Henri Robert

Robert's father, Joseph Robert, was the Chief Perfumer at Chiris, who gave François Coty some of his first lessons,{{cite web|last1=Edwards|first1=Michael|title=Guy Robert: A Tribute|url=http://www.theperfumemagazine.com/AUGUST2012/michael-edwards-guy-robert.html|website=The Perfume Magazine|accessdate=29 December 2015|date=23 August 2012}} and developed the solvent extraction process that revolutionised how the perfumery industry produced raw materials. By 1919 the younger Robert was also working at Chiris alongside perfumers Vincent Roubert, Ernest Beaux and Henri Alméras.{{cite web|title=Vincet Roubert, biography|url=http://www.perfumeprojects.com/museum/perfumers/VincentRoubert.shtml|website=Perfume Projects|accessdate=29 December 2015}}

He later joined Parfums d'Orsay,{{cite book|last1=Billot|first1=Marcel|title=Perfumery Technology: Art, Science, Industry|date=1975|publisher=Ellis Horwood|isbn=9780470072981}} where his one of his most significant creations was the fragrance Le Dandy in 1923.{{cite web|title=Le Dandy by D'Orsay c1925|url=http://dorsayperfumes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/le-dandy-by-dorsay-c1925.html|website=D'Orsay Perfumes|accessdate=29 December 2015|date=4 September 2014}} Le Dandy was a fashionable floral aldehyde, which although marketed to men became a favourite with young women of the 1920s.{{cite book|last1=Groom|first1=Nigel|title=The New Perfume Handbook|date=30 June 1997 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media, 1997|isbn=9780751404036}} Following François Coty's death in 1934 Robert became Chief Perfumer at Coty. In 1936 he created Muguet de Bois in tribute to François Coty, taking inspiration from Coty's custom of presenting his employees with bunches of lily of the valley, taken from the grounds of his country home, every May first.{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=Edwin T.|title=Fragrance : A story of perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel|date=1984|publisher=Scribners|location=New York|isbn=0684181959}} After the outbreak of World War II, Robert moved to New York City and continued to work as a Perfumer at Coty from 1940 to 1943.

In 1943 Henri Robert Inc. merged with the Albert Verley Company Inc., and Mr. Robert worked there for an unknown number of years before departing to Chanel.

Robert took over as Chief Perfumer at Les Parfums Chanel in 1952 after the retirement of Ernest Beaux, creator of the perfume Chanel No. 5. While at Les Parfums Chanel, which owned both Chanel and Bourjois, he created a number of modern classics including Pour Monsieur (1955) Chanel's first men's fragrance,{{cite book|last1=Madsen|first1=Axel|title=Chanel: A Woman of Her Own|date=2007|publisher=Diane Publishing Company|isbn=9781422366349}} No. 19 (1970) and Cristalle EDT (1974).{{Citation |title = Henri Robert |publisher=Lightyears, Inc.|year=2005 |url=http://www.perfumeprojects.com/museum/perfumers/Henri_Robert.php |accessdate=October 4, 2008}}

Henri Robert was the uncle of perfumer Guy Robert (1926-2012){{Citation |first=Chandler |last=Burr |title=The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York |year=2008 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-8050-8037-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/perfectscentyear00burr }} and great-uncle of perfumer François Robert.{{cite web|title=Perfumers ~ L to S|url=http://www.nstperfume.com/perfumers-l-to-s/|website=Now Smell This|accessdate=29 December 2015}}

• 1925 – Le Dandy, Parfums D'Orsay
• 1936 – Le Muguet des Bois, Coty
• 1955 – Pour Monsieur, Chanel
• 1970 – No. 19, Chanel
• 1974 – Cristalle, Chanel

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Category:French perfumers

Category:Chanel people

Category:1899 births

Category:1987 deaths

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