“I started nose school (perfumery school) when I was 22… the first day I started smelling raw materials, I was hooked. Perfume took my life like a tsunami,” he shares enthusiastically.

For Hennessy, learning about perfume clicked naturally. He muses: “There was a feeling of excitement… and comfort [when it came to perfume]. I was like an addict, I wanted more and more. Whenever I would see Jacques (his mentor, Jacques Cavallier) in the lab, I would ask him: “Give me more. Give me more.” I was so hungry to learn.”

— Kilian Hennessy, quoted in Kilian Hennessy on the way perfumery has guided his career and life at Tatler Asia.