‘It’s about remembering aromas’: how Chanel’s ‘nose’ makes perfume

Walking into the Chanel fragrance HQ in the uber-chic district of Neuilly on the western edge of Paris is like stepping onto the set of Gattaca. The prevailing palette is an icy white, offset by an arctic blue; staff are poised and picturesque, improbably polite. The whole place speaks of precision, perfection and what could be described as an otherworldly, elevated elegance.

Upstairs, in his office, Olivier Polge, le nez (or “nose” aka head perfumer) of Chanel resembles a Gallic Ethan Hawke, minus the tremulous uncertainty. He’s wearing a clean-lined single-breasted grey flannel suit, his trouser cuffs are worked up above his ankles. Three millimetres of sky-blue Egyptian cotton shirt sleeve is permitted to peek beneath a jacket sleeve.