Suzy Le Helley: Marking Fragrance History as the Youngest Perfumer to Collaborate with Frédéric Malle

In recent months, the fragrance world has witnessed the eagerly anticipated debut of a scent marking a significant industry milestone, with Suzy Le Helley becoming the youngest perfumer to date to partner with Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle.

An ISIPCA graduate mentored by industry legends, Suzy, at only 32 years old, brings a wealth of experience and an impressive track record of accomplishments. Known for her refined sensibility for raw materials and fragrance aesthetics, Suzy's artistry is uniquely inspirational.

In this interview, we discover Suzy’s fine fragrance journey, her latest collaborations, and glimpses into the fragrance phenomenon of Acne Studio par Frédéric Malle.

How did you discover the power of scent and when did you realise you wanted to become a fine fragrance perfumer?

It started when I was in high school, where I found out this job existed. At that time, I didn’t know what to do after the baccalauréat, but I knew that I was very good in science and interested in art. It was thanks to my chemistry teacher, who spent a few hours introducing all the jobs we could do with chemistry, that I learnt about perfumery. It completely changed my world— I came back home and exclaimed to my parents, “I now know what I want to do!” I had no exact understanding of the industry and the role, but I was convinced that this was my path, so I started orientating my studies around ISIPCA as a first step. I then entered Symrise perfumery school, where I’ve been since then.

Was fine fragrance always the field that interested you? Did you also have any experience in your formation with cross-category or other fields in perfumery before fine fragrance?

I had no real preference in my mind. Not coming from an area where perfumery was huge culturally, I didn’t grow up fully aware of the size and diversity of the industry. When I realised the role of natural raw materials in fine fragrance, it deeply connected with my values and sensibility towards agriculture and farming.

I love interacting with farmers and sourcing experts. I found fine fragrance to be the world where you explore this the most; you often have a higher price margin to put into raw materials and ingredients, so perhaps I think that raw materials and ingredients directed me towards fine fragrance creation rather than me wanting to specialise in the field.

Before switching to creation, which I’ve been in for three years now, I graduated from Symrise school but then went into the path of technical perfumery, first by cross-category and then specialising in fine fragrance.

Your formation included spending extensive time in Madagascar researching raw materials. Can you tell us more about this experience?

I was sent to Madagascar to develop alternative ingredients and reach the quality Symrise wanted to achieve.

I built connections with the communities of ingredient suppliers to implement the quality for several ingredients, like mandarin, pepper, or geranium in particular.

I make a commitment to myself, by trying to use natural raw materials only when they have the opportunity to shine in my creations.

I started these travels prior to Symrise’s expedition for personal education and awareness around raw materials, so a tip I have for people interested in this field, is that in many countries you can find raw materials: to access this side of the industry, focus on building connections with the suppliers.

You mentioned the aesthetic importance of fragrance, and of course, your latest launch with Frédéric Malle conveys very clearly this theme. How do you approach your personal aesthetic research as a perfumer in relation to working around briefs for clients?

Of course, a lot of how you write the formula depends on how the customer wants to guide you. There’s a starting and shared idea, but as a perfumer, you try to achieve the final composition through your own ideas and aesthetics too.

With Frédéric, we almost always went in the same direction; it was a super fluid collaboration from the beginning. We both felt very lucky that it was that organic; we almost immediately visualised the final fragrance.

On my side, this decision is always very instinctive. Developing a personal aesthetic as a perfumer definitely involves research and many trials, but it’s also an innate skill.

Speaking of the collaboration and aesthetics, both Frédéric and Jonny (Acne Studios founder) focused a lot on building together the imagery for the fragrance to evoke a Swedish lifestyle and culture, with movie inspirations, art... Do you also rely on artistic references outside of perfumery for fragrance creation?

In the case of the Acne Studios collaboration, the artistic influences were initiated by Jonny, who reached out first to Frédéric. And then Frédéric had to translate these visual ideas into olfactive ideas for me, almost orchestrating the direction for the fragrance composition.

