Memo Paris

History of the house

Memo Paris was founded in 2007 in Paris (France) by Clara Molloy, a Paris-based poet of Catalan origin, and her husband John Molloy, an Irish-born traveler. The couple met on a ski lift in 2005. In 2006, Clara wrote a book on contemporary perfumers and discovered the world of fragrance creation through extended interviews with the authors of the period. The house was born one year later, shaped by a shared taste for literature, travel and raw materials.

The editorial direction was set from the start by three structural choices. The first was a narrative perfumery: the name Memo refers to the word memory, and each composition activates a specific landscape or geographic image. The second was a collection-based catalogue: Cuirs Nomades for the leather accord declined across destinations, Graines Vagabondes for spices and seeds, Les Échappées for contemporary getaways, Art Land for connections with painting, and Escales Extraordinaires for long-haul travel. The third was preserved independence: the house remains owned by its founders within the family group Memo International, without luxury group capital.

Compositions are signed by external French perfumers, with one principal author: Aliénor Massenet. Born in Hungary and trained at Cinquième Sens under Monique Schlienger, then mentored by American perfumer Sophia Grojsman, Massenet set the grammar of the house with Lalibela in 2007. She has authored most of the Cuirs Nomades collection since 2013. A small group of other French perfumers contributes occasionally on more experimental collections, but the Massenet signature remains the central thread of the catalogue.

The house established its headquarters and flagship boutique at 24 rue Cambon, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, close to the historic core of Parisian perfumery. The fragrances are distributed in more than forty countries through partner independent perfumeries and selected department stores. In January 2026, Marc-André Heller took over as CEO, succeeding John Molloy at the head of operations, with the latter remaining president as co-founder. The transition supports international consolidation, particularly in the United States, the Gulf region and Asia.

Beyond perfume, Memo Paris developed a brand universe consistent with its travel promise: bottles illustrated by commissioned artists, scented candles, leather accessories and scented body care. This extension stays bound to the same editorial rule, where the geographic narrative drives each launch rather than the commercial release calendar that shapes larger groups.

Notable perfumes

The Memo Paris catalogue gathers around forty principal compositions across five collections. The eight releases listed below are documented on Fragrantica, Parfumo and Basenotes, with consistent attribution and launch year across the three sources.

Olfactive signature

Memo Paris built its signature around a travel-driven narrative perfumery, organized through geographic collections. Each composition refers to an identified destination: an Ethiopian holy city for Lalibela, an Andalusian landscape for Granada, and a nomadic leather declined across Ireland, Italy, France, Africa and Russia for the Cuirs Nomades. The craft favors contemporary woody and leather accords, structured by materials such as myrrh, labdanum, immortelle, tobacco and saffron.

The Massenet signature shows a taste for controlled contrasts: abstraction and emotion, accessibility and complexity, floral freshness and resinous depth. The house stands apart in the French niche segment through its editorial consistency, where the geographic story precedes the composition, and through its independent ownership at a moment when many comparable houses were absorbed by luxury groups.

Each perfume is an olfactive postcard, a fragment of memory carried back from a precise place.

Key characteristics

Frequently asked questions

See also