Yuri Gutsatz, (born July 6, 1914 in

St. Petersburg, Russia Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, died April 7, 2005 in Paris, France), was a

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 ...

. He emigrated to Berlin in 1924 and then to Paris in 1933 where he worked for the Parfums de Mury. After the Second World War, he was hired by Louis Amic at Roure Bertrand Fils and Justin Dupont (later merged in Givaudan). As a perfumer, he created many perfumes like Carven Chasse Gardée in 1950. and PM of

Mary Quant Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...

. He participated in perfume projects for Ungaro and Estee Lauder as well as for

Cartier Cartier may refer to: People * Cartier (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Cartier Martin (born 1984), American basketball player Places * Cartier Island, an island north-west of Australia that is part of Australia' ...

Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior (stylized DIOR), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Dior itself holds ...

and

Van Cleef & Arpels Van Cleef & Arpels is a French high-end luxury jewelry company. It was founded in 1896 by the Dutch diamond-cutter Alfred Van Cleef and his father-in-law Salomon Arpels in Paris. Their pieces often feature flowers, animals, and fairies, and hav ...

. On December 12, 1975, he registered the trademark ''Le Jardin Retrouve'' and founded the first niche perfume house, a few months before the I'Artisan Parfumeur (1976). Yuri Gutsatz was also a perfume critic and vice president of the Société Française des Parfumeurs, and one of the founders of

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 ...

- the perfume conservatory-, in 1990 with Jean Kerleo.

Biography

Fleeing the Russian Revolution of 1917, Yuri Gutsatz left Saint Petersburg for

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in 1924 before emigrating to

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 ...

in 1933, where he joined Parfums de Mury. This company had bought the perfumes created by

Paul Poiret Paul Poiret (20 April 1879 – 30 April 1944, Paris, France) was a French fashion designer, a master couturier during the first two decades of the 20th century. He was the founder of his namesake haute couture house. Early life and care ...

. They asked Yuri Gutsatz to modernize 40 of the brand's fragrances, but when World War II begun, Yuri joined the Foreign Legion and the project never saw the light of the day. Three years later, Yuri Gutsatz was working in the free zone for the Société Française de Parfumerie in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. He was then offered training in perfumery by Chiris, in

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal dialect, Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence- ...

, under the direction of Édouard Hache. In 1945, he returned to Paris where he became Chief Perfumer at Roure Bertrand Fils et Justin Dupont, working with Louis Amic, the inventor of modern perfumery and owner of the company. Seven years later, in 1952,

Maurice Lehmann Maurice Lehmann (1895–1974) was a French actor, director and producer of the stage and screen. He starred in the 1923 film '' Koenigsmark'' in which he played the title role. In 1956 he was appointed President of the Jury in the Cannes Film Fe ...

, then director of the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

, gave him the task of perfuming the theater during Act 3 of

Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera an ...

's Indes Galantes (Ballet des Roses). The opera had a 3-year run in Paris. In 1956, Yuri Gutsatz was sent by his employer to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

to set up a production factory for perfume ingredients in association with the

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...

, for its perfumery wing, Industrial Perfumes. He lived in Bombay for six years after which he returned to France. At that period, he created the perfumes for its then subsidiary, the

Lakmé ''Lakmé'' is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. The score, written from 1881 to 1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opéra-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart in P ...

brand, which was headed by

Simone Tata Simone Naval Tata (née ''Dunoyer'') is a Swiss-born Indian businesswoman belonging to the Tata family. Simone Tata was born in 1930 and brought up in Geneva, Switzerland and graduated from Geneva University. She visited India as a tourist in ...

. Upon his return, he perceived the major changes that had taken place in the perfumery industry of the 1960s: the perfumer and his creativity were muzzled by the all-powerful marketing apparatus. The perfumer as an identity was no longer recognised, in contrast to the traditions of perfumery creation that existed between the 1920s and 1950s, that saw the development of the role of perfumers such as

Ernest Beaux Ernest Beaux ( – 9 June 1961) was a Russian-born French perfumer who is best known for creating Chanel No. 5, which is perhaps the world's most famous perfume. Family background Born in Moscow, Ernest Beaux was the son of Edouard Hyppolite B ...

and

Germaine Cellier Germaine Cellier (1909–1976) was a French perfumer. She was known for creating bold, pioneering fragrances such as ''Fracas'' and ''Bandit''. Cellier was also one of the first prominent female perfumers, at a time when the industry was dominated ...

. Yuri published several articles on this subject in the Bulletin of the Société Technique des Parfumeurs de France (which subsequently became La Société Française des Parfumeurs), among them is "Perfumer, your name is nobody" and in various other journals. Yuri Gutsatz decided to quit Roure, and registered his own brand, Le Jardin Retrouvé, on 12 December 1975. The very first Niche Perfumery House was born. He conceived it as an articulation of his concepts on perfumery, creating perfumes of quality at affordable prices, using only the best raw materials available. Among the precursors of niche perfumery was also Jean Laporte, who founded the brand

L'Artisan Parfumeur L'Artisan Parfumeur is a French niche perfume house owned by Puig company from Spain, which also owns British perfume house Penhaligon's. History L’Artisan Parfumeur was established in 1976 by Jean Laporte. In 1982, he left the company, going o ...

in 1976. Yuri Gutsatz was named the editor of the Bulletin of La Société Française des Parfumeurs in 1976. He was also a perfume critic - the very first in the profession. In the inaugural issue, he wrote an article entitled "Maison rêvée de la parfumerie" (a dream house of perfumery), making him one of the originators of the

. Yuri Gutsatz held the position of vice president of La Société Française des Parfumeurs from 1978 to 1986. In 1990, he participated in the classification of perfumes and the founding of the

. He died in Paris on 7 April 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutsatz, Yuri Perfumers Businesspeople from Paris 1914 births 2005 deaths Soviet emigrants to Germany 20th-century French inventors German emigrants to France