The Different Company: History and Evolution of the French Haute Parfumerie House

Foundation in 2000

The Different Company was established at the beginning of the 21st century by perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena and designer Thierry de Baschmakoff. The house's own history dates its origins to 2000, when the first creations were developed by the two founders.

Luc Gabriel subsequently joined the project and became its director, helping transform the concept into a specialist perfume house. The company emerged at a time when the modern niche-perfumery sector was still relatively small. In a 2015 interview marking the brand's 15th anniversary, Gabriel described the period between 2000 and 2004 as the company's first phase, noting that "there was no such thing as niche perfumery" in the contemporary sense. He cited houses such as Diptyque and Annick Goutal among the relatively few established independent or specialist names of the period.

The name The Different Company reflected the founders' intention to distinguish the house from established perfume companies through composition, materials, design and production philosophy. The brand's early concept combined rare and natural raw materials with distinctive bottles and refillable formats. The company continues to describe its approach in terms of "unique fragrances, rare essences, natural raw materials, exceptional bottles" and innovative, refillable objects.

The brand's first American trademark documentation also provides an independent record of its chronology: the USPTO lists The Different Company, Inc. with a trademark application filed on March 16, 1999, publication on August 8, 2000, and first use of the mark in February 2000.

Jean-Claude Ellena and the first fragrances

Jean-Claude Ellena was the principal perfumer of The Different Company at its foundation. Born in Grasse, he began his professional training at Chiris at the age of 16 and later studied at Givaudan in Geneva. Before creating his own house, Ellena had composed fragrances for major names including Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Cartier and Hermès.

The first generation of The Different Company fragrances established the house's characteristic emphasis on unusual materials and restrained composition. The Osmothèque catalogue records Bois d'Iris as a 2000 Eau de Toilette by Jean-Claude Ellena and Osmanthus as a 2000 Eau de Toilette. Rose Poivrée also belongs to this early period.

Ellena's creative philosophy was closely connected with the company's identity. The house quotes him as saying in 2000:

"These perfumes that I create for The Different Company all have a unique olfactory note."

The brand also states that he deliberately favoured natural raw materials that were relatively uncommon in conventional perfumery. His working method involved repeatedly reworking formulas—sometimes "hundreds of times"—until the balance between materials was achieved.

Thierry de Baschmakoff was responsible for the visual dimension of the project. His official biography identifies the creation of The Different Company in 2000 as one of the milestones of his career and describes the project as laying foundations for contemporary niche brands.

Céline Ellena and the expansion of the house

A major change occurred in 2004, when Jean-Claude Ellena joined Hermès as its in-house perfumer. The Different Company continued its development with his daughter, Céline Ellena, taking an increasingly important role in the house's olfactory work. The company's official history states that she took over from her father in 2005.

Céline Ellena had studied linguistics and psychology before attending ISIPCA, the French school specialising in perfume and cosmetics. Her work for The Different Company included fragrances such as Jasmin de Nuit, Sel de Vetiver, Sublime Balkiss, Pure eVe and De Bachmakov. The Osmothèque catalogue records Jasmin de Nuit as a 2004 Eau de Parfum, Charmes & Feuilles as a 2007 Eau de Toilette and De Bachmakov as a 2010 Eau de Parfum.

Céline Ellena described the creative independence offered by the house in particularly direct terms:

"I compose my fragrances with the objective of creating the best possible scent, without any cost or marketing constraints."

New perfumers and collections

During the 2010s, The Different Company broadened its roster of perfumers rather than remaining associated exclusively with the Ellena family.

Bertrand Duchaufour joined the creative history of the house in 2011. His work became particularly associated with the Collection Excessive, whose compositions included Oud Shamash, Oud for Love and Aurore Nomade. The house describes Duchaufour's approach as an exploration of exceptional raw materials, including oud, and an interest in accords that had not previously existed in this form.

In 2012, The Different Company began its collaboration with Émilie Coppermann for the L'Esprit Cologne collection. The project reinterpreted the traditional Cologne structure by combining its characteristic lightness with greater complexity and density. Coppermann subsequently created a substantial part of the brand's catalogue, including After Midnight, Kâshân Rose, Limon de Cordoza, South Bay, Tokyo Bloom, White Zagora, Al Sahra and Dance of the Dawn.

Other perfumers have also contributed to the house. Alexandra Monet began collaborating with The Different Company in 2013, while Christine Nagel created Une Nuit Magnétique in 2014. The current official discovery collection also credits Marion Costero and Mathieu Nardin among the contemporary perfumers represented by the house.

Design, refills and travel formats

From its foundation, The Different Company treated packaging as part of the product rather than as secondary presentation. The house's characteristic bottle features flame-polished glass and a distinctive engraved cap. The brand's historical materials describe a three-stage cap and bottles designed to be dismantled and refilled.

Refillability remains part of the company's current product system. The brand currently offers perfumes in conventional formats as well as 10 ml travel bottles, 7.5 ml travel sets and 100 ml refills. Its travel collection specifically states that the bottles can be refilled with the corresponding larger-format refills.

This principle is also reflected in the company's discovery sets. The current range includes customisable sets of 4, 8 or 12 fragrances and a 12 × 10 ml set containing refillable bottles. The catalogue spans Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum and Extrait de Parfum concentrations.

The Different Company today

The house continues to operate as an independent French haute-parfumerie brand built around collaborations with perfumers rather than a single permanent in-house nose. Its current catalogue includes long-standing compositions by Jean-Claude and Céline Ellena alongside works by Émilie Coppermann, Bertrand Duchaufour, Alexandra Monet, Christine Nagel and newer contributors.

Recent additions include Azhi Ardara by Émilie Coppermann and Love is Coming by Mathieu Nardin, both identified by the company as 2025 releases.

In 2026, the house introduced Extraits Extrêmes, a collection of five fragrances—Maddy, Salty Kiss, Gothic Incense, Crazy Tuberose and Gin-Seng—described by The Different Company as perfume extracts with concentrations above 50%. The collection represents a move toward substantially higher concentration while retaining the brand's established emphasis on refined materials and distinctive composition.

More than two decades after its foundation, The Different Company therefore remains centred on the principles established in 2000: collaboration with recognised perfumers, attention to unusual and high-quality materials, distinctive bottle design, refillable formats and an emphasis on individual olfactory expression. Its catalogue has expanded considerably beyond the original Jean-Claude Ellena compositions, but the combination of perfumery and object design remains central to the identity of the house.