Benoit Verdier co-founder of Ex Nihilo
EX NIHILO is nothing short of addictive. We caught up with Benoit Verdier, co-founder of the French-based fragrance brand to understand how they’ve nailed the bespoke scent market in such a short time
What do your first 30 minutes of the day look like? Keep it simple and fast: at least a triple shot of black espresso, no breakfast, (I know it's bad) then checking emails or messages that have arrived in the middle of the night for a few minutes before running to the shower and grabbing Hip Hop – my French Bulldog and riding together on my electric scooter to our office HQ right in the centre of Paris. Your schedule is packed with work, family and travel. How do you maintain a sense of
balance when you’re always on-the-go? It's quite hectic as my wife is also on and off planes running the world for fashion weeks at least twice a year. We're also lucky as Paris Fashion week means so many of our clients and partners are there also for the occasion – it's more convenient to organise meetings. We try to travel at the same time to manage a good life balance. EX NIHILO launches two main scents according to the fashion cycles so we try to co-ordinate ourselves and book a good dog sitter. The rest of the year we focus mainly on short intraEuropean, North American or Middle East trips so it's more fluid. Opening your Paris HQ was a strategic decision. How has it helped and how has the area changed? Starting with a flagship in one of the best locations, Rue Saint-Honoré, was quite risky, but it was also a key decision.When you have your own space, you can welcome your local and international customers in the best conditions, as well as the global buyers, press and influencers. It's really a tremendous advantage to have this luxury. It paid almost immediately to position our brand and was a unique way to show the world our collections and our customer service through the Osmologue – the technology we have developed to personalise our most iconic fragrances. How did you know it was the right time to launch EX NIHILO and how did you know the alchemy of partners was the right fit? It was not really anticipated – we were all 35-years-old at the time, coming from different fields like finance, luxury and beauty industry. We had this entrepreneur vibe and collectively felt it was time to create our own company to disrupt the market. The fit between us was
quite immediate. Olivier and I have known each other for almost 20 years. Even now we are more comfortable cultivating this outsider mindset. The key is to partner with individuals with complementing skills, with the same motivation to create the company of your dreams. How did previous roles you’ve had in the industry support making the leap of faith? Coming from the industry gives you expertise, skills and networking but also can generate a lot of frustrations for many reasons. The key is to transform this negative feeling into creativity and motivation to do your own thing, your own way and express your vision. The big difference is it's your company, you are fully responsible for it – trust me it gives you an extra boost! Do you feel more drawn to the creative or the business side of the brand and how have you grown the team to support this? I'm definitely drawn to the creative side despite the fact that I have a very academic marketing background. I'm quite the manifestor of the band, shaking ideas and situations, provoking reactions. I have the luxury that my partners are quite complementary with Olivier and Sylvie who are maybe more rational or have different points of views. It's sometimes quite challenging but it's very dynamic and generates new ideas. The more the team is growing (we are 20 in Paris) the more we try to share this momentum. What has been the biggest hurdle since starting your own brand and how did you overcome it? Apparently, a lot but finally very few as you forget them.
That's difficult to say because we are always in a rush and do not appreciate what we do in the moment, in real time. I would say creating this company, EX NIHILO, when nobody expected us to, and very few
people believed in us. Nobody knew us or paid attention to what we were doing. One day we appeared on the most prestigious street in Paris – Rue Saint-Honoré. I think that we surprised a lot of people. Now we are available in 100 points of sales in more than 22 countries through the most exclusive distribution in the industry. It's very rewarding. I still take pictures of customers in the streets when I see some carrying our blue shopping bags. Do you have any mentors who helped you navigate your path to sucess? We asked many prestigious people to collaborate with us when we were still small and unknown and they accepted to work with us like designer Christophe Pillet.
It was very inspiring to involve such talented people, you learn a lot. Today we continue to learn a lot from young talents as well as those with a more senior profile.
