Bertrand Duchaufour

Bertrand Duchaufour is a French perfumer recognized for both his prolific output and his critical acclaim. He began his career in 1985, training at the Lautier Florasynth group in Grasse, then spent ten years at Créations Aromatiques and subsequently Symrise, working in their fine fragrance department. His first signed fragrance came in 1995, creating Amber & Lavender for Jo Malone. In 2008, he became an independent perfumer, taking on commissions directly, including serving as house perfumer for L'Artisan Parfumeur. In 2014, he joined fragrance firm TechnicoFlor.

Duchaufour has created fragrances for a wide range of houses, including Penhaligon's, Acqua di Parma, Comme des Garçons, Givenchy, and Dior. He is especially celebrated for his incense fragrances, such as Timbuktu (2004) and Dzongkha (2006) for L'Artisan Parfumeur and Jubilation XXV for Amouage (2007). His work has drawn extensive critical praise: Luca Turin awarded Timbuktu five stars in Perfumes: The A-Z Guide, calling it "the first true masterpiece" of what he termed "nouvelle parfumerie" and naming Duchaufour one of its "chief exponents" alongside Jean-Claude Ellena. The New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr praised Duchaufour's Paestum Rose for Eau d'Italie as "a work of art," describing the perfumer as "a living Old Master of scent." In 2017, his 2002 creation Incense: Avignon for Comme des Garçons was included in a Somerset House exhibition on developments in perfumery, with co-curator Claire Catterall naming it among the ten most important niche perfumes of the prior twenty years. His notable creations also include Colonia Assoluta and Dia Man.