A Decade Of Excellence

Luxury perfume brand, Amouage’s Creative Director Christopher Chong is celebrating 10 years of being with the brand. Anne Kurian sits with the unconventional creative director as recounts his journey over the years with the maison

When Christopher Chong entered the world of perfumes, the concept of a Creative Director in the industry was almost unheard of. In fact, Christopher Chong was not a name anyone had heard of in the industry. Yet over the last 10 years, Christopher Chong has not only blazed a trail in the perfume industry but also rewritten the rules of perfume making. Chong who arrived as the raw yet bold Creative Director of Amouage, reinvented the luxury perfume brand, together with the CEO, David Crickmore.

For someone who has a background in arts that include literature and Opera, Chong has done remarkably well for himself and the brand he was entrusted with 10 years ago. By bringing passion, boldness, style and the fine art of storytelling into Amouage, Chong has created some of the finest perfumes in the industry. It might be difficult for many to believe that Chong entered the industry with no formal training in perfume-making or knowledge of composition of notes or even selecting the ingredients.

“When I came into the [perfume] industry 10 years ago, I came with a sassy attitude. I was sure of myself. I didn’t know how to fail and I had nothing to lose. This attitude helped me forge my entry into the world of perfumes. It helped me start a new movement in the perfume industry, the art of storytelling, which was not common then,” he says.

Chong is a master storyteller. All his creations have a striking and appealing storyline as the base, which the audiences connect to as much as they do to the perfumes. In his decade long journey with Amouage, he has taken audiences through myriad emotions, landscapes and characters.