Could you tell us briefly about yourself?
I am Briac FROCRAIN, I am 34 years old. In life I'm a jack of all trades, I like to create projects and imagine things. My interest is in the senses in general, sound, taste, sight and smell of course. When I was young, I practiced a lot of music, I went through architecture studies which I always thought could lied me to everything. Then I worked as a fashion designer to continue my career in perfumery !
When did your passion for perfume begin?
Even though I was experimenting with scents at the age of 8, extracting scents from plants in the garden was just one of the many activities I enjoyed doing as a child. Perfumery did not become a passion overnight. However, around the age of 25, I discovered that it was the discipline that most closely matched my interests and in which I had much to express. I have always worked on the question of the body (in the habitat, in the clothing, through its postures in society etc.) Perfumery was for me a way to get closer to the body and to express things that I had not yet felt. Thanks to many years of collecting raw materials and mixing them as a hobbyist, I started.
What was the first perfume you created?
The first perfume I created was a mixture of alcoholic and fatty extract of flowers from the garden, I was 8 years old, it was horrible!
Did you get any education and help about creating perfume ?
I started on my own without having studied the subject. On the other hand, it is a discipline on which I am always and for a long time documented. Also by entering the perfumery market, I surrounded myself with interlocutors and partners who can instruct me and with whom I can collaborate. To put a perfume on the market, I always call upon perfumers and laboratories who have the necessary knowledge of chemistry, the materials that can be used or not, who know how to work the juice so that it is stable and qualitative. We maintain a creative dialogue which largely completes my personal mixtures which would not be completely marketable.
What are the perfumes you use other than your brand? And favorites?
I often use perfumes that are not finished. I wear mixtures, agreements of materials in order to think about them and to carry them towards a project. It is for me the best way to build projects and to reflect on the body odors. I wear very little commercialized perfume.
What are your inspirations while creating perfume?
My everyday life, my passion for cooking and botany, everything around me can be the origin of a new project. It is difficult to talk about inspiration eventually, it is more about manipulating emotions and desires through everyday life.
Which your perfume is your favorite?
Frankly, as each perfume is a story, the result of various feelings, I am unable to have a favorite one.
What is your favorite notes? My opinion castoreum
Right now my favorite material is black lemon. It is a lemon that comes from Iran, after being dried, it develops fantastic woody, animalic and waxy facets. It is not found in extract for perfumery. It is used in cooking. I have made some incredible extracts of it but I use it as an inspiration for perfume creation.
İs there any perfumer you liked works?
Yes, I sometimes work with them! Like right now Stéphanie Bakouche who is a patchouli fan and who manipulates it wonderfully. I also like the work of Marc Antoine Corticchiato for the brand Parfums d'Empire who manipulates animal notes in a way that I like very much. Marlou has recently been introduced at Sainte Cellier in London, a boutique created by Brook Belldon, an admirer of Germaine Cellier. Her work and her presence as a woman have been very important in the history of perfume. She created perfumes that stood out, reflecting her personality, especially through daring and very accurate overdoses, creating balances that were unknown at the time.
You don't have a long history in the perfume world, but you managed to draw attention in a short time. What is the secret of this success?
There is no secret. In my opinion, as in any creative activity, the practice becomes interesting when you propose an honest and singular discourse. In the perfumery market, where many brands copy each other, where many perfumes are created with empty ideas and without passion, having consistent discourse with be necessarily noticed.
İ guess that you use mostly natural ingredients in your perfumes. What do you think about synthetic notes?
There is a lot of confusion about natural and synthetic. It's a distinction that I don't find relevant as it is currently defined. The general public tends to think that synthetic is necessarily a cheap imitation of natural. However, what we call synthetic can come from natural. To isolate a molecule from a flower is to produce a synthetic material and this one can be extremely expensive. By the fact that it does not exist as such in nature it can be very interesting for its abstract side. The synthetic can bring a lot in the creation. Also and contrary to popular belief, the natural is not necessarily harmless, we generally have more problems of allergies with natural materials that are very complex and less controllable than synthetic materials known and controllable. Everything is a matter of common sense and accuracy.
