Cartier's Mathilde Laurent Is Redefining The Art Of Perfumery

Cartier’s in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent is a modern alchemist, redefining how we all experience the art of perfumery.

The house’s inhouse perfumer, Mathilde Laurent

With her striking, platinum blonde hair and signature curation of ultrachic jewelry, master perfumer Mathilde Laurent is the very embodiment of Cartier’s current vibe—whip-smart, super sophisticated and undeniably stylish. The modern maven proudly presides over a sparkling new laboratory in Paris on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The stunning space has the flavor of a Parisian appartement with gallerylike appointments that read like a nature-inspired art installation—think a treelike Borghese chaise by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, a Cloud by Nendo for Moroso coffee table and a scattering of Stéphanie Marin’s Livingstones cushions for seating.

Cartier Déclaration Haute Fraîcheur

“I have real plants, artificial plants, real chemistry tools, real food, real teas, real coffee,” says Laurent of the magical melange. A master at transforming and translating the natural world, Laurent explains that everything in perfumery is transformed from nature. “It is artistic chemistry,” she explains of the art of perfumery. “Since antiquity, humans transformed walls, stones and also plants to survive. So, in this laboratory, I wanted to show that to give a more holistic vision of the history—which is nature and chemistry—and everything is in everything.” Laurent’s poetic, artistic vision celebrates not just the perfume as product, but the actual art of making it as well. “I would say cooking is the neighbor of perfumery. Mixology is the neighbor of perfumery. Gardening is the neighbor of perfumery. And I wanted all these neighborhoods to be present in the laboratory,” she explains.

Mathilde Laurent

Up next, Laurent will unveil the house’s first candle collection in November. “They are a new vision and they are very personal,” she shares. “I took elements of nature and I put them in each candle—so they are very simple. And the idea is that you can mix them. … They are very simple, very dedicated, very beautiful.”