Christian Provenzano was born in Casablanca in 1953 to Italian parents and left Morocco at 17. In 1971 he joined Maschmeijer Aromatics in Amsterdam as a laboratory technician and trained at the perfumery school in Naarden. In 1974 he moved to England as a perfumer with Zimmerman & Hobbs in Milton Keynes, went on to Fritzsche Dodge & Olcott, and joined CPL Aromas as a senior perfumer in 1989.
Today he is Master Perfumer and Global Director of Perfumery at CPL Aromas, at the head of its perfumery team. He lives in Dubai, where CPL built a creative centre, and has made the raw materials of the Middle East his speciality, working for Arabian Oud, Ajmal, Rasasi and Swiss Arabian. His fine fragrance clients have included Agent Provocateur, Jo Malone, Penhaligon's, Clive Christian, By Kilian and Anna Sui. In 2017 he launched his own line, CP Parfums, and its Patchouli Noir was named best niche fragrance at the 2018 Pure Beauty Awards.
For Sospiro he composed Vibrato, Opera Grande, Maraschino and Erba Leather. Sospiro Vibrato moves from grapefruit, ginger and rosemary to vetiver, sandalwood and amber. Fragrance Du Bois Rude Oud, an extrait made for Harrods, opens on saffron and raspberry, turns to rose and leather and settles on oud and amber. He is also one of the perfumers who compose for Boadicea the Victorious.
