Rami Mekdachi, the art director and visionary, is a magician of scent, weaving essences into the visions that awaken memories, inspire olfactory journeys and open a world of new sensations. His work with Jean-Louis Costes resulted in the refrains of incense, rose and sandalwood conjuring the garnet-red velvets and silks of the famous Hôtel Costes. His collaboration with Jacques Garcia brought to life the sensuous opulence of the interior designer's décors. When Mekdachi notes that he wanted to create perfume for modern temples and their sorcerers, his words resonate with the ancient origins of perfume as a sacred offering.

Mekdachi was inspired to work with fragrances through his early experience as a musician. Music has the ability to bring you to a certain period of your life, to remind you of special moments. The same can be said about perfume, and yet, the effect of scent is even more powerful, because it acts on the subconscious level and opens the mind to a whole new arena of emotions. The fascination with the emotional connections one can forge with a scent and the appreciation of its elusive, mysterious nature is what prompted Mekdachi to leave his marketing position at L'Oréal and to seek out independent creators and work with them to create their signature fragrances. Besides Costes and Jacques Garcia, Mekdachi's clients include such visionary enterprises as the concept store Colette, the Nelly Rodi TrendLab, the infamous dance club VIP Room, the legendary Gosset Champagne and Pierre Frapin Cognac. Mekdachi's portfolio of diverse creations offers a multifaceted compilation that could be best compared with genres of music. Just like classical music, rock and jazz speak to different audiences, distinct fragrance styles express specific emotions and characters. Nevertheless, an avant-garde approach and respect for the art of perfumery provide a common thread linking all of Mekdachi's fragrances.

The essence of beautiful perfume for Mekdachi lies in its link to history. It is not about following trends, forging concepts, or inventing stories. It is about timelessness. My goal is to create a perfume that would serve as a signature of my clients‚ work, much like it was done in the past. This can be seen in Chanel No 5, which speaks to the iconoclastic and innovative character of Coco Chanel's designs. This task sets Mekdachi's work apart from both mainstream perfumery with its focus on crowd pleasers and the niche outfits seeking new concepts and novel smells. I wanted to preserve the essence of the place and to allow others to experience this magic. Silver, the tuberose rich scent from Jacques Garcia illustrates the success of this objective. The white sumptuousness of classical tuberose in the style of grand French perfumery alludes to the majestic opulence of Garcia's vision, which can be seen from his interiors at L'Avenue Restaurant in Paris to Jean-Georges in New York. Merely lighting the candle allows one to escape into a world created by the designer.

A process of fragrance creation is a process of collaboration between Mekdachi, his client and the perfumer. The perfumers he works with are individuals respected for their creativity and openness to new ideas. Thus, Olivia Giacobetti was the perfumer with whom Mekdachi captured the elegance pervading Hôtel Costes. The plush ambiance of the night club in St. Tropez was translated by Mekdachi and the perfumer Benoît Lapouza into a vanilla and tiare flower infused leather. The set of eight fragrances for Nelly Rodi which expose different facets of the oriental theme was created with six perfumers from Mane, Robertet and Symrise. Pierre Bourdon was the nose behind the Jacques Garcia ambience fragrances. The relationship of mutual respect and trust within the team lends an intimate quality to the finished fragrance, as if making one privy to the special connection shared among the creators.

Ultimately, the reason why Mekdachi's perfumes stand out has to do with his passion for fragrance. Whether he talks about the scent of orange blossom evoking his childhood in Beirut, the difficulty of capturing the sun dried grasses of Corsica, or the use of fragrance as a tool to boost creativity, it is clear why he has chosen the more difficult path of independent creation. The rewards it brings to Mekdachi by far outweigh the challenges.