The Story of Women Thriving in Perfumery. Sozio What a Happy Place to Be.

Exploring Sozio offered an interesting fact; there is a majority of women on the team of perfumers. An unusual occurrence which deserves the right amount of attention. Sozio is a place where fragrance talent blossoms with women as a norm.

Sozio is a French company with a long history in making scents. Originally from Grasse, dating back to 1758, the company has seen several generations develop the activity before being handed over to the current owner, the Moor family. Despite a major international expansion, the company’s fine fragrance centre remains in Seillans in the South of France, Fine fragrances are the main activity and represent 35% of total sales - 100 M euros overall, followed by household, home fragrance and personal care. Sozio is particularly committed to sustainability and quality of ingredients wherein the integration of the Synarome company has only reinforced this position. The thirty five in-house perfumers cherish the broader palette at their disposal and consider their ingredients as authentic jewels.

Inspiring Women in Perfumery, Pushing Boundaries in the Industry.

I interviewed three female perfumers and combined their answers to highlight their differences, subtle nuances, and shared views. Let’s meet Caroline Malléjac, Giulia Salutari, and Maud Chevalier.

Why become a perfumer? The intriguing motivation behind the decision.

Caroline Malléjac is French, a senior perfumer with more than 20 years of experience following her graduation from ISIPCA. Her whole career has been with Sozio in Paris.

Caroline has a vivid memory of the time when she decided to study chemistry at the university in Paris with a clear idea in mind: to enter the ISIPCA school. Her father was over the moon with his daughter’s plan; in fact, he would have been ecstatic to follow the courses himself. Scents were a big component of Caroline’s childhood, she was elated to smell her parents’ perfumes - Shalimar for one, Habit Rouge for the other, and the cologne ritual by Roger Gallet. She also enjoyed the ordinary smells in the bathroom including toothpaste, hairspray and fresh clean linen.

She used to step inside a house and dissect its overall smell; for example, she understood that the delicious apricot scent permeating her grandmother’s entire apartment was due to the Mitsouko perfume she wore. Leaving the capital city and going to the countryside was another scented adventure as she was exposed to intense and diverse smells coming from nature and seasonal changes.

Giulia Salutari is a young Italian perfumer who graduated from ISIPCA in 2021 and has worked at Sozio for the last two years in Hong Kong.

Giulia swiftly jumps on an early event from her personal history. The tradition in her home is that when a baby turns one month old there is a family party. As one of Giulia’s grandmothers was anosmic, she was adamant to test the sense of smell of the baby during the festivity. According to the story, Giulia smelled Chanel number 5 on a handkerchief and smiled broadly. As she grew up, Giulia found herself smelling the fragrances lingering in the house elevator, guessing which neighbour had stepped out. Her passion for scents was so great that at one point her parents understood she would turn it into a profession. They supported her wholeheartedly and prepared her path confidently. Giulia’s mother and father are engineers, so they made sure ‘she had the wings to be able to fly’ with a well-established plan; a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in Rome, several French courses for fluency and a successful application to the master’s program at ISIPCA. It was time for Giulia to ‘fly’ on her own.

Maud Chevalier is French, a graduate from ISIPCA, and has spent 7 of her 10-year experience as a perfumer at Sozio, based in Seillans.

For Maud, the project was more a matter of coincidence. At 22 years old, she was studying chemistry in Paris with no clear work objective in mind when she was invited by Firmenich to work as an intern for a few months. Immediately, she was in awe of the beautiful world she saw for the first time, a complex and fascinating universe dedicated to the art of making perfumes, inhabited by people passionate about their work. She also noticed that there were few women in ‘the scent space’; men were perfumers and if there was a woman around, she would have been an evaluator. Well, Maud was adamant to become a perfumer and decided to follow that aim with determination. With the successful application to ISIPCA, her life course veered forever.

In the Sozio Scent Space, Women Own a Talent Place.

Now let’s turn to their training and career path.

