TO HEAR DAVID BENEDEK, the founder of BDK Parfums, speak about his love of perfume is to also hear the story of his family. And in particular, his love for his grandmother.

Over the course of our hour-long interview, these two strands of narrative of fragrance and family thread together, twisting around each other. Tales of how Benedek’s grandmother introduced him to the world of perfume – “She was mixing Saint Laurent with Chanel No.5, layering with Arpège,” Benedek says. “She was so ahead of her time” – to how his grandfather, a lawyer in Romania, opened a Paris perfumery out of his own apartment in 1959, selling perfume first to American soldiers still stationed there after the war and later to the tourists who found their way to the city and to his door.

Chances are that if someone says they love perfume, they will own something by French house BDK. Launched in 2016, it quickly hooked the niche community with its innovative accords that revive a time of grand perfumery before minimalist trends stripped it of its depth – plush, rich and textured with complex evolutions. (At one point, I ask Benedek if every creation he makes is, on some level, for that beloved grandmother. “Yes, absolutely!”)

If you’re not immediately familiar with the name, you will be with the scent. There’s perhaps his most famous creation, Gris Charnel. A warm, milky fig and spiced tea scent laden with cardamom, iris and sandalwood that almost caresses you. “It’s like a cloud,” says Benedek. “The idea behind [Gris Charnel] was really to speak about what can sensuality smell like. My inspiration, when I went to see my team, was I wanted a perfume that smells like the skin of two people after a night of love.”

Rouge Smoking, a liquor-sweet amber that is arguably a gourmand, packed with vanilla, pastry-like heliotrope and cherry. “The inspiration for this one was the tuxedo for women,” Benedek says. Do I recall the famous Saint Laurent smoking jacket, he asks? I do.

 “It’s a wonderful approach, and a way to empower a woman also,” he explains. “But I don’t put a gender on raw materials,” he says. “Men wear it as readily as women.”

There’s personal favourite, Nuit de Sable. If Gris Charnel was love, Nuit de Sable is unexpected lust. Sweaty cumin, the sweety woodiness of cardamom, some rose and hot sand accord. If Gris Charnel is the skin, Nuit de Sable is the sheets or shirt of a lover…

Benedek had arrived in Sydney 48 hours prior – in partnership with Libertine Parfumerie who have longed championed the brand – to celebrate the launch of a new trio of fragrances, Collection Studio: Oud Paradisio, Stellar Silk and Silver Ceremony. The release marks 10 years since Benedek launched the brand but also, as an ode to the world of fashion that Benedek had almost made his career before embarking on perfume.

Inspired by the materiality of clothing, specifically silk, sequins and leather, Benedek explains that to create fragrances that would bring to mind a sense of tactility and textuality with these. To do so, he worked with current nose du jour, Jordi Fernandez, to create all three,

“I have been a big fan of his work,” he tells Esquire. 

“He did a perfume, Oud for Greatness for Initio, and I was really in love with it. I was captivated by the modernity and the creativity of Jordi. When I smelt that, I told myself that one day I would work with him.” 

He describes Fernandez as incredibly easy to work alongside: “He’s so open-minded and so gentle and so nice that he barely says no. He’s a master perfumer with incredible talent, and he’s so easy to work with. I’m proud to call him my friend today.”

The concept for the collection started simply. “The original idea was to work around three woods, one sandalwood, one oud, one cedar,” Benedek says. “But then I thought, this is a bit too simple. I like complexity.” His fix was to connect each wood to a fabric texture, then hand Fernandez the brief to build a scent around it.

Stellar Silk is, as the name suggests, the smooth sumptuousness of silk translated into an accord of orris, butter and vanilla over sandalwood. Oud Paradisio, leather, contrasts the tartness of pineapple and saffron over the sweet leathery profile of oud, with a curious note of ice cream smoothing out the middle. Silver Ceremony is the shimmering light of sequins. Ginger, bergamot and green mandarin practically sparkle in the air before warmer notes of amber, labdanum and patchouli in the base. “A very fresh perfume, strong but fresh, very elegant in a way, with a touch of darkness,” says Benedek. 

Stellar Silk is the one Benedek wears most: “the one that I’m wearing the most right now,” built on sandalwood, orris and tonka bean, pushed further than the original brief. “A very great, smooth, creamy, and also powdery smell,” he says. “I like to work with contrast. If you have a warmer heart, I want a spicy top.” 

Despite sharing a perfumer and a premise, he insists the three don’t read as siblings. “The three are very different,” he says. “But when I smell them, I know each other’s signature.

As BDK enters its 10th year, a certain amount of self reflection is to be expected. Does Benedek believe that the brand operates as a niche category? What does niche even mean today?

“Firstly, I don’t like that word, niche. You don’t declare yourself niche,” he says. “People declare that you’re niche. I never wanted to be small. I always wanted my perfumery to speak to many people. I was always quite ambitious. So I prefer to speak about artistic perfumery, or alternative perfumery, than niche perfumery. 

“What I’m the most proud of from the past 10 years is that I truly think we are where we are today because we are sincere, authentic… I really see BDK as a studio. The way you see   a fashion studio, I see it as a perfume studio.”

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