Maison Henry Jacques Unveils Its Third Toupies Collection

Henry Jacques perfumes manifest the very soul of their Maison’s founder, Henry Cremona, a world traveller who drew on his childhood, wanderlust and dreams of faraway lands to feed his deep passion for fragrance.

From his encounter with one of the last great noses of the old French Perfume tradition, a perfume house was born, steeped in the family’s culture, a taste for absolute refinement, and an obsession with rarity and perfection.

A family affair, a love affair… Parfums Henry Jacques embodies nearly half a century of excellence and creativity at the service of Great Perfumery.

The Maison instinctively found its place in the universe of the discerning few and, for decades, their atelier was dedicated solely to the creation of bespoke fragrances. They discreetly worked in the shadows to satisfy the wishes of their clients. Each request was a new perfume, each one creating a new memory, reawakening a lost emotion. Within the rich artistic sphere surrounding the family, the number of creations grew with every passing year.

After long and thoughtful preparation, Henry Jacques recently opened its realm to the public, through a handful of distinguished locations around the world, each custom-designed to showcase their singular collections.

French Maison Henry Jacques created a new category of perfume with the launch of Les Toupies (‘the spinning tops’) in 2019. Combining a design feat – exquisite crystal flacons that were also functioning tops – with beautiful perfumes, these fragrances became instant collectibles for true connoisseurs.

The first chapter Mr. H and Mrs. Y. told the story of French elegance with a couple scent that included notes of cedar leaf, sandalwood and tobacco for him, and ylang-ylang, tonka bean and jasmine for her.

The second pair, No.16 and No.81, were deeply rooted in classical haute perfumery, but given a modern twist. No.81 combined citrus notes with layers of smoke and wood for complexity, while No.16 played off the classic rose de mai ingredient, with a lively floral top note and a honeyed trail.

The final duo, Les Toupies III, completed the collection. Anne-Lise Cremona, the CEO of Parfums Henry Jacques, said, “This chapter is probably the one that stirred up the most discussion between us. We wanted so much to translate several important facets of Henry Jacques within these couple of perfumes”.

We wanted to express our reverie, the freshness and ambition of youth and its wonderful poetry. It was a real challenge to transmit our vision of these very commonly used themes, make them our own, but we finally did it and the result surpassed our imagination.

Anne-Lise Cremona

Like the greatest hits of love poems, Galileo and Fanfan are dreamers and lovers driven by passion and exuberance. Playing off each other, the former is an innately ‘European’ scent; masculine yet tender, while the latter is very Parisian with a complexity that smells soft but graceful.

Henry Jacques Galileo

Galileo has a head full of stars, as we like to say. It has high ideals and a strong will. It is a perfume that we thought of for men. It usually does not go unnoticed and has a lot of personality with its patchouli side but also a true depth to it.

Anne-Lise Cremona

The first scent, Galileo, is a very European take on perfumery. Galileo opens with lavender and geranium blending it with Italian mandarin. A masculine scent, its heart offers notes of patchouli, myrrh, and benzoin before finishing with a blend of oakmoss, tobacco, and amber for a decadent finish.

Henry Jacques Fanfan

Fanfan still feels beautifully mysterious to me to this day. This perfume is very special and allies the greatest refinement – with its iris robe – with a much younger and exuberant aspect. It represents perfectly the young woman I dreamed of, infusing the world with her natural joy.

Anne-Lise Cremona

The second perfume Fanfan, is a soft, Parisian-inspired fragrance with an underlying intensity. Bringing lavender into the spotlight it is combined with saffron and Egyptian geranium for its opening notes. At the heart, Indian sandalwood and roseDamascenia are followed by the trail of Moroccan cedarwood, leather, and amber. Despite its complex layers, Fanfan remains a very Parisian perfume by nature, as graceful as it is unpretentious.

Now that all six fragrances have been released, it is clear to see that they form a kind of family – complementary both in terms of the perfumes and the flacons – while each remains distinctive.

Les Toupies (‘the spinning tops’) are meant to be enjoyed in pairs. Fanfan & Galileo is playful and evocative, with a story featuring numerous characters, lives and romances. Also, they’re the most curved and rounded Toupies of all.

Each detail of Les Toupies was pain stakingly created by the Maison’s artistic director Christophe Tollemer during the more than three years of development. Artisans were specially commissioned by Henry Jacques, with surgical precision the handmade flacons were designed to be symmetrical and possess a stable axis, even though they are multifacted and have no central point.

The detailed, delicate crystal flacons feature complex patterns, planes and angles crafted to summon the character of the enclosed fragrance. Collectors are spoilt for choice – not only are these incredibly collectible as objets d’art, they each have a distinctive perfuming language that will appeal to sophisticated noses.

Our Toupies are six limited edition perfumes, meant to be collected, sharing a common thread. They are held in these incredible toy-like spinning top crystal flacons. These perfumes have been conceived as a whole and are meant to complete each other, answer each other and tell together a stronger story than on their own.

Anne-Lise Cremona

The Les Toupies III collection is now available at all Henry Jacques boutiques worldwide. Come into the beautiful world of Henry Jacques.

Haute French Parfumerie Henry Jacques unveils new Les Toupies fragrance series

French fragrance atelier Parfums Henry Jacques was founded by Henry Cremona in 1975 and since then the Maison has been creating bespoke fragrances for the world’s greatest clientele.

Henry Jacques has been creating exquisite fragrances for over 40 years, and while its offerings have previously been made-to-order at the request of discerning clients, the Maison began expanding three years ago and now offers a permanent selection on its shelves.

The newest line to be launched by Haute French Parfumerie Henry Jacques, Les Toupies – or Spinning Tops – are the expression of everyone’s inner dream. Part of the rare collection of Masterpieces. Each Toupie in the pair contains its own, unique and exclusive fragrance, one for men and one for women, each with a real distinction to their style.

Recently, the French Maison launched the first fragrances, Mr. H and Mrs. Y, as part of its Les Toupies series. Mr. H is a well-balanced blend of fresh green Cedar leaf and Geranium with warm Sandalwood, Tobacco, Amber and Patchouli; while its other half, Mrs. Y, is a sweet floral-bouquet of Ylang-Ylang, Rose Damascenia, Jasmine, precious Iris, Lily of the Valley and Tonka bean.

More and more we see everybody mixing scents. Some perfumes that were traditionally created for women are also very beautiful when worn by men. It’s not a question of being feminine or masculine; it’s a question of personality,

Anne-Lise Cremona

For all the creative mixing that went into the two formulations, however, Henry Jacques chief executive Anne-Lise Cremona, daughter of perfumer Henry Cremona, believes in the unisexuality of perfumes.

The juices are housed in intricately-designed symmetrical crystal flacons, which are reminiscent of the spinning tops that one would associate with a fun-loving child. Les Toupies are offered in pairs or individually and are specially designed for those with an endless passion for art, historic French craftsmanship and olfactive know-how.

With the Mr. H flacon being slightly larger, the two fragrances seem to form a coordinated visual of an endless waltz. What a perfect match.

It takes a good few years for an Henry Jacques perfume to make the journey from conception to crystal bottle. For the first scents in the perfumer’s Les Toupie line of fragrances, the curved-crystal flacons alone took three years to develop. Every single detail has been overseen by Artistic Director Christophe Tollemer. The Men’s flacon is slightly larger than the Women’s and when looking at them side by side, their curves seem to respond each other’s.

The Henry Jacques Les Toupies collection is now available at Henry Jacques Boutique, and very selected stores. Come into the beautiful world of Parfums Henry Jacques.