Chinese nose Steve Guo has been awarded The International Perfumer’s Prize 2017, an international competition organized by the French society of perfumers-creators (Société Française des Parfumeurs - SFP). The winner was honoured at a ceremony organized in Paris on the 14th of June 2017, during the International Exhibition of Raw Materials for Perfumery (SIMPPAR).

Steve Guo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg, France (2010) and a Master’s Degree in cosmetics, aromas and fragrance engineering from the University of Montpellier 2, France (2012). He started as a perfumer assistant at French perfumery house Galimard in Grasse, France (2012-2013), before joining Robertet in Beijing, China, as a Junior perfumer.

This year The International Perfumer’s Prize is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The first edition of the prize took place in 1957, with René Cornon creating the winning fragrance, a green chypre. 2017 also marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of François Coty’s groundbreaking and now legendary fragrance, Chypre, which was to give its name to an entire family of fragrances.

The SFP therefore chose to spotlight and honour this accord, and called upon young talents worldwide to create a fragrance satisfying the following criteria: “The Sixties modernized in 2017, a New Look at chypre”

The chypre accord includes bergamot, a floral note, oak moss, and a woody note. This family includes notable successes such as Mitsouko Guerlain, Femme Rochas, Miss Dior, and more recently, Narciso Rodriguez for her. For men, Pour Monsieur Chanel, Kouros Yves Saint Laurent, and Polo Ralph Lauren have successfully conquered and maintained a faithful clientele among the elegant and refined.

Steve Guo won over the jury - chaired by Olivier Cresp, Master Perfumer at Firmenich - with its Cyprus 24, with head notes of bergamot and mandarin, heart notes of jasmine, rose and violet, and bottom notes of patchouli, iris and sandalwood.

The SFP received a total of 77 submissions. Following a preliminary selection carried out by perfumer members of the SFP board of Directors, 27 candidates were sent to the Technical Jury, composed of perfumers and evaluators, which selected four finalists.

The winner was chosen by an Artistic Jury including: Sonia Chacar Bitar, painter, Elisabeth de Feydeau, perfume historian, Sophie Forte, comedian and humorist, Martine Denisot, perfumer, Laurence Férat, journalist, Bertrand Lebugle, manager of the Ateliers Saveurs at Lenôtre, Jean-Marie Martin Hattenberg, expert in perfumes, Helder Suffenplan, writer and founder of Scentury.com, Elisabeth Villeminot Vezan, sommelier, Michelle Vincent, journalist, Sylvie Jourdan, President of the SFP and of Créassence.