Long before “niche” was a word for perfume, there was L’Artisan Parfumeur. In 1976 the chemist-perfumer Jean Laporte opened a Paris shop devoted to fragrance alone and gave perfumers something almost unheard of at the time: a free hand. The results were small revolutions — Mûre et Musc, the blackberry-musk classic, and Premier Figuier, one of the very first fig fragrances. To this day the creating nose’s name is on the box, with “l’artisan,” the craftsman, in the title. French perfumery made of story and nature. Made in France.