Ambilux is a materpiece perfume, It became one of my favourites at first sniff. Very strong and high quality animalic perfume. I see perfumes title “similar to ambilux” on some forum sites. What does Ambilux mean to you?
Ambilux is the most daring of our 3 fragrances. It's the one that marked an important step in our brand image, moreover, among our customers, it's the one that people are most passionate about. Ambilux is also very personal, it's a work on summer sweating and dunes by the sea that refers directly to where I come from on the Atlantic coast in France.
Your perfumes contain animal notes and you create naturel body scents. So what is the philosophical thought in this?
First of all, it is a way to go back to some of the origins of perfume. The use of animal materials is very old. Animals secrete substances to attract their fellow creatures. Humans have taken these substances to attract each other. This parallel is amusing and very questioning on our condition. Besides we often attach the smell to a primary state of the human being, the human being close to the animal. To work with the odors of the body, it is also to question the clean and the dirty in our society. To question attractive and repulsive signals. I wish that the presence of the body comes back a little more in our olfactory communication. It is possible to do it with subtlety. Working with body odors is also about creating perfumes that attach themselves to the body, that dialogue with it to shape a body personality rather than a mask.
I understand that the smells in the essence of human, inspire you. Can we interpret your perfumes as a return to one's self?
Yes I think perfume is first of all something for oneself anyway. Wearing a perfume that you don't like can be extremely unpleasant to the point of changing your behavior. Also, choosing a perfume that dialogues with your body odor is very intimate. Wearing it is a way of communicating this intimacy to others in ways other than words.
Could you tell us briefly about your next perfumes?
Our next fragrance will be released soon at the end of this year 2022. It is a work on the iris and its earthy facets carried on a more leathery and equestrian animality.
What would you say perfume lovers in Turkey?
I think you are lucky to live in a country where smells exist so much through the landscape and the cuisine. Turkey's geographical location gives it an extremely rich culture that I hope will further shape the fragrance industry and history.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you Sezgin, I hope to be understandable and provide useful information. Briac.
Briac FROCRAIN - Sezgin BARAN
All rights reserved.
I am Briac FROCRAIN, I am 34 years old. In life I'm a jack of all trades, I like to create projects and imagine things. My interest is in the senses in general, sound, taste, sight and smell of course. When I was young, I practiced a lot of music, I went through architecture studies which I always thought could lied me to everything. Then I worked as a fashion designer to continue my career in perfumery !
When did your passion for perfume begin?
Even though I was experimenting with scents at the age of 8, extracting scents from plants in the garden was just one of the many activities I enjoyed doing as a child. Perfumery did not become a passion overnight. However, around the age of 25, I discovered that it was the discipline that most closely matched my interests and in which I had much to express. I have always worked on the question of the body (in the habitat, in the clothing, through its postures in society etc.) Perfumery was for me a way to get closer to the body and to express things that I had not yet felt. Thanks to many years of collecting raw materials and mixing them as a hobbyist, I started.
What was the first perfume you created?
The first perfume I created was a mixture of alcoholic and fatty extract of flowers from the garden, I was 8 years old, it was horrible!
Did you get any education and help about creating perfume ?
I started on my own without having studied the subject. On the other hand, it is a discipline on which I am always and for a long time documented. Also by entering the perfumery market, I surrounded myself with interlocutors and partners who can instruct me and with whom I can collaborate. To put a perfume on the market, I always call upon perfumers and laboratories who have the necessary knowledge of chemistry, the materials that can be used or not, who know how to work the juice so that it is stable and qualitative. We maintain a creative dialogue which largely completes my personal mixtures which would not be completely marketable.
What are the perfumes you use other than your brand? And favorites?
I often use perfumes that are not finished. I wear mixtures, agreements of materials in order to think about them and to carry them towards a project. It is for me the best way to build projects and to reflect on the body odors. I wear very little commercialized perfume.
What are your inspirations while creating perfume?
My everyday life, my passion for cooking and botany, everything around me can be the origin of a new project. It is difficult to talk about inspiration eventually, it is more about manipulating emotions and desires through everyday life.
Which your perfume is your favorite?
