Sillages Paris uses artificial intelligence and an algorithm to create, online, customized fragrances. Le Boudoir Numérique met its founder Maxime Garcia-Janin to learn more about the digital approach of this perfume brand, eager to "revive the know-how of the French perfumery to bring it into the 21st century".

By Ludmilla Intravaia

Le Boudoir Numérique : Create your own customized fragrance online, using an algorithm, this is the service offered by Sillages Paris. Why did you choose this concept to launch your perfume brand in 2017 ?

Maxime Garcia-Janin, founder of Sillages Paris : When I started working in the world of perfumes, I had the opportunity to discover the laboratory of Dior, its view of Paris, its multicolored flasks crossed by the sun's rays and obviously, its fantastic fragrances floating in the air ... Dazzled, I said to myself : That's it, that’s the French know-how. Why do not we emphasize it, by sharing it with the customers, rather than focusing on ads with bland Hollywood stars ? This is how the brand Sillages Paris was born, sixteen months ago, with a desire to create luxurious and personalized products, at affordable prices. Thanks to digital, we want to be a high perfume brand accessible to everyone, a third way between mainstream perfumery with standardized scents and niche perfumery that can sometimes seem snobby and undemocratic, in terms of prices.

How can I get my own Sillages Paris perfume ? 

You visit our website to compose your fragrance online, from a palette of 64 ingredients. The perfume is delivered to you three days later, in the form of a bottle and three samples. The first sample is your ideal perfume, the other two being alternatives, for example more floral or more woody, adapted from your formula, which could also seduce you. For 14 days, you test the samples at home. If you like the first sample, you open the bottle. If not, you return it for free to get a refund. If you like one of the alternatives, you can order it. Since last May 5th, we have also opened a showroom, in Paris, rue de Charonne, to welcome our customers, eager to be introduced to the secrets of perfumery. They can create their fragrance, thanks to a perfume organ and a tablet, in the company of an expert who will help them to apprehend, by themselves, the scents that they like the most.

You use artificial intelligence. How does your algorithm work ?

On the website, you have selected, according to your tastes, three to six ingredients, among 64 in total. These ingredients make up the central accord of your perfume, its spine, so to speak. Our algorithm is constantly fed by hundreds of different combinations, created by our four perfumers. Among these pre-existing combinations, the algorithm directs you on your perfect formula, so that your central accord remains harmonious, without olfactory dissonances. For example, if you chose the rose as an ingredient, the algorithm will suggest combinations with other suitable ingredients, while avoiding mixes that would not go together. This formula is then completed and finalized by our nez with secondary ingredients, to ensure that the olfactory pyramid, with its top, heart and base notes, is respected for a creative and totally personalized result. Our algorithm is so powerful that only 3% of our customers request a refund. High perfumery 3.0, in short.

Why 3.0 ?

Because of our desire to digitalise perfume. This is done more and more in makeup, skincare, jewelery, cooking or tourism and we said to ourselves : Why not in perfume ? We are the first French perfume brand to have launched only online. As crazy as it may seem, in 2017, this did not exist on the French market. Of course, today, all traditionnal perfume brands have an online store but they are also present in shops. We are sold only online. We have no advertising expenses, no flamboyant shops in the most beautiful avenues in the world, no muses with contracts worth millions of dollars, no exorbitant margins to pay to intermediate distributors. Our money goes directly into our perfumes, formulated with the most noble raw materials, as far as possible natural, and sold at a fair price. Another aspect 3.0 is the artificial intelligence, our algorithm, a link between the perfumer and the customer. It is as if, at home, you have a perfumer friend who advises you and puts at your service his long-standing skills. Through this digital approach, we revive the know-how of the French perfumery to bring it into the 21st century.

Perfumery has not yet conquer its ground in the 21st century ? 

The way we consume perfumes has not changed in 50 years. We see an ad on TV with a star celebrating the merits of a perfume, then we buy it in the shop. But look at the world around you, it changes, it goes fast, the digital has revolutionized everything with customization, recommendations according to your tastes, e-commerce and social networks. So many developments that have not been embraced by perfume brands, imprisoned in a traditional model. I see digital as an opportunity to respond to the public's disenchantment with perfume, a market that has been steadily declining for several years in Europe and the United States.

Why this drop in interest ?

Some consumers do not longer recognized themselves in the current offer, especially those of my generation, millenials under 35 years, who are fed up with too expensive and standardized perfumes, worn by everyone. In the world, the perfumes top 20 is bought by 25% of the customers. So, when your perfume is a best seller, it is likely that you will meet, during the day,  someone who wears the same fragrance as you do. It's frustrating. While there have never been so many perfumes launched in a saturated market, they are all alike and less and less qualitative, because the money is not invested in the ingredients themselves, but in the marketing and retail. Nowadays, people want to buy quality products, not necessarily expensive, to know where they put their money in and to acquire a unique perfume that resemble them.

Do you feel concerned by veganism ?

Yes, our products are vegan, a very conscious choice on our part. I'm not vegan but when I launched my brand, I did not want to leave anyone behind. Neither my vegan friends, nor the clients more and more sensitive to veganism who no longer want to have animal material in their perfumes. Ingredients such as beeswax or musks of animal origin are removed from our compositions. Thousands and thousands of ingredients exist in perfumery, so it is quite possible to find substitution alternatives. Likewise, our products are cruelty free, they are not tested on animals. From a general point of view, sustainable development is a concern for us. Our packaging and perfumes are made, to order, in France to promote the local industry, as well as to avoid unnecessary transport and overstock. Regarding our ingredients, our vetiver, for example, is guaranteed free of pesticides and GMO, while our vanilla is integrated in programs of our local partners, dedicated to the fair paiement of producers.

Artificial intelligence, an algorithm, the web, tablets ... Could not this digital approach to perfumery seem a little cold to those who expect from luxury an exceptional sensory and emotional experience ?

I am convinced that the future of luxury will be digital. We must not see technology as a disembodiment of the luxury gist but as a way to revive and reenchant the consumer experience. Our algorithm is not a cold machine, it is fed by people, our perfumers who have their own sensitivity. Thanks to AI, we are able to make personalized recommendations, more judicious than those of any salesman in a shop. Luxury is personalization, creating a unique emotional connection with the customer. Technology allows us to better know our customers, to discuss with them on social networks, to follow up with them, after purchase. For an appointment in our showroom, yes, you have made it on the internet and you choose your ingredients on an iPad, but you benefit from the advice of an expert, a real person who is there just for you, for a special moment, in a privatized place. Technology allows us to offer very advanced advice and services to our customers. In addition, we are the only brand not to make our perfumes in a factory chain, with robots but in our workshops, by hand, according to the French perfumery tradition. It would be impossible without our digital approach.

Is the use of AI and algorithms not a threat to the sustainability of traditional perfumers’s skills and knowledge?

Not at all. Technology just allows them to express their know-how in another way. It is not the algorithm that creates the perfume but our perfumers. The algorithm only aims to focus the customer’s choice on formulas imagined by our nez, according to dosages and combinations that go well together. Behind this algorithm, there are perfumers, artists who develop their art, for years and will democratize their knowledge, thanks to digital. This is tomorrow luxury, with technology bringing back the human factor into the personalized consumer experience, a digital future embodied by know-how and expertise, shared with customers.

* Sillages Paris website here.

* More infos about the Sillages Paris showroom, 5 rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, there. Only by appointment.