Marc-Antoine Corticchiato: Perfumer and Plant Chemist

Marc-Antoine Corticchiato has an unusual profile. He is a perfumer and also a scientist who studied how aromatic plants make their scent. His family comes from Corsica, but he was born in Morocco. He grew up between his parents' citrus groves near the old city of Azemmour and the family home in the Corsican village of Corticchiato.

Horses were his first passion. He rode in competitions from a young age and thought about making it his career. His curiosity about scent won. He studied chemistry and earned a Ph.D. with a new way to analyse plant extracts. He then trained at ISIPCA, the well-known perfume school in Versailles.

For years he worked in a research lab that studied aromatic plants and how to extract them. His first blends were made for aromatherapy. Later he joined a perfume lab in Paris, where he could be more creative. He went on to found his own house, Parfum d'Empire. He also teaches at ISIPCA and runs a production unit for essential oils in Madagascar.

Corticchiato likes rich, bold perfumes built on fine natural materials. He sees perfume as an old link between seduction and the sacred, and he wants his scents to bring that feeling back. At Parfum d'Empire he won FiFi Awards for best niche fragrance in 2015 and 2016.

He is also one of the perfumers who work with Vilhelm Parfumerie. The house names him next to Jérôme Épinette and Bertrand Duchaufour as one of the French noses behind its scents. His deep knowledge of raw materials fits Vilhelm's idea of perfumes that tell a story.