The scent of escape: How Aurelien Guichard created Matière and his Tahiti inspiration

“I pushed back, I rebelled … I wanted to be a professional hockey player”

To clarify, we’re talking field hockey - a game that really doesn’t receive the recognition it deserves such is its on-field ferocity and demands – with global perfumer Aurelien Guichard.

The Frenchman’s push back – tertiary social studies in the UK and the aforementioned hunger for sport – came despite the fragrance that runs through his veins.

Raised in Grasse to grandparents who grew flowers for the perfume industry, his father, Jean, stands as an industry icon and a man whose work you likely know, given he created Calvin Klein Obsession. And so it was that scent eventually came calling - Aurelien co-founding and launching his label Matière Premiere in 2019 – now the fastest growing niche brand in the multi-billion-dollar world of fragrance.

Read the latest edition of ROAM here.

“We started at just three [staff] and we are now 100,” he tells ROAM. “The idea was to not create something too intellectual, so that you understand what you smell and that the value for money is perceivable… We try and establish a trust between a fragrance and the person who will wear it and that they understand what it’s about.”

Still, it’s Tahiti and French Polynesia that offer Guichard a unique sense of solace and chance to properly switch off – to surf and become lost to a simple life he holds close.

“Initially I went to Tahiti to learn to surf – I wanted to learn in a place that was made for surfing. But the waves are much more difficult to surf than Hawaii, for example – in Tahiti they’re very steep. But you also learn how to surf next to the best surfers in the world – and so Ive been out there a few times now, I’ve made maybe three or four trips and each time I stay for a month.

I don’t think people realise but French Polynesia is bigger than Europe - it’s like if you go from Portugal to Moscow almost. And so there are multiple islands – and what I love is the diversity.

You have volcanic Islands, like Morea – very wide and agricultural. You also have places like the Tuamotu islands, like Rangiroa, which is a place for people who like diving - it’s incredible. You know, if you take a mask, you don’t even need to have an [oxygen tank], but just take a mask and put your head under the water and you see hundreds of fish and other things - it’s so rich in life.

I’ve been to maybe about a dozen islands – I like to always to see new ones – and they’re all very different.

Tahiti is that beautiful postcard paradise in ways. And you arrive in certain places like Bora Bora which is like paradise and you almost want to cry when you see it. But it’s not the paradisiac part that I love the best.

What I love is this kind of untouched, almost rusty culture that you can feel when you’re there – the people are happy with just the little things. I love the way people are - they can be very self-sufficient just by fishing and the forest gives them all the fruits they want. The people are also very proud of their culture – and I like that a lot.

There’s something very laid back about Tahiti - it’s like the time has slowed. And what I love most is the fact that when you’re there - you’re nothing.”

matiere-premiere.com; libertineparfumerie.com.au