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.
Yakymour 