The Fragrances I Never Shared

A couple of weeks ago, I saw my favorite perfumer for the first time in nearly three decades.

The fragrances she created for my art installations in the early 2000s remain my favorite scents of all time. They were never meant to become commercial perfumes. They belong to a different place—something I want to keep to myself, preserved as memories.

Over the decades, I only remember exchanging emails with her a few times. What I remember most is talking about dance and her daughter’s (or perhaps her own) passion for it. Early in my career as a sculptor, dancers were frequent subjects of my work. I was fascinated by the performing arts until, quite unexpectedly, my attention shifted to boxing and boxers.

My wife and I joined Annick and her lovely daughter at her favorite Japanese restaurant in Paris’s 16th arrondissement, a place she has been going to for nearly thirty years. For the past year, I’ve been telling friends that I couldn’t find a truly good Japanese restaurant in Paris. Now I finally have one I’d be happy to return to.

To my surprise, despite creating so many fragrances known around the world, Annick has never been to Japan. She told me about a trip she had planned many years ago that, for one reason or another, never happened. In fact, she rarely travels—even to the United States, still the world’s largest fragrance market. I can relate to that. I don’t enjoy traveling either.

It was a sweltering evening in Paris, yet the reunion felt surprisingly lighthearted. It was a real pleasure to finally meet her daughter.