Dominique Ropion fell ill at seven and was sent to recover in the mountains, and he dates his sense of smell to the air he learned to breathe there. He was studying physics when an internship at Roure led to six years of training, at the Roure school and then with Roure Bertrand Dupont in Grasse and Paris, before he joined Jean-Louis Sieuzac. Givenchy Ysatis, released in 1984, was his first perfume: Givenchy's president chose it and it was finished in two weeks. He joined IFF in 2000 and was named a master perfumer there in 2018.
He works by balance, testing each new material against the whole through hundreds of trials. Alone or with colleagues he has signed Givenchy Amarige, Mugler Alien with Laurent Bruyère, Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb, Lancôme La Vie Est Belle and Paco Rabanne Olympéa with Anne Flipo and Loc Dong. He teaches at IFF's in-house school and won the Prix François Coty in 2008.
For Frédéric Malle he has composed Carnal Flower, an 18-month study of tuberose, along with Vetiver Extraordinaire, Geranium pour Monsieur, Une Fleur de Cassie and Portrait of a Lady. Portrait of a Lady is a dense Turkish rose cut with clove, raspberry and blackcurrant, resting on patchouli, frankincense and sandalwood.
