Self-taught, the Spanish designer has created almost 700 fragrances, including some of the world's most iconic, and owns his own brand, Mizensir. Meet a legendary nose with a galloping imagination. He considers himself an alchemist, a painter and a poet too. “The perfumer is an artist who interprets emotions”, he says. As voluble as he is lyrical, Alberto Morillas likes to describe “a passionate, intriguing and demanding profession”. Sophisticated, straight as an “i”, with a curling eye, more of a Geneva dandy than a hidalgo from his native Seville, the most prolific nose of the last fifty years is dressed, as usual, with great care: suit and tie, shirt with cufflinks, bright Italian socks (usually cardinal, orange or parma), shoes bought in Rome from the best houses. He never wears a white coat. “Never! he exclaims, unlike Jean-Paul Guerlain, for whom it was part of the decorum.” And it was thanks to him that the Spaniard, then a student at the Beaux-Arts, discovered his vocation, reading a portrait of himself in Vogue . That was in 1970, when he was 20.
Since then, the self-taught perfumer, consecrated master perfumer eighteen years later, has composed “nearly 700 fragrances”, including three iconic ones before he reached his forties (Must by Cartier, Byzance by Rochas and Xeryus by Givenchy), as well as global successes such as Flowers by Kenzo, Acqua di Giò by Armani, Pleasures by Estée Lauder or CK One by Calvin Klein, the world's first unisex fragrance. “It was the fragrance of a generation,” recalls Vanessa Friedman, head of fashion at The New York Times. Everyone was wearing it. During the first ten days of its release in 1994, twenty bottles a minute were sold!” The combination of green tea and bergamot worked wonders. Memories of his Andalusian childhood.
What inspires the ever-curious Alberto Morillas, a city dweller and passionate walker who describes himself as “a man of the pavement, in love with nature”? His imagination can run wild, he explains, starting with “an image, a color, a few words”. just like the briefs he receives from his customers. As was the case with Bulgari, who, for Rain Essence, released last June, evoked “raindrops falling on a pond where lotuses grow”. The trigger can also come from “a melody, an impression or a memory”. The most vivid memories are those of her “very happy” Andalusian childhood: the scents of the family patio (“water from the well, washing drying in the sun, medlar tree, orange blossom”), or the smells of those closest to her, such as the eau de Cologne her father Alberto (senior) used to anoint his hair with, the Femme de Rochas perfume worn by her mother Rosario, or the jasmine her grandmother braided into her bun. A blend of fantasy and extravagance.
Located in old Geneva, the perfumer's workshop looks like something out of a Cocteau film, a mix of fantasy and extravagance, with overloaded shelves, rococo furniture and even two arms of light. Alongside the hundreds of bottles whose juices he has composed, there is a profusion of objets d'art and antiques (busts, paintings, statues, trinkets, photos) that he has found or bought at auction, and to which his imagination clings. In the middle is a cluttered work table, which he shares with his assistant, Nuria Alfaro, a Spanish chemist by training. “I don't have an assigned place: on one side, I can see my creations, on the other, my fetish objects. It all depends on my mood,” says this enthusiast with a ‘very Spanish character’ according to those close to him, capable of great outbursts, like Dali, for whom he created a perfume with a bottle in the shape of lips.
Attached to tradition, Alberto Morillas works the old-fashioned way, with “mouillettes”, the oblong strips used for olfactory tests, simple pens, felt-tips and pencils, and double-margined notepads, custom-made for him. “When I write down a formula, I can immediately smell the fragrance. My sense of smell then confirms it.” The only concession to modernity is his cell phone. He uses it to dictate an idea that springs to mind, or to fill his social networks, posting “a message a day, including weekends” on Instagram. “I have 70,000 followers”, he proudly points out. As for the artificial intelligence he used in 2021 for Calvin Klein's CK for Everyone, he's “neither for nor against it. It may make the work easier, but it always starts with the idea of a designer”.
“Perfection is boring” Adjacent to his workshop, his laboratory, a sort of realm of vials, allows him to fine-tune his recipes, before weighing them on the small scales. “I always have between 15 and 20 projects on the go: for each one I try to find the right balance”, he explains. explains the man who feels “like a Chinese juggler”, forced to hold all his plates at once. What does his ideal fragrance look like? It's not perfect. Perfection is boring! It needs a touch that intrigues, a break, even a discreet imperfection, like flies on a woman's face.” This is how he has popularized natural ingredients, such as pink pepper, or synthetic essences, such as Cascalone, “which brings a new freshness, that of dew”.
Distinguished by the profession as the greatest nose of his generation, bestowed with dozens of nicknames by the world's press, including his favorite “The legendary nose”, he notes that “in a world where nearly 1,000 perfumes are created every year, there are few real noses”. These, he asserts, are fewer in number than astronauts. Hired as a beginner by Firmenich, a Swiss heavyweight in fragrances and flavors, he has remained loyal to this employer who gave him his chance. “I feel good here. This didn't stop him, in 1999, from launching a company with his wife Claudine: Mizensir.
Specializing in the very high-end, it first marketed candles, then perfumes, which the designer describes as “products of excellence”. “Mizensir is a play on words with 'mise en scène' and begins with an M, like Morillas,” comments his daughter Véronique, a lawyer by training, who joined the business to become general manager. I'm here to support my father in his work, to relieve him of material contingencies.” All the more so as the company has grown to include several of its own stores, 110 candle references and 35 fragrances, including Anticonformiste, created last year as a tribute to New York, to celebrate the opening of an American flagship in the Soho district. “Even if the name Mizen-sir is a bit difficult to pronounce,” testifies Michèle Baretta, the boutique's manager, ”customers come from Chicago to California, thanks to word-of-mouth and social networks.” And it doesn't matter that the 100 ml bottle costs close to $300. Well aware that in his field “the financial stakes are enormous”, the Spanish master prefers to concentrate on his formulas. “I'm looking for my scents, my emotions. I'm in a world apart.”
By Sabine Syfuss-Arnaud
https://www.challenges.fr