Giulia did her apprenticeship at Feels* alternating every other month between their Grasse and Paris locations for two years. She specialized in analytical perfumery, more specifically in ‘GCMS’ or Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry analysis. She believes this was an excellent training to acquire a deep understanding of formulas, of scent structures and of the most frequently used molecules. When her training ended, Giulia was then ready for a new challenge which materialized in a perfumer position at Sozio Hong Kong.

While studying at ISIPCA, Maud did her training at Robertet where she was the only woman on a team of six perfumers in Paris. Once she graduated, she decided to continue her learning with technical analysis- GCMS -staying in Grasse, working for the Müller Italy company. She happily found herself in a small team made of only women and after four years, decided it was time to embark on a new adventure. Her new mission was to be inside a larger company covering international markets, in fragrance creation, with a specialization in fine fragrances. So started her tenure with Sozio.

Caroline had a similar path. Her training during ISIPCA also happened at Robertet in Grasse under the invaluable mentorship of Jean-Jacques Genet who offered precious, meticulous and continuous teaching. To this day, Caroline says that her work is influenced by what she learned under his expert guidance. He was a master of modernism and minimalism, with simple short formulas, carefully selecting ingredients for a good reason. He challenged Caroline to master the composition of a rose scent with only four ingredients and to make fragrance creations with a combination of naturals and/or chemicals. A temporary position in Paris due to a maternity leave became a permanent one for Caroline as she took on a new role as laboratory assistant. Only one year later, Caroline was promoted and became a perfumer for Sozio, covering all angles of perfumery, home scents, body, face care, and personal fragrances. Sozio has been her home for the last seventeen years and Caroline has seen the team grow from eight to thirty-five perfumers across the whole world.

Sozio, international, into naturals, all angles.

What the three perfumers really enjoy is the unique way the company is organized: an open environment, clients coming from a variety of industries, sourcing geographies, and a non-competitive atmosphere between perfumers. Sozio feels both amicable and original in the perfumery corporate world.

Caroline is keen to point out that already in 2008 Sozio had started its 100% naturals’ plan working both on the sourcing and its usage in full conformity with legislation. Today, she has at her disposal a live application that confirms if her formula is in full adherence to regulations which is particularly useful when working on an eye cream for example. She appreciates the strong impact of a scent in a facial cream and how it conveys the hydrating, and/or anti-aging active message.

Maud expresses how much freedom she has in terms of creativity within the company. She thoroughly enjoys jumping from one project to the next, working on European and Middle Eastern projects in the morning, then American ones in the afternoon.

One would think that from her base in Hong Kong, Giulia would be exclusively focused on Asian markets, but she also works for North American clients and across the categories of fine fragrances, body care and laundry scents. One of her most exciting projects has been the demanding development of a tissue box scent for a large Chinese brand.

Finding Inspiration: Inside the Mindset of a Perfume Project.

-I asked them to explain the process they go through to be inspired when briefed on a new project:

Depending on the circumstances, Giulia’s mind develops fragrances differently; it could be a click with an immediate formula racing through the head, or an inspiration when smelling raw materials in the lab or during a hike in nature.

For Caroline, the beginning is a ‘live story’ session with the evaluation team. Then, the perfect condition to ignite her scent creation finds her at her desk in front of her computer, sitting in her office with a pencil and notebook. On the left side of the page, a column with text information from her initial discussion which she translates into an ingredient list and formula on the right side. The process is so intense that it must flow without interruption or run the risk of omission; key ideas could be left out such as past projects’ names or words that have inspired her.

For Maud, the basis of her inspiration comes from travelling around the world. She typically discovers three to four new destinations each year. In 2024, she explored Thailand, Mexico, and Egypt. During her trips, she smells absolutely everything, good and bad, from the raw meat in the souk in Cairo to the fresh pine scents in Norway. Once she receives a client brief and discusses it with the evaluation team, Maud immediately draws a mood board to kick off the creative process.

