Antoine Lie grew up in Strasbourg, the only child of two teachers, and by his mid-teens had told his parents he would study chemistry and become a perfumer. After chemistry he moved to Grasse for eighteen months at the Roure school, in the Jean Carles tradition. He started at Roure's New York office, came back to Paris at 33 and stayed with Givaudan, which had absorbed Roure. After fourteen years there and seven at Takasago, he set up his own consultancy, Aloe.
He calls himself an abstract perfumer and treats a fragrance as a shape in space that should carry around the wearer. His mainstream hits include Giorgio Armani Code and Versace Crystal Noir. His niche work is rougher: Etat Libre d'Orange Sécrétions Magnifiques, a love-or-hate launch, and Rien, made with patchouli, galbanum, castoreum and orris butter; Comme des Garçons Wonderwood; and Eris Parfums Ma Bête, where he rebuilt a vintage animal base with more amber and wood.
He is creative director of Les Indémodables, which from its launch set no cost limit on his formulas. Its exclusive natural extracts come from the Atelier Français des Matières laboratory near Annecy, and he helps develop them. Vanille Havane rests on a single material, the finest gourmet grade of vanilla pod, and pulls out its milky, honeyed, woody and rum-soaked sides along with amber, spice and an animal note.
