Christine Nagel

Christine Nagel is one of the most influential perfumers of our time. Since 2016, she has been shaping the luxury label's world of fragrances as Hermès' in-house perfumer and continues to surprise with unique and sophisticated creations.

Born in Geneva in 1959, Christine grew up in a multicultural environment as the daughter of an Italian mother and a Swiss father. Her first olfactory memories go back to the Italian talcum powder her mother bought for her younger brother and the scent of freshly ironed men's pants made by her grandmother as a tailor. She originally wanted to become a midwife, but her passion for chemistry eventually led her to the University of Geneva.

An important turning point in Nagel's career was when she joined Hermès in 2014, initially working with Jean-Claude Ellena, who had been the company's first in-house perfumer since 2004. When Ellena retired in 2016, Christine Nagel was appointed sole perfumer and director of fragrance creations for Hermès Parfums. In doing so, she followed in the footsteps of a great legacy and became one of the first women to take on such a position at a renowned luxury brand. With fragrances such as "Galop d'Hermès" (2016), a modern blend of leather and rose, and "Twilly d'Hermès" (2017), a fresh tuberose scent with ginger, she set new accents and shaped the Hermès fragrance world.

Christine has received numerous awards for her work. in 2005, together with Francis Kurkdjian, she received the award for the best women's fragrance for "Narciso Rodriguez for Her" and in 2015, her creation "Wood Sage & Sea Salt" for Jo Malone was honored as the most daring women's fragrance of the year. She cites Alberto Morillas and Dominique Ropion, among others, as sources of inspiration, but highlights Germaine Cellier in particular - one of the first women in perfumery to break boundaries with fragrances such as "Fracas" and "Bandit".

Today, Christine Nagel lives in Paris with her husband, perfumer Benoît Lapouza, and spends her weekends in Normandy. Her favorite fragrance, as she says herself, will always be "the next one" she is working on.