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Saujet opened on October 20 with a pop-up at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills, where a 76 ml bottle from its debut collection, Lumière d’Azur (roughly, light of the azure), costs $2,250. Thomas Saujet, who spent years working with fragrance brands alongside his family, has a haute parfumerie house with his own name on it. The glamorous Mediterranean lifestyle is its inspiration, and the fragrance concentrations reach up to 60 per cent, housed in crystal made with Lalique Group and developed with Givaudan.
Sun, sea and earth run through Lumière d’Azur, and Saujet Cannes sits at the centre of it: a tuberose fragrance with coconut water, peach blossom, solar amber, jasmine, neroli, vetiver and vanilla. Saujette, which borrows most of the house name, brings in a Champagne accord and cassis. Saujet Tuscany pairs a black olive accord with a mimosa.
The Saint-Tropez nightclub Les Caves du Roy inspired Les Caves, which carries a family credit: Théo Saujet, Thomas’s eldest son, worked on it. The launch also introduces Le Briquet, an 18-karat gold-plated atomiser inspired by the French cigarette lighter, priced at $475, about a fifth of the cost of a bottle, and arriving alongside the fragrances.
An extrait is the most concentrated format in conventional perfumery, and it usually sits at around 20 to 30 per cent fragrance. At its highest strength, Saujet’s concentration is twice the upper end of the usual range. Five perfumers worked on the line: Yann Vasnier, Christine Hassan, Rodrigo Flores-Roux, Caroline Sabas and Shyamala Maisondieu. Saujet has said the Givaudan team thought he was out of his mind when he first raised the number.
Flores-Roux, senior perfumer and vice president of fragrance creation at Givaudan, tells it more diplomatically and calls the project special. The team had “carte blanche” in interpreting Saujet’s vision, he said, and he called the high concentration both exciting and challenging, a combination that gave the house its signature. Buyers now want higher levels, in his view, and a price point like this leaves room to avoid compromise.
Lalique Group is the crystal partner. Each crystal cap is modelled on the umbrella pine trees of the South of France. A single vessel can hold up to 450 grams of crystal. Artisans in Alsace, France, craft each bottle by hand through a process involving more than 22 separate stages, drawing on skills passed down through generations. Saujet expects to produce only around 1,000 bottles in its first year because the crystal process is so rigorous.
Bottles can be refilled in stores with any fragrance from the collection. Refills are housed in Lalique vases.
Online purchases are not available. Saujet’s stated policy is that customers must buy in store, and he argues that selling a luxury brand with a click gives up its exclusivity. “That’s not luxury,” he said.
Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills hosts the pop-up, which is the brand’s first retail activation. Bergdorf Goodman and the Lalique Townhouse in New York are initial retailers too.
Tatiana Birkelund, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of beauty, jewellery, gifts and home at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, said the partnership reflects Neiman Marcus’s focus on exceptional luxury products and experiences. Saujet plans to expand its retail presence over the coming year and is considering dedicated boutiques in Miami, Saint-Tropez and Cannes. No openings have been confirmed.
Thomas Saujet established International Cosmetics & Perfumes Inc. with his family before spending over two decades expanding Creed’s presence across the Americas. The business later became part of Kering’s acquisition of the fragrance house. His father, Claude Saujet, created the first fragrance for Van Cleef & Arpels, later became vice chairman of Cartier Americas, created Must de Cartier and then became president of Harry Winston.
Last year came Saujet Fragrances Group, a distributor-investor business under Saujet Holdings that takes equity in each brand it distributes, among them Fabricca Della Musa, Anti, Chambre52 and What We Do Is Secret, with Saujet itself in the portfolio too. Its distribution arm carries niche European fragrance brands across the Americas, and the group also invested in Barberino’s.
Nabil Aliffi, the former Neiman Marcus chief brand officer behind Studio ALIFFI, worked on Saujet’s brand strategy and creative expression. He points to momentum in the ultra-high-end segment of fragrance and a luxury client’s appetite for authentic storytelling.
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