While I didn’t have a direct awareness of these themes, I think that this is where Frédéric’s strength also distinguishes him so much in the industry; he has the immediate and main vision, a feeling on how to steer the creative process for me, even when starting from very abstract ideas.

For me, the aesthetic research was through the quality and technical parts of the fragrance. I personally feel that fragrances have become very expensive in today’s market, and I want to ensure mine offer justified quality and experience for the market prices.

I remember wearing the scent on the skin so frequently to make sure I was convinced enough of the wearing experience, or reworking and challenging myself to make it more diffusive.

Symrise has been doing an incredible job in collaborating with fashion and young generations of trainees and students, for example with the partnership with Istituto Marangoni. Working for a company that is investing so much in the connection and possibilities between fashion and fragrance, and of course, considering Acne Studios’ fashion identity, how did you approach this interplay from a technical standpoint in the fragrance?

You can interpret a brand in so many ways, and I was so excited to develop a scent for two brands that have such a strong DNA. There are so many launches and brands on the market today, but when you see an Acne scarf, you don’t even need to read the label to recognise it.

It has its style, a texture, a volume... The aim was to have a fragrance that would be as recognisable as an Acne scarf and within the fragrance market.

I focused on building a new DNA that could fit Acne Studios' style and Frédéric’s but was still strong enough to be memorable on its own.

The construction we managed to achieve at the end of the process was not aimed to be universally pleasing, but it will definitely appeal to the demographic that resonates with Acne Studios, with contemporary fashion, and what Frédéric Malle has been known for.

The fragrance aims to bridge Frédéric Malle’s neoclassical perfumery with the contemporary fashion of Acne Studios. How did you approach this challenge for the composition?

I remember the very first accord I presented to Frédéric was a combination of around ten ingredients- something super short, almost rough, built around a vision I had for an aldehyde scent you often have in fabric softeners - something reassuring in a way.

I love thinking about basing my work on scent memories that are common and familiar to everyone. Frédéric loved the idea and it immediately reminded him and Jonny of the very ethereal and bright light of Scandinavia.

We used this presented accord as a reference and started building the fragrance more around the floral part to bring wearability. The violet and rose accords enhanced the powderiness and candidness. We then tried to dose the background at the very end - which for me was interesting because I tend to work almost the other way around. We tested different sandalwood and musks for their qualities and relevance in the composition, with a vanilla touch bringing softness to the diffusion.

For the fragrance, we always kept in mind the iconic Acne scarf, and how the fragrance would comfortably settle upon it. I envisioned the fragrance’s strength and diffusion mimicking the warmth of wearing a scarf in colder months, wrapped snugly around your neck outdoors.

The result is a burst of super-voluminous aldehydes at the top, a floral heart fusing with the reassuring creaminess of sandalwood, peach, and musks.

You are the youngest perfumer to join such an esteemed selection of perfumers within Frédéric Malle’s selective portfolio- what was your collaborative experience like?

He was looking for new personalities and working with a younger generation of perfumers, and an established perfumer mentioned my name several times to Frederic, so he tried to organise a meeting at Symrise with me.

We first had a one-hour session, and I remember how I was not impressed by him as an industry ‘persona’, but more excited for this creative possibility.

I presented around ten accords that I loved to work on, not with Frédéric Malle’s brand identity in mind, but keeping in mind that he could know me better through scents

As with most briefs, I didn’t know until the end if my project would result in the final win and didn’t have too high expectations for my proposal. He was so happy to announce that both he and Jonny chose my fragrance. I couldn’t speak from the excitement, and he kept wondering if there were troubles with the phone line. He asked me a few times, “Are you happy about it?” and I truly couldn’t contain my happiness; I was just speechless.

I still need to digest this collaboration, I am so humbled to see the positive reception of the creation!

As a perfumer, how do you approach the public reception of your creations? Are you interested in reading reviews and seeing people’s reactions?

It’s definitely interesting to keep up with the reception of your work, although there is always a neat difference between market performance and industry/press reviews. The press often has no knowledge of the creative process behind fragrances, particularly how difficult it is to finish a composition. Personally, I am very optimistic and find the feedback really useful. Especially with this launch, I received a lot of messages and connected with so many positive experiences from consumers.

