Pierre Negrin is a highly acclaimed French perfumer who was born in Grasse, in the south of France, where he developed a passion for fragrances at a young age. Both of his grandfathers were traders of products and plants for the creation of fragrances, and Pierre still remembers discovering a world of fragrances in their workshops.

Initially, Pierre wanted to be a photographer and was fascinated by the work of Robert Capa and Henri Cartier Bresson of the Agence Magnum, as well as the landscapes of Ansel Adams. However, while studying physics and chemistry, he was offered an internship in a perfume workshop by a friend, and there he discovered his true calling. "I suddenly realized that instead of expressing myself through light, I could express myself through smell," he says.

Pierre did not learn perfumery in a specialized school, but in fragrance laboratories, and in the early 1990s he left France to work in Mexico, eventually moving to the US. In 2008, he joined the ranks of renowned perfumers at Firmenich's New York Fine Fragrance Center.

Pierre has designed key fragrances for an array of notable brands, including Calvin Klein Encounter and Ralph Lauren Blue, but he is perhaps most famous for his work with Amouage. Some of his most loved fragrances for the brand include Interlude Man, Journey Woman, and Portrayal Man.

For his excellence in creative perfumery, Pierre was awarded the International Prize for Fragrance Creation by the French Association of Perfumers in 1990. He is a fastidious, sophisticated and reserved man who is also an epicurean. He celebrates life's small pleasures and is interested in a life of discipline, cycling daily and practicing yoga regularly. He does not appreciate ostentation or excess, preferring what is simple and minimalistic.

Pierre's love for his home town of Grasse is evident in his olfactive memories of the area. He is particularly attached to earthy notes and strongly believes that the earth itself is the material and true origin of the fragrance industry. "It's always in my head. Your head can be in the clouds as long as your feet are on the ground!" he says.