PARIS — Marc Chaya, president and chief executive officer of Maison Francis Kurkdjian, is leaving the niche fragrance brand that he cofounded and built into a powerhouse.
Chaya, whose last day in the roles is Wednesday, will continue supporting the brand’s owner LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, serving as a strategic adviser to its perfumes and cosmetics division, alongside the division’s CEO Véronique Courtois, while focusing on other personal projects.
Courtois is to serve as Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s interim president with the support of Stéphane Augé, international managing director, until Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s future organization structure takes shape. Meanwhile, Kurkdjian remains creative director of the house.
“Marc Chaya has profoundly shaped the maison through his vision, high standards and entrepreneurial spirit,” Courtois said in a statement. “Under his and Francis Kurkdjian’s direction, the brand has become a model of audacity and desirability. I would like to commend his exemplary commitment and thank him for the years of success he has helped write for Maison Francis Kurkdjian.”
Under Chaya’s leadership, the house has generated sustained growth and raised the bar of creativity in the burgeoning high niche fragrance category.
He met Kurkdjian in 2004, and together they set out to create a contemporary fragrance house that was free and uncompromising.
A Maison Francis Kurkdjian boutique in Paris.
Courtesy of Maison Francis Kurkdjian
“What we’ve accomplished together goes way beyond my wildest dreams,” Chaya said. “When we met, we were very optimistic, full of ambition on bringing back creativity. The story of the maison is giving the perfumer the ability to create freely, and bringing back the perfumer to the center of the stage. [We organized] the maison so that it reflects the vision of an immensely talented perfumer.
“So, we’ve lived an entrepreneurial journey that I believe is extraordinary,” Chaya continued. “As part of this journey, there was always in my mind the question of transmission. And that question resonated at the time we started discussing with LVMH about joining the group.”
He explained it was natural to do so, since it was the best place for Maison Francis Kurkdjian to grow, as well as to ensure its succession and legacy.
“The group has maisons that go back hundreds of years,” Chaya said. “As an entrepreneur, I think I have accomplished most of the things that I had in mind. We’ve managed to bring the name out there to build a maison that is celebrated on all continents, that has reached leadership in many markets, that is recognized as a beautiful, creative house.”
Among the first steps he and Kurkdjian took when they decided to work together, before launching the maison, was to take perfume out of the bottle.
“It was to show that perfume could be the articulation of an artistic expression, as well,” Chaya said. “We have all been taught to appreciate the pleasure of art through our eyes and our ears, but we’ve never been taught how to compose scents. We’ve never been taught how to smell. So we aren’t very capable as humans to understand clearly the artistic message that lies behind the scent and that message being expressed by a perfumer.”
A few years before launching Maison Francis Kurkdjian, they created an olfactory installation in the Château de Versailles gardens, where 16 bubble machines emitted strawberry-, pear- and melon-scented bubbles, nodding to Louis XIV’s favorite fruits.
“Those artistic conversations have been always at the heart of the maison’s expression,” Chaya said. “I’m super proud that last year we were able to bring the retrospective to the Palais de Tokyo. I wanted this, and we were able with our team and the support of the group to do something exceptional with the ‘Perfume, Sculpture of the Invisible’ [exhibition].”
Maison Francis Kurkdjian was launched with a line of 25 products and a small boutique in Paris. The brand has always taken a holistic approach to beauty, with a “fragrance wardrobe” — involving everything from eaux de toilette to scented bubbles and fragranced textile cleaning products — meant for perfuming a person’s life 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540
Courtesy of Maison Francis Kurkdjian
The brand has launched some bestselling scents, including Baccarat Rouge 540, first created as a limited-edition that morphed into a viral, blockbuster perfume with icon status.
“It is the scent that has, in a way, expressed the art of our time,” Chaya said. “It was unprecedented, it was celebrated, and it was organically positively welcomed by our customers around the world. But I see a lot of momentum around our fragrance wardrobe in general.”
He explained the journey of building a beautiful fragrance house from scratch (Chaya personally has opened 48 countries for Maison Francis Kurkdjian) has been remarkable. That includes “integrating [into] a group where I have met exceptional people that have really enabled us to become the best version of ourselves,” Chaya said, adding the time with LVMH has been transformative both for the house and himself as a leader. “I have been working relentlessly on my succession, because I know things don’t last forever. And I have now an incredibly capable team that is ready to move on to the next stage. As a founder it’s not easy to leave the baby one has created. But after 20 years of entrepreneurship and 12 years of a consultant the time was ripe for a shift.
“I aspire to take a step back and to bring now my knowledge, my experience at a different level than the operational level,” Chaya said. “So all stars have aligned for me to be able to take this decision now. It was also built as part of our agreement, when we joined the group. I had the opportunity to stay for a very long time.”
It was by design he would work throughout the nine years at Maison Francis Kurkdjian.
“Marc has been much more than a partner — a trusted associate with whom I have built an exceptional human and creative adventure in the service of perfume,” Kurkdjian said in the statement. “I am deeply grateful for his commitment, his vision and everything we have accomplished together, with the support of our teams. I am delighted that he will remain by our side as an adviser to Véronique Courtois, while pursuing new personal projects.”
Chaya was raised in Beirut, where he grew a passion for drawing, architecture and literature. He then studied economics and finance. The executive started his career at Ernst & Young, where he became a partner in less than a decade.
Chaya has been named Chevalier de l’Ordre Nationale du Mérite and has served as treasurer and a board member of the Comité Colbert.
He will remain close to the house. “As I always say, I cannot ‘de-cofound’ the maison I created,” Chaya said.
He has his sights set on his birth country of Lebanon. “I am starting not-for-profit initiatives targeting education,” Chaya said. “For the time being, I would only be focused on areas where I can give back and have an impact.”
