UNDER THE RADAR: Estéban
An Exclusive Sniffapalooza Magazine
Interview With Dominique Alison CEO
In the South of France, Estéban has created a rare olfactory universe, midway between Mediterranean tradition and Japanese refinement, focusing on the world its aesthetic, highly contemporary gaze. Inspired by nature, enriched by the cultures encountered by chance on the founders travels, this unique line of fine fragrances offers a perfume trail of images, and experiences.
We interview CEO Dominique Alison about this ‘under the radar’ line of fine fragrance.
MC: What is special about Estéban? Please tell us about the brand’s DNA.
DA: We are very specific regarding the fragrances creation, as we combine the skills of an internal staff incorporating both botanists and perfumers, in close relation with noses in the best known fragrance manufacturing companies.
MC: With all the niche brands on the market why is Esteban different from the hundreds in the market?
DA: We approach the perfumes with all the respect to the famous creators from the past but trying to lead the modern end-user to a different vision. With 30 years of experience as a perfume company, we always found the way to transform our dreams, trips, encounters in word images and eventually ingredients and scents. This creates a unique addiction, not only with the fragrance but also with the story.
MC: You are a global company. What is the most popular fragrance and does that change by country? Why?
DA: Success if very often worldwide and a Tonka can attract people from Asia, from North America, as well as European, but saying that, we must admit that some places in the world have specific addictions. Fruity is popular in the US (such as Tempete de Zeste), sophisticated and long-lasting s in demand in Arabic countries such as Ambre, and light and flowery perfumes are in favor in Japan such as Angelic Flower.
Those specificities very often come back to very ancient cultural habits for instance. The Arabic countries always created their perfumes from woods and frankincense, when the Japanese didn’t want to be aggressive around them and were only perfuming the clothes. As a brand, we have to be aware of those specificities but create with our own handwriting.
MC: Please share with us the specifics of the lines.
DA: Leading the end-user to a different vision gives us a mission: to be always in accordance with the high perfumery methods and take into account the people’s expectations. So first with Matières Collection, we invited to a discovery, of the revisited noble ingredients used by traditional perfumery.
Couleurs collection: the only question asked to our team was: what perfume this color does inspire to you and the result was a unique collection, where the perfume creates an amazing bridge between fragrance, the mood and emotions.
The Florals, Orientals, Chypres, is a living story of the famous perfumery accords.
MC: Who wears Esteban fragrance?
DA: Esteban addicts are searching for refinement, esthetics, in order to create themselves a perfume trail, in their image, both unique and generous.
They can be both male and female, and very often we can see in our stores, mothers initiating their daughters to the magic of perfume.
MC: In this economically uncertain marketplace, how will Esteban market their wonderful fragrances knowing people are cutting back?
DA: Uncertain period pushes the people to pamper themselves. We consider ourselves as a luxury brand in terms of quality of the ingredients, design of the product and story behind the product. But we never try to position ourselves by overpricing the product. And we know our clients do nott buy Estéban because they want to show off, but because they love the product.
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