5 Questions with Véronique Le Bihan, Founder of Atelier Materi

Step into the refined world of Atelier Materi, where craftsmanship meets contemporary elegance. At the heart of the brand is Véronique Le Bihan, a visionary founder whose background in architecture and deep appreciation for raw materials shape every detail of the house’s creations. We sat down with Véronique to learn more about her inspirations, creative process, and the soul behind the scents.

Your philosophy emphasizes the raw beauty of materials and craftsmanship. How does it influence your fragrance and product creation?
The essence of our creations lies in the transformation of raw materials through human gestures. Just as a cabinetmaker sculpts wood or a ceramist models clay, our perfumer combines, shapes, and tames the raw materials, revealing their inherent beauty.

Our approach is reminiscent of a craftsman's art, combining the mastery of gestures and techniques with an artistic sensibility that conveys emotion. In the creation of each fragrance, we meticulously study the materials, exploring their diverse facets, textures, and potential associations. Our aspiration is to craft fragrances with a minimalist and contemporary aesthetic, allowing the material to express itself in a unique and exceptional manner.

You work with artists and craftsmen to create your fragrances. Why did you make this choice?
For over a decade before founding ATELIER MATERI, I worked in the cosmetics and perfume industry for both French and international brands. Like most perfumes on the market, these products were developed in very short timeframes and mass-produced industrially, often at the expense of artistic creation.

I wanted, and needed, to return to something more sincere and authentic. Our fragrances are created with a deep respect for time, using the finest materials and with a genuine commitment to creativity.

Being passionate about design and architecture, I envisioned creating a beautiful object you could proudly display outside of your bathroom. I firmly believe that the human touch gives creations their soul.

Entirely handcrafted, polished, and patinated, each of our caps bears the unique imprint of the craftsman's gesture through its differences and roughness. It is the beauty of imperfection, as found in nature, that enhances the authenticity of our fragrances.

Could you share your creative process and your approach to selecting raw materials to combine tradition and innovation?
For each of our perfumes, we delve into a specific raw material. Some of our creations highlight unusual ingredients such as Timut pepper, ambrette seed, or white cacao, while others focus on more traditional perfumery staples like rose, iris, or sandalwood. We seek new interpretations of these materials, emphasizing their most unexpected facets and creating textured, distinctive compositions.

For example, with our perfume Rose Ardoise, the initial idea was a bold interpretation of the rose, envisioning the flower as both urban and mineral. It's the image of a rose growing in the middle of a concrete ground, right in the city center. To capture this vision, perfumer Céline Perdriel played on ambiguities, combining femininity and masculinity, transparency and texture, minerality and sensuality.

Around the rose, she blended the fresh and spicy notes of pink pepper and nutmeg with the animalic and amber notes of ambroxan. Leather adds a sensual and androgynous touch to the fragrance. The result is a contemporary and unique composition of the rose.

Can you give us an example of an atypical raw material you have crafted in a fragrance?
Our Cacao Porcelana fragrance features "Gran Blanco de Piura," a rare white cocoa variety that grows in the heart of the oldest plantations in northwest Peru. This unique cocoa has incredible facets, with sensual notes of walnut and milk accented by tonka bean. When I discovered this raw material, it immediately transported me back to my childhood and the moments I spent with my grandparents baking chocolate cakes.

The fragrance blends the sweetness of cocoa with notes of wood and patchouli, inspired by my grandmother's perfume, and blond tobacco, reminiscent of the cigarettes my grandfather used to smoke. It’s my very own Proust's madeleine!

Can you tell us more about the design of your perfumes, and the role of craftsmanship in their creation?
The object embodies the House’s aesthetic and is inspired by Brittany, where I grew up, a region where nature is raw and wild. The deep blue of the bottle echoes the color of the ocean after a storm, while the concrete cap recalls the minerality of the cliffs and takes the shape of a pebble polished by the waves.

Made of concrete, a mineral material with minimalist beauty, the cap is poured, polished and finished with an antique bronze patina entirely by hand. Each piece bears the marks of its craftsman andis unique in its differences and roughness.

I pay particular attention to detail. Each of our bottles bears the ATELIER MATERI hallmark, a tribute to craftsmanship, engraved on the glass and stamped on the label and box.

Our object reflects the ethos of the Maison: discreet, authentic luxury that takes the time to create, combining contemporary vision with artisanal know-how.

Exclusive to Amaris Paragon only.