Frankly, as each perfume is a story, the result of various feelings, I am unable to have a favorite one.
What is your favorite notes? My opinion castoreum
Right now my favorite material is black lemon. It is a lemon that comes from Iran, after being dried, it develops fantastic woody, animalic and waxy facets. It is not found in extract for perfumery. It is used in cooking. I have made some incredible extracts of it but I use it as an inspiration for perfume creation.
İs there any perfumer you liked works?
Yes, I sometimes work with them! Like right now Stéphanie Bakouche who is a patchouli fan and who manipulates it wonderfully. I also like the work of Marc Antoine Corticchiato for the brand Parfums d'Empire who manipulates animal notes in a way that I like very much. Marlou has recently been introduced at Sainte Cellier in London, a boutique created by Brook Belldon, an admirer of Germaine Cellier. Her work and her presence as a woman have been very important in the history of perfume. She created perfumes that stood out, reflecting her personality, especially through daring and very accurate overdoses, creating balances that were unknown at the time.
You don't have a long history in the perfume world, but you managed to draw attention in a short time. What is the secret of this success?
There is no secret. In my opinion, as in any creative activity, the practice becomes interesting when you propose an honest and singular discourse. In the perfumery market, where many brands copy each other, where many perfumes are created with empty ideas and without passion, having consistent discourse with be necessarily noticed.
İ guess that you use mostly natural ingredients in your perfumes. What do you think about synthetic notes?
There is a lot of confusion about natural and synthetic. It's a distinction that I don't find relevant as it is currently defined. The general public tends to think that synthetic is necessarily a cheap imitation of natural. However, what we call synthetic can come from natural. To isolate a molecule from a flower is to produce a synthetic material and this one can be extremely expensive. By the fact that it does not exist as such in nature it can be very interesting for its abstract side. The synthetic can bring a lot in the creation. Also and contrary to popular belief, the natural is not necessarily harmless, we generally have more problems of allergies with natural materials that are very complex and less controllable than synthetic materials known and controllable. Everything is a matter of common sense and accuracy.
Ambilux is a materpiece perfume, It became one of my favourites at first sniff. Very strong and high quality animalic perfume. I see perfumes title “similar to ambilux” on some forum sites. What does Ambilux mean to you?
Ambilux is the most daring of our 3 fragrances. It's the one that marked an important step in our brand image, moreover, among our customers, it's the one that people are most passionate about. Ambilux is also very personal, it's a work on summer sweating and dunes by the sea that refers directly to where I come from on the Atlantic coast in France.
Your perfumes contain animal notes and you create naturel body scents. So what is the philosophical thought in this?
First of all, it is a way to go back to some of the origins of perfume. The use of animal materials is very old. Animals secrete substances to attract their fellow creatures. Humans have taken these substances to attract each other. This parallel is amusing and very questioning on our condition. Besides we often attach the smell to a primary state of the human being, the human being close to the animal. To work with the odors of the body, it is also to question the clean and the dirty in our society. To question attractive and repulsive signals. I wish that the presence of the body comes back a little more in our olfactory communication. It is possible to do it with subtlety. Working with body odors is also about creating perfumes that attach themselves to the body, that dialogue with it to shape a body personality rather than a mask.
I understand that the smells in the essence of human, inspire you. Can we interpret your perfumes as a return to one's self?
Yes I think perfume is first of all something for oneself anyway. Wearing a perfume that you don't like can be extremely unpleasant to the point of changing your behavior. Also, choosing a perfume that dialogues with your body odor is very intimate. Wearing it is a way of communicating this intimacy to others in ways other than words.
Could you tell us briefly about your next perfumes?
Our next fragrance will be released soon at the end of this year 2022. It is a work on the iris and its earthy facets carried on a more leathery and equestrian animality.
What would you say perfume lovers in Turkey?
I think you are lucky to live in a country where smells exist so much through the landscape and the cuisine. Turkey's geographical location gives it an extremely rich culture that I hope will further shape the fragrance industry and history.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you Sezgin, I hope to be understandable and provide useful information. Briac.
Briac FROCRAIN - Sezgin BARAN
All rights reserved.