Patricia de Nicolaï is a
French perfumer
A perfumer is an expert on creating perfume compositions, sometimes referred to affectionately as a ''nose'' (French: ''nez'') due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions. The perfumer is effectively an artist wh ...
who works as the head of her own perfume company Parfums de Nicolai. She is also a member of the technical committee of the French Society of Perfumers and the president of the
Osmothèque
The Osmothèque (from Greek ''osmē'' "scent" patterned on French ''bibliothèque'' "library") is the world's largest scent archive, a leading international research institution tracing the history of perfumery, based in Versailles with conferenc ...
scent archive.
Early life and education
Patricia de Nicolaï was born in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
into the
Guerlain
Guerlain () is a French perfume, cosmetics and skincare house, which is among the oldest in the world. Many traditional Guerlain fragrances are characterized by a common olfactory accord known as the "Guerlinade" (fr). The house was founded in P ...
perfumer family and is the great-granddaughter of Pierre Guerlain and niece of
Jean-Paul Guerlain. After studying chemistry in university, de Nicolai entered and studied at
ISIPCA
ISIPCA (''Institut supérieur international du parfum, de la cosmétique et de l'aromatique alimentaire'') is a French school for post-graduate studies in perfume, cosmetics products and food flavor formulation, with an apprenticeship period in ...
, the renowned school of
perfume
Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...
ry in
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
.
[
]
Career
Even with a degree as junior perfumer, de Nicolaï was faced with gender discrimination
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
by the perfume industry of the time as she began her search for employment.Lancôme
Lancôme () is a French luxury perfumes and cosmetics house that distributes products internationally. Lancôme is part of the L'Oréal Luxury Products division, which is its parent company and offers luxury skin care, fragrances, and makeup at ...
Trésor perfume (1990) with Sophia Grojsman
Sophia Grojsman is a Belarus-born American perfumer. Grojsman is a Vice President of International Flavors and Fragrances, a perfume and scent company.
Early years and education
Sophia Grojsman was born in Belarus, a former Soviet state. She rece ...
.[ Following in the long family tradition, she eventually launched her own perfume company (brand: "NICOLAÏ, créateur de parfum") in 1998 with her husband Jean-Louis Michau, where in the opinion of some she created some of the best works in contemporary perfumery,][ and is noted by ]Luca Turin
Luca Turin (born 20 November 1953) is a biophysicist and writer with a long-standing interest in bioelectronics, the sense of smell, perfumery, and the fragrance industry.
Early life and education
Turin was born in Beirut, Lebanon on 20 November ...
as being "...one of the unsung greats of the fragrance world."
Although believed by some to be a candidate for the position of Guerlain's in-house perfumer,glass ceiling
A glass ceiling is a metaphor usually applied to women, used to represent an invisible barrier that prevents a given demographic from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy.Federal Glass Ceiling Commission''Solid Investments: Making Full ...
in the company prevented her selection for position since: "The family who worked in the brand was only men, no women."[ ]Thierry Wasser Thierry Wasser is a contemporary perfumer who as of 2008 was appointed as the in-house perfumer of Guerlain. Prior to this he worked under the fragrance firms Firmenich and Givaudan.
After attaining his Federal Diploma of Botany at age twenty, Wass ...
was eventually chosen in 2008 as the in-house perfumer of Guerlain.
Since 2008, Patricia de Nicolaï became the president of the Osmothèque, the esteemed French perfume archive, with the position handed over by its founder Jean Kerléo
Jean Kerléo (born 24 February 1932) is a French perfumer who worked in-house of Jean Patou and is also the founder of the Osmothèque, a scent archive in Versailles. Kerleo was born on 24 February 1932 in Brittany, France. At age 22, he began maki ...
.
Awards and honors
*1988 International prize for Young Perfumers (Prix International du jeune Parfumeur Créateur - Société Française des Parfumeurs): For her fragrance ''Number One'', of which she is the first woman laureate.
*2008 Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
(Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur): Decorated as a knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
in the French Legion of Honour
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolai, Patricia de
Living people
French perfumers
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
1957 births