemble. It is a magical fragrance, carrying an incredible trail. This was her last creation; probably the most personal, i is therefore very moving for me today to smell it.What is the story behind Mon Petite Cherie?This is a fragrance my mother composed for me in 1998. She gave it this name, since it was what she used to call me. It’s always an irresistible fragrance and is one of the best sellers among the Annick Goutal perfume range. It takes you back to childhood with its fruity notes of pear combined with musk rose and freshly cut grass softened with vanilla. When you breathe in this alluring fragrance there’s an irresistible desire to embrace it.BONUS: If the city of Paris was a human woman, which fragrance in the collection do you think would be her signature fragrance?Grand Amour as it is a very chic, sensual and feminine perfume. This scent has a very strong temper and could be Paris signature fragrance… Grand Amour is also a declaration of love to my mother’s husband…the man of her life, who offered her a bunch of white flowers, usually lilies every single week so it is very romantic like Paris.www.annickgoutal.com