Ilias Erminidis

Born in Istanbul (Constantinople) and raised between Turkey and Greece, Ilias Erminidis grew up spending summers at his father's flavour and fragrance factory, an upbringing that made a perfumery career feel almost inevitable.

At eighteen he moved to France, intended to study economics, and instead stumbled upon ISIPCA in Versailles, which redirected his life entirely.

Trained there and then hired by Firmenich in 1986 as their first perfumer trainee to graduate from ISIPCA, he has spent decades working from offices in Paris, Geneva, New York, and beyond.

His breakthrough came with Victoria's Secret Heavenly, which won a FiFi Award in 2000 and became a bestseller.

He has also created for Gucci, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, and many others, as well as contributing to the Goldfield & Banks and Maison Matine portfolios.