Jean-Christophe Herault grew up in France close to the perfume industry. While his father's company was involved in producing concentrates for perfumery, he was not a perfumer himself and Jean-Christophe was never closely involved in the business.

That changed in his teens, when his father gave him a bottle of Joop for Men, which made him realize the power and personality of fragrance for the first time. Later, while studying chemistry at university, his father arranged an internship for him in a laboratory in Grasse, where he really fell in love with the industry.

He met the legendary perfumer Pierre Bourdon and begged him to guide him, to which Bourdon agreed on the condition that Herault also discover the wider world of art and culture: literature, cuisine, visual arts. Herault credits this with developing his artistic sensibilities and fostering his creativity in his own work.