Harper’s Bazaar: Tell us about the origin of your eponymous brand M. Micallef.
Martine Micallef: “My journey began 26 years ago, when my husband Geoffrey [Nejman] and I decided to launch a perfume business together. In the beginning, we didn’t know much about the fragrance industry. My husband was a banker, while I, at the time, ran a beauty salon—it was my first business. One night, I asked Geoffrey, ‘Why don’t we start a perfume business?’. He was not thrilled at first, as we didn’t have any experience in this area, we didn’t have a business plan, and we had no ‘brand name’ or goodwill.
But I am an artist first... I knew exactly what I wanted to create. I used to meet a lot of women in my beauty salon and that gave me a fair idea of what women liked. I assured my husband that I knew what I was doing, and I made him meet Jean-Claude Astier, a senior perfumer, who’s also my mentor. And he helped create scents for us.”
HB: Did you and Jean-Claude work together to create the fragrances?
MM: “My husband and I travel a lot, so we brought a lot of ingredients from different countries, and we tried to create new fragrances with Jean-Claude. Slowly and steadily, we reached a stage where our brand was recognised and appreciated for the unexpected blends.
It was almost like a love story that unravelled. Geoffrey and I wanted to do something together—I am creative and he is good with numbers, and because of this combination, we were able to manage the different departments well.”
This story is from the January - February 2023 edition of Harper's Bazaar India.
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This story is from the January - February 2023 edition of Harper's Bazaar India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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