Maïa Lernout
Fully-fledged perfumer-creator who is inspired by light and contrast, Maïa is making her own sensibility felt in her creations, with a special focus on selecting the finest natural ingredients
Imagine the aesthetic shock experienced by a quintessentially Parisian girl, suddenly immersed in the Mediterranean landscape, the light of the Provençal Luberon or the scent of the scrubland overlooking her grandmother's house. That girl was Maïa Lernout, who left her beloved Paris as a teenager to live in the south and was enchanted by the atmosphere, the arid landscape and the olfactory emotions it aroused in her. These olfactory emotions would lead and guide her towards the desire to train as a professional perfumer; it was therefore natural for her to attend the ISIPCA school of fragrances and cosmetics.
For her apprenticeship, she was selected by Robertet, and was delighted to discover all the natural extracts. She continued her training at Créations Aromatiques and then joined Kao before returning to Biolandes a few years later, in 2006, as a perfumer, working in the heart of the Landes pine forest. It was a dream come true, given his passion for nature, but also a major project: setting up the laboratory, selecting the best qualities of rose, rockrose, vanilla, iris…
And so it was that in 2010, when Takasago was looking for a perfumer with expertise in natural raw materials, Maïa was the obvious choice. There she met Francis Kurkdjian. Their formidable collaboration and high standards made them a creative duo that would go on to work for several prestigious brands.
Maïa, a perfumer and creator in her own right who is inspired by light and contrasts, brings her own sensibility to her creations, paying particular attention to the selection of the finest natural ingredients.
