Portrait
Maurice Roucel
Maurice Roucel joined Chanel's laboratory as a chemist in 1973, then became a self-taught perfumer. His style, one of opulent sensuality, comes from his taste for musk, white flowers and amber, but he has kept the rigour of his first training.
For Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, he signed Musc Ravageur among others. He likes to say that every fragrance should be a hymn to desire.
Career and creations
Maurice Roucel joined Chanel's laboratory as a chemist in 1973, then became a self-taught perfumer, Frédéric Malle recalls. His legendary style is now characterised by opulent sensuality, born of his preference for musk, white flowers and amber, yet he has kept the precise method of his first profession. In a profile published by Symrise, perfumer Alexandra Carlin recalls working alongside him for many years in New York, before discovering that he was the perfumer whose radio interview had made her want to take up the profession at eighteen.
For Frédéric Malle, he composed Musc Ravageur, a signature amber blend that the house describes as uncompromisingly erotic. Bergamot and mandarin provide a luminous introduction to this floral-free formula, as if to better make way for a musky amber base that combines the allure of vanilla, the unctuous texture of sandalwood and the temptation of musk. A touch of lavender accompanies the opening.
Text written with the help of AI, based on official information from the fragrance houses, the fragrance companies and the perfumers themselves.
- Houses
- Frédéric Malle
- On Volute
- 1 creation