They are all a great source of inspiration especially because they are from various fields and not only from the perfume ecosystem. Why do you think EX NIHILO has such a loyal following and how do you cater to ensuring
there’s always something new for them? We never stop thinking about new ideas or ideas out of the box to serve our core customers. Not being perfumers was a great help to invent new things without barriers, taking ideas from architecture, design, technology…it's never ending. For the moment, we can't properly have an advanced R&D
integrated service, so we try to be smarter and more agile. We also try to keep a strong connection with our community through social media and also and it seems obvious, through our stores by spending a lot of time with the teams on the floor and getting feedback and experience from our customers and teams. I remember a night in Miami with Olivier helping the workers installing a huge piece of engraved marble on the wall at 5:00am in the morning – it's part of our lives and we like it! You’ve created some beautiful collaborations – tell us about those and how they’ve come
about? EX NIHILO collaborates with the edgy creative community, promoting the most promising talents in perfumery, design, photography or craftsmanship. EX NIHILO draws inspiration from the creative talents of perfumery, but also from architecture, design or technology, opening new pathways of collaboration between the perfume creators, the latest technologies and the artistic community.
It's part of our DNA even today – everything is collaborative. We try to involve the maximum of creative talents, selected mostly because they are outsiders like us and want to reinvent the game with a special savoir faire or skill. We are definitely on the side of the makers more than just another celebrity or influencer brand. Have you created any bespoke fragrances for individual clients? Yes, it's a new service we are implementing now. We have created some for our best clients in London, living in the Middle East and for a customer in NYC. We want to develop this service more, because it's a great way to interact with these special clients and also because this is fun! We love
the idea of bringing ideas to it including augmented reality technology for example. It is still in development but it will be very promising, a brand-new exceptional experience! You’re able to create bespoke fragrances in several of your global boutiques including Paris using bespoke- built technology. Can you describe the process? The collection of choice for personalisation is the INITIALE one including our iconic FLEUR NARCOTIQUE.
Customers can walk in or set up a private appointment (what we would recommend). We then aim to understand what she or he is looking for through a deeper discussion about their taste, personality or specific needs. It is the chance to smell Rose of May from Grasse, Iris Pallida from Italy, Orange blossom from Morocco in their purest form and also to experience all our combinations according to his/her mood. All these combinations have been of course validated by our master perfumers here in Paris. Once the selection is made we will proceed to the making of the juice thanks to our Osmologue©, the exclusive technology we have invented to create the fragrance in front of our client's eyes. It is very entertaining and very exciting to see the making of your own creation, including the blending and the sealing of the bottle. For the very first time, our guest will be able to leave with their own creation without waiting weeks to get the result. At the end they will have their own certificate of authenticity with their name, the custom material we have used and a special identification number. We will also keep all their
preferences into our database so we can provide him the highest customer service. We like to think it is really a game-changing experience vs. the other fragrances houses. You approach master perfumers and give them full freedom to create. How do you
choose who to work with next? It's very organic, according to the feeling, the theme of the inspiration, and the skills of the perfumers. Some of them are very into oriental scents, other are freshness expert – it's always interesting to discuss what they feel and to generate ideas together. We have worked a lot with Jordi Fernandes and we have had the chance to work with at least 13 amazing perfumers in Paris. What is your approach to scaling the business? We consider balance, scale and exclusivity with limited financial resources. We've grown step by step, creating a luxury house in only seven years, something that is quite demanding and takes time. We don't want to go too fast and risk losing what we've built so we carefully balance exclusivity with fast growth.
What scent do you wear and why does it feel like you? Currently I'm wearing Outcast Blue, our new creation coming soon in the Middle East, and to be honest sometimes I don't wear anything because I have to take some olfactory rest, and have a break from any scents. I admire the capacity of the perfumers to smell all day without feeling brain fatigue. One of the challenges for social media we have is to share this olfactory experience, that's why in addition to cool contents we try to sample a lot and invite our community to come instore to attend workshops, discover new products, or simply come and discuss with our consultants. It's really a digital combined with reality approach. You have clients the globe over – do you see any buying patterns based on regions or countries? Not really as it's very global. Beautiful raw materials are very popular, as well as our personalisation service. Our best seller Fleur Narcotique is quite universal and the art of layering is gaining more audience. In the Middle East, clients are very sophisticated and know exactly what they want, but they also like to be surprised. From the beginning of EX NIHILO, we have had great support from them here in Paris but also from London where we have a nice community of clients who love the brand. Middle Eastern clients really have this natural sense for perfumes, a very strong culture and from what I experienced so far, they know exactly how to mix and match fragrances to make it their own. It makes sense for us to propose for them the most exceptional creations through the best materials we can find. They are not that different from real Parisians!
