Annie Buzantian

About Annie Buzantian

Annie Buzantian is a master perfumer whose long career at Firmenich has included fragrances for major fashion and beauty houses as well as independent perfume brands. Childhood experiences beside the Romanian sea and in the forests of Lebanon helped form her interest in the natural world and the possibilities of scent.

Career

Buzantian joined Firmenich in 1972 and developed her career through practical perfume creation. In 1988 she became the first woman named Master Perfumer at the company, an important milestone in a field in which senior creative positions had largely been held by men. The Fragrance Foundation recognised her body of work with its Perfumer of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

Creative Style & Philosophy

Buzantian describes an intuitive approach to creation and a wish to explore territory that has not already been mapped out by other fragrances. She continues to write formulas by hand because she finds this helps ideas flow. Naming a work in progress is also part of her process: the name should fit the personality of the emerging scent. She sees even a flower without an odour as an invitation to imagine something new, rather than a limit on what perfume can express.

Signature Works

• *Tommy* — co-created with Alberto Morillas, a lasting citrus and aromatic reference in Tommy Hilfiger's range.
• *Puredistance I* — the house's first perfume, launched in 2007 and created by Buzantian in New York.
• *Opardu* — another Puredistance creation, introduced in 2012.