Saujet debuts haute parfumerie with Lalique crystal bottles and 60% concentrations

Saujet, a new haute parfumerie house from Thomas Saujet, launches Oct. 20 with a pop-up at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills before widening its retail presence over the following year. The debut collection, Lumiere d'Azur, is priced at $2,250 for a 76-ml bottle.

The fragrances reach up to 60 percent concentration, against the 20 to 30 percent usual for an extrait, and Lumiere d'Azur reaches up to 60. The perfumers at Givaudan, who developed the line, initially balked at the idea. "They thought I was crazy," Saujet said of presenting it to them.

Thomas Saujet frames the concentration as a refusal to compromise at his price point. "Let's stretch the limit. In the world of fragrance, people now want higher levels of concentration," he said. "We're at such a high price point, we have the ability to not compromise."

What is in the Lumiere d'Azur collection

The collection is organized around sun, sea and earth, developed with Givaudan perfumers Yann Vasnier, Christine Hassan, Rodrigo Flores-Roux, Caroline Sabas and Shyamala Maisondieu. Its centerpiece is Saujet Cannes, a tuberose softened by coconut water, peach blossom, solar amber, jasmine, neroli, vetiver and vanilla.

Saujette carries a Champagne accord with cassis, while Saujet Tuscany pairs a black olive accord with mimosa. His eldest son Theo Saujet worked on Les Caves, inspired by the Saint-Tropez club Les Caves du Roy, which Thomas Saujet expects to be the most multigenerational of the line.

Flores-Roux, senior perfumer and vice president of fragrance creation at Givaudan, called the project special. "We had carte blanche in interpreting Thomas' vision for the Lumiere d'Azur collection," he said. "The high concentration was exciting and challenging, giving Saujet its signature and then you top that off with a Lalique bottle."

For the vessel, Saujet partnered with the crystal house Lalique Group on a design with crystal caps modeled on umbrella pine trees in the South of France. Each bottle holds up to 450 grams of crystal and is handmade from start to finish across more than 22 steps.

The work can only be performed by multigenerational artisans in Alsace, France. Bottles can be refilled in stores with any fragrance in the collection, and the refills are housed in Lalique vases. Beyond Neiman Marcus, the line sells at Bergdorf Goodman and the Lalique Townhouse in New York.

The launch also introduces Le Briquet, an 18-karat gold-plated fragrance atomizer modeled on the French cigarette lighter, priced at $475. The crystal manufacturing is rigorous enough that Saujet expects to produce only around 1,000 bottles in its first year.

Why the house sells in stores only

Tatiana Birkelund, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of beauty, jewelry, gifts and home at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, positioned the launch around exclusivity. "Our partnership with Thomas Saujet, and launching his new brand Saujet, reflects that commitment," she said.

Purchases will not be possible online, a deliberate choice. "That's not luxury," Saujet said. "You can't buy online because I think at the end of the day, when people say, 'Oh, I'm luxury' and then what happens is you can just go online to buy it. So you're not exclusive."

"So we're taking a policy that if you want it, you come to the store." Saujet is looking at stand-alone stores in Miami, Saint-Tropez and Cannes, where Thomas Saujet spent his childhood before relocating to the U.S. Our coverage of home and luxury retail follows such store-only launches.

The brand strategy and creative expression were developed with Studio ALIFFI, founded by former Neiman Marcus chief brand officer Nabil Aliffi. He pointed to momentum in the ultra-high-end segment of fragrance and the luxury client's desire for authentic storytelling, calling the market entry "perfectly timed."

Thomas Saujet cofounded International Cosmetics & Perfumes Inc. with his family and then spent over two decades building the Creed business in the Americas, which Kering acquired. His father Claude Saujet created the first fragrance for Van Cleef & Arpels.

The elder Saujet later became vice chairman of Cartier Americas, where he created Must de Cartier perfume, and then president of Harry Winston. Last year Thomas Saujet launched Saujet Fragrances Group, a distributor-investor combination under Saujet Holdings that takes equity in each fragrance brand it distributes.

That portfolio includes Fabricca Della Musa, Anti, Chambre52 and What We Do Is Secret, alongside Saujet itself and an investment in Barberino's. The distribution arm carries niche European fragrance brands across the Americas.