What in this market is luxury? Less and less to be honest as everything seems to become more and more mainstream. Luxury comes from exclusivity and knowledge. We use the best materials, sourced from all over the world, our Rose of May from Grasse is about one of the best of the world – our Iris is also exceptional. Working with the best perfumers in the world is also the ultimate luxury for us. How do you approach client engagement and retention? Globally we have an advanced CRM program and also a very personalised approach when you come to our flagship. We
ensure our certificate of authenticity – which will be numbered and signed for you. It's the attention to detail that matters. We call you for your birthday for example, send you samples to try or invite you to attend private activities. Once again customer experience is key to create this alchemy and ‘love factor' with the brand. How has social media affected building EX NIHILO? We built the brand awareness through glossy paper and events; now social media is essential. Especially in the Middle East, it has helped us to strengthen our community and is a strategic tool for us. I think it works best when associated with the real world setting up dual strategies like events, workshops and gatherings around scents. Which Instagram accounts do you follow for inspiration? I don't follow proper influencers, it doesn't interest me. All the same, I'm very eclectic and more inspired by artist's accounts, art galleries or selectors like @_sightunseen_ for design and inspiration, my friends at @remixgallerydesign to discover eighties-inspired pieces of furniture and @beverlyhillscarclub for cars. Funnily enough, I have not yet discovered another interesting niche fragrance account! Where else is left on your bucket list to visit
if you could choose anywhere? First going back to Japan to see Naoshima Island, then doing a stop in Kyoto, ending at Asahidake, the highest mountain on the Japanese island of Hokkaido to ride some of the best powder in the world with my snowboard. At the opposite end of the spectrum, spending some time in the desert of Oman. Crossing Russia to The Baikal Lake is also on the list!
Do you have any pre-bedtime rituals? I used to be a night bird for a long time, partying and socialising a lot, but now times have changed. I prefer to spend quality time forcing myself to stay at home, skipping social media and reading at least a book a week and the enormous number of magazines I buy. It sounds really like an old-world ritual doesn't it? What do you always carry with you when travelling? Now I travel extremely light as most of my luggage has been lost or stolen in the past, so I try to keep everything with me. I wear a hoodie and a light waterproof coat
– all the rest goes into my cabin luggage so when I go through the X-Ray, I'm ready: no watches, no belt, nothing – I'm just ready to go. My little versatile kit is already ready in advance: my laptop, a suit and an EX NIHILO travel case called HEXAGONE. Additionally, I carry a little Rimowa box with all our products and samples to give to people around me and there we go! What advice would you give to your younger self starting out? Don't over ask advice of so-called experts around you, trust yourself and follow your intuition. Don't forget, as an entrepreneur your passion and motivation will make a big difference versus the big corporations so find your niche. Don't hesitate to go against the flow and do things differently. We managed to create our perfume brand without being perfumers ourselves but it was also our strength. Ultimately be ambitious, think big, think scale, find your niche market and if possible start with a investment. If you had not launched EX NIHILO, which other role would you choose career-wise?
I like marketing and creating brands very much, so I think that I would have created my own company anyway, certainly in the beauty or fragrance universe. I would have potentially created a brand incubator, like a brand factory creating niche brands in any fields from scratch and help them to grow and disrupt their respective markets. Maybe I would have some sort of side project – a restaurant, or something where an experience is offered to customers, a place where I can express my branding skills with strong storytelling and an immersive experience… stay tuned for this one as EX NIHILO takes all my time at the moment! This issue is the ‘Go your own way Issue’ – what does it mean to you to go your own way and how will EX NIHILO continue to do so?
Someone famous said: “It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy”. We try our best to apply this motto to what we do with EX NIHILO. Cultivating this outsider state of mind forces you to think outside your comfort zone to innovate. EX NIHILO is still a young company, we will continue to grow and improve the brand experience to reach a level of excellence. Due to our size and independence, we have to stay humble and we are forced to try harder than others, but I think staying hungry is the major key to success.
“Someone famous said: ‘It’s better to be a pirate than to join the Navy’.
We try our best to apply this motto to what we do with EX NIHILO”