Tribute to Yves Tanguy

Dear fellow perfumers,

It’s with a lot of sadness that we are sharing with you the passing of Mr. Yves Tanguy, perfumer and member of the French Society of Perfumers. 

Trained in Grasse as a Perfumer Assistant within the cooperative society “la Marigarde” by Raymond Pellegrin, Yves Tanguy then joined the Bourjois-Chanel group, led by Henri Robert in 1966. As a Perfumer, he took over the management of the olfactory quality control for all the company’s fragrances and assisted Henri Robert with his creations. 

He then joined the American Group Polak Frutal Works as a Perfumer Consultant, where he was in charge for setting up the group in Paris. He joined the company Mane in 1979 as a Perfumer-Creator.

From 2001 onwards, he devoted most of his time to the preservation and the promotion of the olfactory heritage, teaching and the pedagogy at the Osmotheque, the International Perfume Conservatory in Versailles, which he helped to establish and the ISIPCA. 

Renowned for his elegant and luminous olfactory style, he was one of the first to solicit synthetic molecules (particularly the Hedione) to enhance the diffusion, freshness and volume in a composition, to use molecules as Calone in his creations to give iodized notes or even a marine aspect (New West for her by Armanis in particular), and to propose innovative blend, as it was the case with Magie Noire (Lancôme).

The International Society of Perfumer-Creators pays its last tribute to him and sends its sincere condolences to his family.

Warm regards,

Francis Kurkdjian 
ISPC President