David Apel

David Apel is VP and Senior Perfumer at Symrise, New York, with over four decades in the industry.

A New Englander by sensibility, he came to perfumery by accident, an unexpected offer from Givaudan in 1980 led to a job in the gas chromatography lab, where a deep knowledge of raw materials and a perfume philosophy took root: every fragrance is a work in progress, art is seldom finished.

He joined the American Society of Perfumers' apprenticeship programme, spent four years as a fine fragrance perfumer in Paris, then returned to the US to open Fragrance Resources' Fine Fragrance Creation centre in New York before rejoining Givaudan as Executive Perfumer in 2001 and moving to Symrise in 2007.

He won the Young Perfumer Award from the American Society of Perfumers in 1991.

His credits include Tom Ford Black Orchid, Bond No. 9, Hugo Boss, Armani, and Cerruti.