Why Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Marc Chaya Loves the Philippines

Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s president and co-founder was in Manila recently for the launch of the brand’s new location at Greenbelt 5 in Makati. We met with Marc Chaya at the store for a quick chat before its doors opened to the public and it took me back to the very first article I wrote 13 years ago, when I was assigned to interview the perfumer the fragrance house takes its name from. 

Maison Francis Kurkdjian's president and CEO Marc Chaya

While it was a relatively young brand back then, the brand currently enjoys an impressive level of success today. Created in 2009, Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s fragrances are now available in over 60 countries around the globe. The LVMH group acquired Maison Fracis Kurkdjian in 2017. With Kurkdjian’s vision and talent as a perfumer coupled with Chaya’s business experience and leadership at the helm of the company, the Maison has redefined the fragrance industry and consequentially has produced some unforgettable scents. 

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Welcome to the Maison

“When I met Francis Kurkdjian 22 years ago, I didn’t know what a perfumer was. Neither did consumers nor people on the street,” Chaya tells Esquire Philippines. “I didn’t know that he created Jean Paul Gautier Le Male. I didn’t know that he had collaborated with so many brands.” 

Working together has, as they put it, fulfilled their desire for a sensual, generous, and multi-faceted landscape of olfactory free expression, creating a new emblem of French know-how and lifestyle. “The goals that we set were not financial initially,” Chaya says. “With the company today, we’re very proud of our team and everything we have accomplished. We found an audience that appreciates our Maison and we have grown into a leader in the category.”

Maison Francis Kurkdjian's new boutoque in Greenbelt 5

Customers can come to the Maison to experience perfumes exactly like how Kurkdjian envisioned, which is to allow them to express their personality. 

“You’re not the same person every day,” Chaya says. “Sometimes you’re casual and you want to be laidback so you can pick up the scent that reflects this personality. Other days, you want to be overdressed, you want to be chic and sensual, and you can choose another scent. Our collection is like a fragrance wardrobe that can reflect your aura and complement your outfit on any given day.” 

The Maison also blurs the lines defining what one can choose to smell like. “Remember, the notion of men and women is cultural. For a very long time, we had fragrances for men and fragrances for women, but we also have genderless fragrances to share just like in fashion. Think of silk. You can cut it in a tie for men to wear or a square that women can use as a scarf,” he explains. “Masculinity and femininity exist, and some scents are here to culturally reflect the meaning of those. Usually masculine scents are more leathery, lavender, and are related to the imagination of the art of shaving while women are more associated with flowers.”

Eman Pineda of Adora and Marc Chaya

The launch of the Maison’s first boutique on Rue d’Alger on September 9, 2009 introduced the world to their birth collection:  Aqua Universalis, an eau de toilette; APOM (A Part of Me), which was relaunched in 2024; Absolue Pour le Soir and Absolue Pour le Matin; and Lumiere Noire, a discontinued SKU that might also be relaunched soon. That initial collection 16 years ago paved the way for the brand’s latest scent unveiled this year. 

Kurky

The Maison’s newest fragrance takes after Kurkdjian’s nickname when he was a child.

“Francis has a little scent, non-alcohol-based that is very addictive, a beautiful musky scent, that he gives to our team members when someone becomes a parent as a gift to the baby because the product can go on the baby and it’s so addictive,” Chaya says. “When you smell it, you just want to give the baby little kisses.”

The Maison has been developing the concept of releasing a scent for children for about four years now and the process has been a fun one. “Remember when you were a kid and you looked up at the sky?” Chaya says. “You would see clouds and you would say this looks like a car, that one is an elephant. Now, as an adult we say, oh my god, it’s going to rain.” Kurky is all about awakening our inner child, which has given the Maison Francis Kurkdjian team an opportunity to revisit their younger selves for inspiration. 

“It’s about awakening your ability to dream,” Chaya says. “The scent is a little bit regressive, tutti-fruity, an abundance of fruit like blackberry, raspberry, pear and peach. Also very high intensity of musk that acts as a ray of sunshine. We just released Kurky and it’s a beautiful scent for the summer. It’s had a wonderful reception so far. In the U.S., it has been the biggest launch in the history of Bloomingdales.”

Maison Francis Kurkdjian's new fragrance, Kurky

A Passion for Creativity

The Maison takes pride in excellence and the highest of standards do not come cheap. Chaya likens this excellence to running a race. “I believe that excellence is in the very last mile. When you hit the wall, behind the wall there is a whole world of quality. We push ourselves to the limit and after that, we push ourselves some more. 

"This is quality, and quality makes your brand costly,” he adds. “This is why the price tag is higher because everything that we use comes with excellence and from extraordinary materials."

When Chaya talks about what they do at the Maison, he speaks with an unbridled passion. The fragrance house’s co-founder delights in the idea of making people happy by offering them an uplifting journey through fragrance and giving meaning through creativity. 

“Throughout history, creativity has made us better,” he says. “It makes us in touch with something bigger than us. It makes us feel happy. It hits us in our guys. It uplifts us. Look at you when you listen to music and you have goosebumps. Look at how emotional you can get when you look at an art piece that you love. As emotional as when you look at the beauty of nature.” 

Chaya believes that throughout history, there is a category of people who have a certain sensitivity that allows them to almost feel the pulse of planet earth and humanity. Throughout their own expression and art, they are able to create what is yet to come. This, he says, is the genius of creativity, which is something he definitely thinks Kurkdjian possesses. 

“Look at Monsieur Lagerfeld,” he says. “For 40 years, he was at the helm of creation at Chanel. Did you ever feel he was at the end of a cycle? Look at Picasso. We saw him painting up until he was 82 or 83. Did you feel at anytime that Picasso was out of date? They are pioneers who always surprised us and always bring to us what eventually will both become trends or timeless.”

Chaya says he grew up loving the Philippines

Loving the Philippines

Chaya is quick to note how much the Maison’s partnership with Adora has been instrumental to its success. 

“Everywhere in the world, we pride ourselves with our partnerships,” he says. “Those partners become part of the Maison and they accompany us through time. When I first met Eman Pineda, the founder of Adora, it was in 2009. That year, we had just launched our boutique. He was staying in a hotel nearby and he walked in.” The two began talking and Pineda invited Chaya to come to the Philippines. As fate would have it, the latter was scheduled to be in Hong Kong soon after that, so a visit to Manila was scheduled.

“When I entered Adora in 2009, I was so impressed with the quality and with the style,” Chaya remembers. “Emman is someone with a lot of taste. He’s a curator and he has an eye for beautiful things. He had an eye for the Maison. Manila was one of the very first markets that we opened in back in 2009-2010 so the partnership has been going on since we launched the Maison.”

The local business has grown simultaneously with the brand and so has the relationship between principal and distributor. “I believe what is made in time is respected by time. Emman and I haven’t seen each other in 10 years but we just spent the weekend together and it’s as if those 10 years were just one day and this is the power of friendship and partnership. When you respect your partner, when it’s win-win, and when you share common values. We’re very lucky to have them.” 

Chaya also bears a certain fondness for the Philippines for personal reasons. “It’s such a beautiful country. Honestly, I have been very close to the Philippines since I was a child. My nanny was Filipina,” he shares. “My closest friends are Filipino, and I feel very close to this culture rooted in values such as family, togetherness, generosity, supporting each other and not being individualistic. Filipino culture comes with a lot of ethics, and I appreciate that. I see you’re smiling. Everyone here smiles and I love that.” 

The new Maison Francis Kurkdjian is store at Level 1 of Greenbelt 5.