The Perfumer’s Vision on Fragrance Creation: Three Approaches

-When asked about their approach to fragrance creation, each perfumer gave a different angle:

For Maud, perfume creation comes with freedom in terms of creativity. A perfumer is an artist who, through fragrance, designs an artistic object that becomes a vector of emotions:

Giulia placed experimenting and learning together with the special energy of Hong Kong in the forefront:

According to Giulia, Hong Kong’s special energy also stems from the astonishing scenery and stunning flowers. Hong Kong’s symbolic flower is the ‘Bauhinia × blakeana’, it serves as an emblem and is featured in the Hong Kong flag. Giulia tells me how much she likes its mild scent; like a lily, with a hint of green and aquatic notes, the flower has a beautiful solar facet and an animalic aspect.

Giulia thinks China will continue to grow significantly, with an emphasis on specific ingredients and flavours, such as traditional herbs and spices, inspired by the rich Chinese cultural heritage. She has recently developed several fragrances for the Chinese brand ‘Raze’.

The most recent official release for Caroline is “PAIN NOUVEAU" developed for the Norwegian perfume brand Son Venïn. This is the third perfume Caroline has crafted for Dag Lauska, the founder of the Nordic brand, after Ambr Super and Santal Super, acclaimed and popular scents. Once again Caroline achieved a new challenge with "PAIN NOUVEAU" as it is both warm and subtle. A ‘new’ gourmand made of a dual combination, with an initial confection of a golden baked loaf of bread topped with ripe figs, the composition settles on refined woody notes. An original creation that belongs to a new luxury olfactive category, simultaneously daring and comforting, resolutely contemporary.

Scent-sibilities

-I then asked the perfumers if they have any favourite ingredients or current ‘cravings’ at the moment:

With a broad smile, Maud explains she has an eclectic taste that changes at a fast pace depending on her moods and scent trends. She is particularly drawn to warm ambers and resins at this point in time but also enjoys the freshness brought by green notes. She typically enjoys overdosing one or two raw materials and gently surrounding them. One of her favourite perfumes is Baiser Volé from Cartier (EDT), a green, yet rich composition with complex facets.

Caroline answers in a very determined way, ‘I like the simplicity of scents that are just smelling beautiful’. She stays away from complex fragrances that don’t have a clear and pleasant perfume signature. Belonging to her favourites, she quotes woody, and musky notes; she is particularly fond of the orange flower and keeps a vial of her own formula in her office drawer.

Ylang Ylang is the ingredient Guilia cherishes most. When she was 15 years old, the family travelled to Madagascar and Giulia discovered the beauty of the flower; she loves its olfactive complexity and vitality.

The Future of Fragrance

-My curiosity pushed me to ask how they see the future of perfumery:

Giulia is upbeat about the future that will be made of a significant perfume personalisation (smart devices), an important sustainability dimension (upcycled ingredients, biotechnology) and innovation (AI).

Maud believes the science of perfumery will continue to advance rapidly, with neuroscience and artificial intelligence technology. She thinks the art of smelling should belong to the teaching curriculum of children. Perfume is a demanding specialty that should be protected like an art gallery, showcasing unique creative pieces of a variety of artists.

Looking at the future, Caroline is welcoming the new possibilities that AI will allow, and she is confident that the role of perfumers will remain critical, backed up by an intelligent tool that will be a ‘tool at the service of’. She also insists on the importance of the education of the end-consumers who need to understand that new chemicals offer virtuous sustainable solutions.

Three Personalities. One Story of United Women in Perfumery.

A raw passion for perfumery, a staunch determination to succeed while supporting women in the industry constitutes the unification ‘treaty’. Like an oral agreement from the old times that strongly binds perfumers together.

‘One for all, and all for one’. Our three female perfumers from Sozio are transformed into the ‘Three Musketeers’ of Alexandre Dumas. They write a new adventure novel, one of admirable female characters who fight for the right future for perfumers.

*Feels is a small Grasse-based ingredients house