David Benedek, the founder of BDK Parfums, has been immersed in the world of perfume since childhood. Born in Paris in 1989, he grew up surrounded by the universe of perfumery, as his grandparents’ store specialised in the sales of luxury fragrances. From a young age, he learned about the history of perfumery and cultivated a taste for creation under the guidance of his grandmother, Édith.
After pursuing studies in Economics and Management in Beijing and New York, David delved further into his passion by specialising in perfumery and cosmetics at the Institut Français de la Mode in 2012. His year-long immersion in recognising raw ingredients, olfactive families, and fragrance creation fueled his desire to establish his own fragrance line.
In 2016, BDK Parfums was born from David’s unyielding desire to evoke emotion through his creations, with Paris itself serving as his wellspring of inspiration. Today, the BDK Parfums design studio is situated in the Palais-Royal district, the very place where David’s journey began. Alongside his team, they work tirelessly to elevate BDK Parfums, crafting authentic, contemporary, and bold fragrances.
David, as the founder of BDK Parfums, what is your vision or philosophy when it comes to developing fragrances for your brand?
BDK Parfums was conceived as an olfactory library in which you can pick out a perfume just as you would do with a book. The House tells stories and memories in each perfume box and each fragrance that I have created. At BDK Parfums, we aim to share the poetry of the places we have been to and to paint the range of colours and textures that have stuck with us. I also draw my inspiration from people, their characters, their auras and their lives.
BDK Parfums is a perfume house that is extremely attached to its French heritage and the traditional codes of the fragrance industry. We want to offer contemporary creations and make beautiful fragrances, with high-quality materials, that will touch people.
What sets BDK fragrances apart from others in the market? Is there a unique characteristic or element that defines your creations? And how do you maintain a consistent brand identity while offering something new and unique?
At BDK Parfums, we talk about perfumes and the French savoir-faire and that’s it. We are continuously looking for excellence and our goal is not necessarily to be apart. We strive to do our best every day to create and deliver exceptional perfumes. My team and I are devoted to transmitting our passion for fragrances to our clients and collaborators. We hope that anyone can find a creation that will reflect who they are or who they want to be. Each BDK creation is different but with the same signature: passion, originality and excellence.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind one of your most successful fragrance launches? What made it stand out?
With the success of Gris Charnel since 2019, I realised that some of our customers around the world wanted an even more intense and concentrated version of this fragrance. To answer this demand, I created my first extract in 2022 with Gris Charnel Extrait, which is not simply a more concentrated version of the original one as the market usually does. With Mathilde Bijaoui, we decided to amplify some of the head and base notes of the fragrance.
Concentrated at 30%, it reveals the intensity of the original signature to extract a richer and more faceted version. The woody essence of patchouli and cedar wood brings depth to the sandalwood and tonka bean which are revealed to be more textured and warmer. Voluptuous, vanilla underlines this trail with an ambery roundness. At the top, the green and fruity accents of fig and the freshness and vibrancy of an overdose of cardamom illuminate the opening of this opulent and sensual note.
Gris Charnel Extrait is the apotheosis of Parisian sensuality and the perfect fragrance for everyone who is looking for sensuality and elegance.
We are very grateful and proud as a few months ago Gris Charnel Extrait won the award of the Perfume Extraordinaire of the Year at the Fragrance Foundation ceremony in the US. It is a great honour and a token of recognition and excellence.
Can you provide insights into the collaboration process between yourself, perfumers, and other creative professionals when creating new fragrances?
When I decide that I want to create a new fragrance, I choose the perfumer with whom I want to work. It usually depends on the feeling we can have together, their favourite area of creation and the collection of the future perfume. It’s a special encounter, a special circumstance. I do not necessarily look at their past work.
How do you approach the challenge of balancing creativity and innovation with commercial viability when developing new fragrances?
In my opinion, it is important not to follow market trends to be timeless. It’s important to be aware of what works and the new fragrances coming on the market, nevertheless, I never stick to them.
The creativity comes from the great complicity I can have with the perfumer and the needs we have for the collection development.
Are there any sustainability or ethical considerations that your brand considers when creating fragrances? If so, could you elaborate on them?
BDK Parfums develops its products in collaboration with French companies to promote tradition and craftsmanship. It is very important to us to keep going in this direction and to always do better, through improvements on our products and innovations in the market. Our bevelled bottle is made by a master glassmaker based in Normandy. Our label, applied by hand, is produced by a printing house in Bordeaux. The box is crafted by a family business in the Le Mans region with recycled and recyclable paper. The juice is made in France and we also pack everything locally. We select carefully our ingredients with each perfumer and we try to maximize the number of natural ingredients in a formula.
Of course, we are still far from being perfect, and we still have a lot to do and adjustments to make. We try our best and are fully aware of the sustainable predicaments the world is facing in 2023 and the actions which need to be done.
Can you tell us about any upcoming fragrance launches or exciting projects on which you are working? What can we expect from your brand in the future?
We do have very exciting projects coming soon!
First, we just launched our second Extrait de Parfum: Pas ce soir Extrait. It was a real challenge to rework this fragrance and a very important launch for BDK Parfums.
We also have Vanille Leather, the new fragrance in the Exclusive Collection, that is now available, after 6 months of exclusivity at Harrods. It is also a very exciting project for the end of the year, and we hope that the rest of the world will appreciate it as much as the UK does.
Finally, we are working on a new chapter for BDK Parfums: the opening of its first flagship store in Paris dedicated to the House and its universe. We expect to open it by the end of the year.
BDK Parfums is a growing independent Maison and day after day, we are becoming a major player in the Alternative Perfumery sector. It has been 7 years since we launched the brand, and new challenges are coming that we are glad to take up. I would dream that BDK Parfums keeps growing in the same way, always keeping in mind that we are here to deliver beautiful creations.
Finally, What advice would you give to individuals aspiring to work within the fragrance industry?
The perfume industry today is very big, you can find hundreds of brands with a great diversity in the way of approaching the sector. At BDK Parfums our goal is to put some sense in this industry, which has been a centre of profits but at the expense of the perfumes quality, in my sense, it is something to keep in mind. We don’t have the same approach that big brands have to please everybody. Big brands understood that and created their private or exclusive collections. And we are now coming back to the roots of perfumes, which is good. I think all the brands are more sensitive to that approach, by highlighting the raw materials they use, and the perfumers they have been working with to create a fragrance. People like this more authentic and transparent way of creating and processing.
Thank you very much David, I can’t wait to see what BDK Parfums comes up with next.
You can see my BDK reviews here:
[Photography from BDK Parfums]
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