In conversation: Ugo Charron from MANE
Please introduce yourself in 3 sentences:
I am Ugo Charron, originally from Sancerre, and I am now a Fine Fragrance Perfumer at MANE in NYC. I am also a musician and one half of Cosmic Gardens, an immersive experience blending live music, 360 visuals and fragrances. I try to combine my two passions for a living.
Tell us more about your music, and how you combine it with fragrance
Cosmic Gardens shows are more than music; it is a multi-sensory odyssey, blending live music, 360 visuals, fragrances, and bespoke cocktails, transporting you into a poetic universe of art and inspiration. We began that project with Clément Mercet in 2019, whom I met during a weekend in the Hamptons - we both had our guitars, and it immediately clicked. At the beginning it was “only” music, but I had a dream as a child - which was combining both of my passions into a unique show. Clément is also very sensitive to smells and was very receptive to the multi sensorial project. When brainstorming we then thought of adding visuals to get the show even more immersive, and Cosmic Gardens took another dimension: a journey that transcends the senses and awakens the spirit!
Perfumes and music have a lot in common, they share the same vocabulary, are both invisible, linked to your neurological emotions and more prone to sensorial evasions. I think that’s why I love those two senses the most.
The show is divided into 3 chapters with dedicated visuals, fragrances and live music. The journey starts in the ocean as blue light bathes the stage, the smell of saltwater fills the air, and the music envelopes you like waves. I used MANE’s beautiful Red Seaweed Jungle Essence™ to emphasise the depths of the ocean. Next is a lush, green rainforest with the smell of aromatics and earth (100% biodegradable and carbon renewable), moved by organic rhythms and acoustic guitars. The journey ends with a trip to the cosmos induced by a visual mix of outer space footage, planets, and galaxies paired with the abstract smell of outer space. The twinkling sound of stars completes the experience.
Favourite ingredient / aroma?
Ingredient is a tool, and even if I am drawn by woody smokey amber ingredients, I sometimes need to forget my own taste to achieve effects only by using ingredients I “like less”. For instance I don’t like the smell of milk but I need to use certain molecules to achieve milky accords. I am beginning to like those molecules actually so I might be able to drink some milk one day :) We have new ways to create effects at MANE by doing co-extractions. Oliwood™ is good example (co-extraction between Incense and Iso E Super) I am recently very fond of. It is easier to use than real incense that can be too smokey or metallic for certain clients.
How and with whom do you create your fragrances?
Creating a perfume in a fragrance house is teamwork. Around the perfumer, who is kind of the face of the fragrance, dozens of people gravitate. The perfumer needs an assistant to be able to work on multiple projects at the same time. Evaluators are there to guide them navigating through clients’ preferences and have a more objectivised vision of their own creation. Then you have a sales representative teaming up with marketing fragrance experts to sell the fragrances to the client. I am also working with other MANE perfumers to join forces on certain projects, but most of the time I am in competition with my own perfumer colleagues!
Any favourite perfume or one that has a particular memory you’d like to share?
Cuir Noir by Armani Privé and Féminité du Bois by Serge Lutens.
Cuir Noir is a gift I received when I worked at L’Oréal. For me it is an addictive soft leather skin fragrance!
Féminité du Bois is the first niche perfume I discovered! I discovered it during an internship in Grasse. I was living at my friend's aunt’s house and she made me discover that woody spicy fruity beauty :)
Any perfumer / artist / person you’d like to collaborate with on a fragrance?
I would love to create a perfume with Christopher Sheldrake one day. His Féminité du Bois is one of my favourite fragrances ever. I had the chance to meet him a few times and each time is a lesson of humility. I don’t know how it could happen, but life is full of surprises!
I would love to create a fragrance for Rodriguez Junior. He is an electronic artist I have admired since I was 15. His music is so transparent and crystal-like. I also had the chance to meet him and talk briefly about the project. Hopefully it will happen one day :)
If you weren’t in the fragrance industry, which industry would you like to be in?
Of course in the music industry. I was also dreaming of becoming an opera singer! And I had always thought of doing cartoon voices (doublage). I also began to paint during covid, one day I will go back to painting :) Living from it is another story though…
Any upcoming project / launch you want to share?
I had the chance to work on a very special project 2 years ago. Creating a perfume for a congenital anosmic, Emmanuelle Dancourt. It finally launched 2 weeks ago in the US.
UMEMA was designed to symbolise the invisible nature of disabilities and give anosmics an olfactory identity. Proceeds will support anosmie.org in Europe and WTSA in the US, organisations dedicated to aiding those with anosmia.
Creating UMEMA was a journey of synesthetic exploration, celebrating a fragrance that transcends traditional boundaries, connecting us all through the universal language of scent.
Crafted with Emmanuelle, UMEMA centres around the rich, savoury flavour of umami, a first in the world of perfumery. It opens with the natural freshness of Blackcurrant Bud Absolute and Red Seaweed Jungle Essence. The heart blossoms with Rose Superessence, enveloped in an intriguing Umami accord. The base is a luxurious blend of Cacao Resinoid, Vegan Musc, Orris Concrete, and Fir Balsam Absolute, creating a skin scent that is both cosy and captivating.
Regarding music and Cosmic Gardens, we are releasing our album A Quest to Infinity next year, but our first single is already out: Outer Waves: Act I. Ocean, Pt. III. It's part of our first act dedicated to Ocean :)
If you are in NY, we have a show on Friday the 11th and Saturday the 12th of October :) more info here.
Tune of the day: A Quest to Infinity: Act I. Ocean, Pt. III Outer Waves by Cosmic Gardens
Fragrance of the day: Mountain Memories from Roan. It is a fragrance around Tea I had the chance to create for this upcoming brand Roan. I had a lot of liberty creating the dark sides of the Tea :)
A few of September’s highlights in short form:
Elevate Beauty, an L Catterton platform investing into early-stage beauty and wellness brands, leads investment round into British independent fragrance brand Vyrao founded by Yasmin Sewell in 2021. Manzanita Capital and Estée Lauder’s New Incubation Ventures also participated in the round
For H1 2024, Puig announces €2.2bn in net revenues, up 9.6% YOY, and net profits down c. 27% YOY, largely due to IPO costs, M&A expenses and employee bonuses
Osmo AI launches Fragrance 2o, a private beta with the aim to design and create fragrances for a select group of clients based on their submitted briefs
Things to explore in fragrance:
Paris, 22nd October 2024: Conférence olfactive “Dans le noir - Voyage au cœur des matières premières précieuses de la parfumerie”
My fragrance of the day: Montabaco Intensivo by Ormonde Jayne - nose: Geza Schoen - warm candle wax opening, pepper, soap, damp dried tobacco leaves, light yet sweet and deep, oily orange, soft leather, cold and wet yet comforting and homely tea leaves
Financial Times: “How fragrances are becoming the mane attraction”
Trellick Tower, London, August 2023
- Flo