From previous chats with your colleagues at Symrise, a big culture of sharing and uplifting each other seemed to come through. What has your experience at Symrise been like?

I feel like we are very lucky as a team of perfumers - we’re all very close to each other and always support each other’s work and wins. There is such a good atmosphere at the office, and we all share together so much within the teams.

Symrise is also very special because it allows younger perfumers to work on really big briefs. It gives so many opportunities to work on projects that normally age peers don’t have. I also had two incredible mentors, Annick (Menardo) and Maurice (Roucel).

How did these mentorships unfold?

When I arrived in Paris, Annick hadn’t yet joined the company, and Maurice was my office neighbour. We enjoyed chatting about ingredients so much and spent time in the evening writing formulas together. He wasn’t my official mentor; it was more like a spontaneous initiative. He’s the most humble person in the industry I know, and he was so welcoming and supportive, really wanting to collaborate together. I personally encourage and advocate for mentoring only when it’s the right moment and with the right affinity. Having a star symbol in the industry is not necessary for great mentorship; it should always be an act of dedication and generosity.

You have an already impressive list of wins in both mass market fragrances and niche. Do you have preferences for a specific market to work with, and how do you approach the differences within markets?

The challenges are, of course, not the same and primarily differ by market performance for certain categories, but I really enjoy these challenges. In a way, it can be easier to satisfy expectations for smaller distributions, but at the same time, it’s an exciting challenge to aim to have more consumers discovering your creations. There is plenty of space for creativity in both the mass and prestige markets, and I prefer to work with both markets rather than sticking to one. For example, I am really proud of the wins for Hugo Boss in collaboration with Annick.

I also enjoy working on scented candles. It’s a personal affection, and I find scented candles to have this welcoming, cosy power of conviviality, which is why I insisted throughout my career path to also work on home care, which at that time when I started, wasn’t often done by fine fragrance creative perfumers. It’s very interesting to see how more brands are expanding into luxury scented candles, and we’re seeing a huge creative demand for this branch; allowing us to also experiment more with quality and aesthetics in this market.

One of your latest collaborations in home care is with D’Orsay: can you tell us more about this partnership?

Amélie really wanted to do a collaboration with a young ceramist, Laetitia Rouget, a French artist based in Portugal specialising in ceramics. Amélie then reached out to me, and I met with both with the aim of creating a portrait of Laetitia in a scented candle.

I was captivated by Laetitia’s sunny, kind, and smiley personality, paired with her colourful talent in ceramics.

After meeting her, we continued the project through message, and I wanted to understand more about the surroundings where Laetitia was living, which enabled me to work around Mediterranean scentscapes and botanicals, like fig, lemony notes, and orange flowers. The scent came out as a really joyful composition.

As a home care aficionado, what smells do you feel like recalling in your own home?

I’m from the South West of France closer to the Spanish border, and the scent profile that really comes to mind for me about the region is green: the countryside, mountains, lots of vegetation, and animals!

Your passion for the industry is truly tangible, and we wish you all the best with such an incredible career already developing! With the recent launch on the market of Acne Studios par Frédéric Malle, we’d love to know if you have a scent memory associated with the fragrance or your period while working on it...

It’s quite a surprising one, but if you keep an eye out for some incredible coverage we have coming with Frédéric and I, you will see some filmed material in New York.

So it’s definitely the scent of New York, that when I was there it had this pungent aroma of cannabis.

I will always treasure this mix of excitement of staying in the city for such a special reason blended with this new overpowering aroma of cannabis around New York that I now associate with the city.

Finally, we’d love to hear any tips and advice you might have for entering the industry!

There is no proper path or way to achieve this goal.

I would say to be honest with the company you’re working with about what direction and field you want to work in, even if it takes time to materialise this ambition.

When you’re young you can tend to be impatient sometimes, and it’s great to be very ambitious, but fragrance creation is a long path to master, and it’s a very competitive field. Be patient, work hard, and I truly believe and say that there’s a place for everyone who doesn’t let their dreams go.