ÉLISIRE - Crafting Nature Through Fragrance and Art
, 8 min reading time
ÉLISIRE - Crafting Nature Through Fragrance and Art (title)
Founded by Franck Salzwedel, ÉLISIRE is a niche perfume house born from his love of fragrance, painting, and nature. His journey with perfume began after a life-altering trip from France to Jakarta years ago, where he first realized the profound impact of scent, deeply tied to his childhood surrounded by the nature in the French countryside. From there, his path led back to France, then from the world of Parisian high fashion to the vibrant art scene of New York City. Along the way, Franck became the creative director behind iconic fragrances for world-renowned brands such as Armani and Viktor&Rolf, before bringing his own vision to life with ÉLISIRE.
Franck dreamt of ÉLISIRE as a legend of perfumery, a cosmos of sensations, a constellation suspended in a distant sky where the air itself feels like paradise and every breath awakens a new world. Each fragrance is an extraordinary journey for the senses, expansive like the horizon, luminous like starlight, and exotic like faraway lands yet to be discovered. Crafted in rare, high concentrations, these perfumes are more than scents, they are auras of magic and mystery, immersive and enveloping, where memory meets imagination. Radiant with infinite colors, ÉLISIRE transforms the invisible into art, an eternal dialogue between fragrance, feeling, and light.
WHERE IT ALL BEGINS WITH
Growing up in the rustic charm of France, surrounded by freedom, open space, and the splendor of nature, Franck Salzwedel's artistic passions for music, painting, and drawing were fostered. His family moved to Indonesia when he was ten years old, and it was during the plane flight to their new home that he first became aware of the powerful potential of fragrance.
Franck remembered the moment the scent permeated the cabin when fragrant sachets were distributed to passengers, “crisp and herbal, spreading like the speed of light, filled with the promise of our destination” he said. And that promise was fulfilled during his time in Asia, particularly in Bali, where the vibrant culture and lush landscapes that appeal to all senses provided an infinite amount of inspiration.
After six years abroad, Franck returned to France to complete his studies in Dijon before enrolling at the prestigious French Fashion Institute in Paris. There, he encountered some of the most influential figures in fashion and became a member of a generation that would influence both fashion and perfumery. He recognized that fragrance has a unique power in fashion, it can distill a whole designer's concept into the intimacy of a single bottle.
This perspective led him to L'Oréal, where he worked with some of the world's biggest brands. He worked on iconic products, including Giorgio Armani's Acqua di Giò and Mania, before collaborating with Viktor & Rolf on Flowerbomb and Spicebomb, which marked a turning point in his career. These accomplishments cemented Franck's reputation as a sought-after expert in the world of fragrance creation, establishing the path for his own artistic journey with ÉLISIRE later.
FROM “YOUR PAINTINGS SMELL” TO “I WANT THIS!” MOMENT
After years of shaping famous scents for global brands, Franck Salzwedel started to think about something different. What began with his bold color field paintings soon evolved into an exploration of how colors could transform into scent. “Your paintings smell,” a perfumer friend once told him, planting the seed that would later grow into ÉLISIRE.
During his return to Bali, under the sun, surrounded by good friends and cocktails where the radiant colors, nature, and light merged with his passion for fragrance and art, the idea began to crystallize.
Back in New York, Franck brought together a group of elite creatives and professionals to transform his vision into reality. Together with art director Malin Ericson, who worked for renowned brands like Guerlain and Prada, she shaped ÉLISIRE’s distinctive identity and packaging, defined by purity, color, and refined simplicity.
“With ÉLISIRE, I wanted to tell the story of my love for fragrance and painting, driven by my fascination for nature. But most of all, the miracle of colors, and their impact on the sensorial and emotional spectrum. Color has transcending power, that acts on the body and the soul. It relates to emotions in a direct manner. I envisioned ÉLISIRE perfumes like gradually colored auroras, particular moments.” Franck shared.
True to this vision, the bottle was designed with Art Deco elegance, timeless and classic, sculpted like a diamond.
When the debut collection was unveiled, Bergdorf Goodman embraced it which was a milestone that marked ÉLISIRE’s entry into the world of high perfumery. But the true defining moment came when Sarah, who worked at the legendary Colette boutique experienced the perfumes for the very first time in Paris. After a single encounter, her response was immediate and emphatic: “I want this!”
For Franck, it was a crossroads. ÉLISIRE proved to be more than fragrance, it was desire, refined to its purest form, a creation with the power to expand the boundaries of sensation and take its place among the most daring innovations in perfumery.
ÉLISIRE – ELIXIRS OF DESIRE
Eleven creations in Franck’s collection are seductive and luminous, bold in richness yet refined with contemporary elegance. Each is crafted with the world’s finest essences, sourced from nature and elevated through innovative technologies, then shaped in collaboration with master perfumers, among them, Alberto Morillas, Pierre Negrin, Philippine Courtière, and Ilias Ermenidis, whose artistry brings his vision into exquisite compositions.
The quality of these perfumes is immediately perceptible like a soul, a radiance, a spectrum of hues unfolding gradually like an aurora suspended in time. On skin, in hair, or along fabric, they evolve into an aura of sensations, leaving behind a delicate yet distinctive trail, an olfactory signature as personal and resonant as a brushstroke, igniting desire and revealing the unique personality of the one who wears it.
“Color has transcendent power, that acts on the body and the soul.” Franck Salzwedel
With ÉLISIRE, Franck sought to tell the story of his love for fragrance and painting, deeply rooted in his fascination with nature. Above all, he was captivated by the miracle of color and its evocative impact on the senses and emotions. To him, color holds a transcendent power even bright or muted, vibrant or deep, solitary or in harmony that speaks directly to human emotion. As Rothko, one of his favorite painters, once said “It speaks all languages” and for Franck, so too does fragrance.
His paintings live on in the design of the collection, with each fragrance encased in a box adorned with a reproduction of his color field works, while the liquids themselves carry a subtle tint drawn from his palette. In Franck’s words, “perfume at its highest level, with exceptional ingredients and compositions that translate the infinite radiance of color.”
Each extrait de parfum is conceived as an evocation, a journey through memory and imagination, using the power of scent to transport. The exotic, woodsy Ambre Nomade recalls Franck’s youth in Indonesia, where spice, patchouli, and ylang-ylang weave into a warm and resonant tapestry. The luminous Jasmin Paradis captures the light of Zanzibar, its Sicilian bergamot and orange blossom mingling in a bright, refreshing harmony. Poudre Désir, composed by master perfumer Alberto Morillas, is a sensual powdery-floral, its delicate pink dress echoing the softness within. In contrast, Eau Papaguéna, Pierre Negrin’s modern reimagining of Eau de Cologne, bursts with aromatic greens, its vibrant yellow casing mirroring the vitality of its spirit.
Each fragrance evokes the ancient perfume phials of our grandparents, reimagined in a modern way that blends tradition and intimacy with contemporary elegance, turning every bottle into both a vessel of memory and a work of art.
Inspired by Franck and ÉLISIRE’s story? Explore the ÉLISIRE collection at 63 Tu Xuong, where each fragrance is available in 30ml and 85ml.
