Jean-Claude Ellena

Jean-Claude Ellena (born 1947) is a French perfumer and writer, celebrated for his minimalist approach to fragrance composition. He served as the exclusive in-house perfumer at Hermes from 2004 to 2016, appointed by Jean-Louis Dumas and Veronique Gautier. Ellena's earliest exposure to the world of perfumery came in Grasse, where he picked jasmine with his grandmother to sell to perfumers. At the age of sixteen, he became an apprentice at the factory of essential oils maker Antoine Chiris. In 1968, he became the first student at the newly formed perfumery school of Givaudan in Geneva, Switzerland. After leaving Givaudan in 1976, he moved to Lautier in Grasse, where he created his first fragrance of note, First for Van Cleef & Arpels. He subsequently served as chief perfumer at Givaudan Paris and later worked at Haarmann & Reimer, which merged with Dragoco to form Symrise in 2003.

Ellena has been profoundly influenced by pioneering perfumer Edmond Roudnitska, particularly by his article "Advice to a Young Perfumer." In 1990, he became one of the founding members of the Osmotheque, an international scent archive based in Versailles. He also founded The Different Company before joining Hermes, and his daughter Celine Ellena now creates for that house. Ellena has collaborated with numerous other major brands, including Acqua di Parma, Bulgari, Sisley, Cartier, and Frederic Malle. Among his notable creations are Colonia Assoluta, Concentre de Pamplemousse Rose, Bigarade Concentree, Cologne Bigarade, and Angeliques Sous La Pluie.