THE ART OF TIME

IN THE HOUSE OF ORMAIE, FOUNDER BAPTISTE BOUYGUES TURNS HIS PERSONAL MEMORIES INTO CHEMICAL MOLECULES, HOUSED IN DECORATIVE BOTTLES THAT ARE HIS FRAGRANCES.

- WORDS KELLY LEWI PHOTOS ORMAIE

WHEN I FIRST MET Baptiste Bouygues and Marie-Lise Jonak, his mother, I was mute.

I had lost my voice just a few days prior and didn't recover in time to meet them, so I was communicating with a series of tight-lipped smiles and awkward hand gestures. Still, the mother-son duo were warm as they introduced me to their craft. Lined behind them were objets d'art - or so I thought. Bottles of perfume arranged cascading on a platform, each of them topped off with a uniquely carved wooden cap. It was an intriguing sight amidst the popularity of minimalistic fragrance bottles, enough for me to ask Bouygues if he had time for a chat the next day.

When morning came, I (miraculously) recovered enough voice to squeeze out at an audible volume. Though part of me felt unprepared to interview Bouygues while sounding like a squeaky hinge, a talk with the French founder was easy. It felt as if we were familiar friends, catching up over coffee before the busy schedule waiting for us. The sentiment wasn't too far off from reality; the story of Jonak and her husband-and subsequently Bouygues-started from Singapore.

"I had a unique childhood," Bouygues shared, "I spent the first five years of my life in Koh Samui, then my mother moved us back to France because she wanted me to speak French." Jonak herself first met her husband when he was on a holiday in Paris, and he had then brought her back to Singapore, where he was working as a diver. "I grew up around accomplished perfumers, always surrounded by (the fragrance) industry since my mother is a veteran fragrance director. It was natural for me to get into the world of perfumery."