There’s something quietly powerful about walking into a room and being remembered not by what you said, but by how you smelled.
That’s the idea behind BOUQUET Parfums, where fragrance stops being something you buy and becomes something you create. Led by founder Nathan Dubois, this NYC-based perfume workshop turns scent into story, memory into material, and visitors into artists, whether they have ever thought about perfume before or not.
Dubois didn’t arrive at perfumery through a traditional path. “More than growing up in Paris, I think what really influenced me was growing up with a very Parisian mom,” he says. “She was always impeccably dressed, perfectly made up, and always smelled incredible.” Her signature scent, Angel by Mugler, became more than just a fragrance, it became a feeling. “It smells like home to me. When I was twelve, she got me the masculine version, A*Men, which I still wear to this day and which still heavily influences my work.”
That emotional connection to scent is at the core of everything he does today.
The turning point came unexpectedly. “For my 20th birthday, my friends back home got me the Studio des Parfums workshop,” he explains. “What really made me move from appreciation to creation was realizing how accessible perfumery actually is.” What followed wasn’t instant mastery, but years of curiosity. “From there, it became a matter of trial and error, but who doesn’t like a good experiment? That experimenting phase lasted about four years for me, and I now realize it was really patience and passion driving me. I became completely mesmerized by the creative possibilities (and still am): how things that smell completely different can come together to create something entirely new. I view perfumery much more as an art than a science, the real trick is understanding your materials and how they interact.”
Step into his workshop now, and you’re stepping into that same sense of discovery.
Before a single bottle is opened, the process starts with conversation. “We go around the table so I can understand everyone’s vision, if they have one,” Dubois says. Some arrive with vivid ideas—a memory, a place, a feeling. Others come with nothing but curiosity. Both approaches work.
From there, the experience becomes tactile. You smell, you choose, you build.
“We start with the base notes,” he explains. “Attendees smell all the available raw materials, pick their top three or four, and we build an accord from there.” Then come the heart notes, then the top notes, slowly layering until something uniquely yours emerges. “The whole process takes about two hours,” he adds, “and then it’s time for bottling and naming the fragrance.”
What surprises most people isn’t just the final product, it’s how personal it feels.
“Scent is deeply connected to memory,” Dubois says. “That day at the workshop, I created a fragrance that reminded me of my grandpa’s aftershave when I was a kid. It’s a fragrance that will always take me back in a way that a picture, or even a video never could.”
That idea, that scent can hold memory more vividly than sight or sound, changes how people approach the experience. Suddenly, it’s not about making something that smells “good.” It’s about making something that feels like you.
And sometimes, that leads to unexpected results.
“I remember one attendee created this perfect balance between vanilla, amber, and rose,” he says. “I’ve been trying to recreate it ever since.” Another discovery? “Sandalwood and tonka bean together can create a coconut-like accord, which is fascinating.”
Even with the same materials, no two outcomes are alike. “It’s amazing to see dozens of people working with the same materials and ending up with completely different results.”
That individuality is amplified by New York itself. Unlike the slower, more traditional rhythm of Paris, the city pushes experimentation. “There’s an energy here that constantly pushes you forward, you don’t really stop. It’s made me a lot more confident creatively. I’ve also been influenced by the scents of nightlife here, I’m a bit of a raver, and the party smells very different here compared to back home.”
And yet, in a city known for its pace, many of the scents being created are rooted in nostalgia. “I find myself gravitating more toward scents from back home, the smell of a bakery early in the morning, coffee and tobacco on a sunny day. I’ve been trying to recreate more of those memories in my work now that I’m away.”
That tension, between movement and memory, between NYC energy and personal history, is what makes the experience feel so layered.
But beyond the artistry, there’s something simpler Dubois hopes people take away. “A good time, of course, but also a sense of pride in what they’ve created,” he says. “One of my favorite things is when attendees start connecting with each other, sharing thoughts, reacting to materials, and laughing together. Seeing people enjoy the process, learn something new, and feel excited about their creation is everything I could ask for.”
Because by the end of it, you are not just leaving with a custom perfume. You’re leaving with something you built from scratch, something that carries a memory, a mood, or a moment you didn’t realize could be bottled. And maybe the most surprising part? “That crafting your own fragrance is much more accessible than people think,” Dubois says. “Perfumery is an art, and everyone is a little bit of an artist.”
