The grandson of Henry Jacques and now the Maison&rsquo;s in-house perfumer was in Kuala Lumpur recently for the brand's latest launch.

Working in the family business comes with its fair share of pressure, but Antonin Khalif&eacute; is taking it all in stride. As the third generation of Henry Jacques and its in-house perfumer, he is helping to shape a new chapter in its storied legacy &mdash; 50 years, to be exact. After launching his first fragrance, Rose Azur, as part of the 2024 Collection de l&rsquo;Atelier, earlier this year, he arrived in Malaysia as part of his Asia tour for the debut of the Il Y Avait Un Jardin&hellip;, the brand&rsquo;s fresh, cologne-inspired line. During the trip, he sat down with us to talk all things Henry Jacques &mdash; from his early beginnings to the future of fragrance.

What are some of your earliest memories connected to the world of perfumery? My first memory in the laboratory was when I was eight years old. In France, on Wednesday afternoons, we don&rsquo;t have school. At the time, my grandmother was still working in the lab, and she used to look after me. She knew I didn&rsquo;t want to play in the park or play football with my friends &mdash; all I wanted was to spend time with her in the lab. For me, it wasn&rsquo;t just a workplace &mdash; it was a room full of treasures, filled with things to see, touch and, most importantly, smell.
My first memory of making perfume was at that age. It wasn&rsquo;t complex or refined, but my grandmother gave me ylang-ylang, rose and jasmine, a small beaker and a little scale, and I would just play with the ingredients &mdash; no formula, just instinct. I still have those early blends today. That planted the seed in me very early on, and over the years, my passion for perfume just grew.
Henry Jacques is known for its artisanal approach to perfumery. Can you walk us through your creative process when crafting a new scent? There are various sources of inspiration. When we work on bespoke perfumes, a client usually provides some direction. The hardest part is deciphering what exactly the client means when they describe something as a floral or woody perfume. My role is to truly understand what the client is envisioning &mdash; gradually, over time.
On a personal level, when I create a perfume for a collection, I usually start with an idea or feeling. Sometimes I want to focus on a single ingredient; other times, I&rsquo;ll create my own bouquet &mdash; blending, for instance, vetiver and patchouli to create fruity notes, then adding other materials to explore more leathery or woody facets. The process is very spontaneous and instinctive. I follow the flow, smell and create multiple trials.&nbsp;

Tell us more about the new Il Y Avait Un Jardin&hellip; collection. What inspired its creation? It&rsquo;s an interesting collection and, in some ways, a paradox to the previous ones. Take Collection de l'Atelier, for example &mdash; the rose perfume in that line is incredibly complex, with many ingredients and layers. This new collection is quite different. These are perfumes my family has used for generations &mdash; colognes we kept in large bottles and always had at home. We wanted to share this personal tradition with the world.
What makes it truly unique is that we worked with a single family in Calabria, who produce the best citrus in the world. Everything came together very spontaneously &mdash; a close friend of mine in Italy introduced me to them. Even though we&rsquo;d already sourced beautiful citrus of high quality, these stood out for their character and uniqueness. They brought something new to the collection, and we wanted others to experience what had been, until now, a private pleasure.
What would you like people to feel when they smell this fragrance? I&rsquo;d love for them to feel a sense of satisfaction and freshness. Citrus is something everyone is familiar with, so we&rsquo;re not claiming to reinvent the concept of cologne. Rather, we&rsquo;re offering the world a glimpse of what a real cologne can be &mdash; one with the highest quality and complexity, yet still refreshing and sophisticated. It&rsquo;s meant to be easy to wear, elegant and self-caring &mdash; something you can use every day without overthinking, while still feeling elevated.

How do you usually wear your perfume? I apply it gently on my wrists, at the side and behind my neck, so someone walking behind me can catch a hint of it. If I&rsquo;m using a spray, I often spritz it into the air so that it settles like a soft cloud over my clothes.&nbsp;
You started creating your first fragrance, Rose Azur, two years ago. What&rsquo;s the biggest lesson you&rsquo;ve learnt through the process? Patience. When you&rsquo;re working with a formula that has hundreds of ingredients and you want to tweak just one element, you need incredible patience to figure out where the change needs to happen. Rose Azur took several attempts. I wasn&rsquo;t satisfied with most of the early versions. I think we ended up with around 15 or 16 trials before I found the one. I always trust my own nose first, but I also like to see how people respond emotionally. Especially those who aren&rsquo;t from the perfume industry &mdash; their raw reaction is very telling. I&rsquo;ll spray it on their skin, observe and see if it resonates.
The other lesson is to never settle. In perfume, I&rsquo;m never fully satisfied &mdash; I believe in constant evolution. That&rsquo;s how I was trained, and it&rsquo;s become an obsession in the best possible way.
Is there anything special you do to take care of your nose or keep it sharp? There&rsquo;s a popular belief that you should smell coffee to reset your nose &mdash; I&rsquo;ve never really agreed with that. At Henry Jacques, we don&rsquo;t use that method. Coffee adds another strong smell to your palette, and to me, it just interferes. Instead, we recommend smelling your own skin, without perfume. Focusing on your natural scent is one of the best ways to reset your brain and return to a neutral base.
On a personal level, I have a very specific routine. I use a special inhalation machine every morning to open my sinuses. I travel with it everywhere. And then there&rsquo;s the general self-care: no spicy food, no coffee, no perfume on myself during the day. When you're creating perfume, you need to keep your perception clean and undistracted. So I keep things minimal and focused.
The Les Classiques, Tous Les Matins, In All Intimacy and Clic-Clac collections all speak to different personalities. Who do you envision wearing Henry Jacques today? We have such a wide variety in our collections that I believe Henry Jacques can be worn by anyone. With the introduction of the colognes, more than ever, we&rsquo;ve become accessible to many different types of fragrance lovers. That&rsquo;s something I really love &mdash; that someone walking into our boutique, no matter their background, can find something they connect with. Some clients spray their perfume on their sheets before bed, on their clothes, or use it as an aftershave. What I love is that everyone interprets our perfumes differently.
Where do you see the future of fragrance heading, and how will Henry Jacques play a role in shaping it?
For a long time, fragrance was something rather practical &mdash; something you might buy quickly at an airport without much thought. But today, the younger generation, sometimes as young as 15, spends hours exploring fragrances with real dedication. At Henry Jacques, we&rsquo;re proud to play a part in the perfume industry and to introduce new perfumes to new regions. Personally, I think this is one of the best times to be a perfumer. There is a genuine appreciation for niche and unique perfumes like never before &mdash; and it&rsquo;s coming from all generations.

Interview: Antonin Khalifé on honouring Henry Jacques and shaping its fragrant future

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