An ethnic Kazakh living in Paris has launched a perfume called Kiz-Jibek on the French market.
Its founder, Nurzhan Tolegen, was born in China’s Ili Kazakh region and grew up in Kulja before eventually settling in the French capital.
“I am the grandson of a nomadic people. My grandparents left their homeland during the civil war, carrying with them the soul of Kazakhstan etched into their stories, their songs, and their memories. Yet I had never set foot on those vast steppes whose grandeur my mother, a professor of literature, so often evoked,” he shares on his personal website.
Nurzhan Tolegen; image: www.tolegenparis.com
In 2021, Nurzhan traveled to Kazakhstan for the first time, spending a month reconnecting with his ancestral homeland. Those four weeks felt like a rebirth for him and marked a turning point in his life. Returning to France, he established a luxury perfume house, Tolegen Paris: a tribute to both his surname and to a heroic figure celebrated in a 16th-century Kazakh epic.
In May 2025 he introduced Kiz-Jibek, describing it as “a fragrance honoring eternal love” and “a scent laced with wormwood.”
The Kiz-Jibek epic, a cornerstone of Kazakh cultural heritage, reflects the values of traditional society. It emphasizes unity and loyalty to the homeland while exploring universal themes of love, virtue, honesty, and beauty. Through the character of Kiz-Jibek, one encounters the timeless image of the Kazakh woman—gentle yet resilient, modest yet dignified.
The epic characters Kiz-Jibek and Tolegen
For over five centuries, Kazakhs have sung the tale of Kiz-Jibek. Its central figures—Bazarbai, Tolegen, Kiz-Jibek, and Sansyzbai—are believed to have lived in history, with the story unfolding along the Ural River among the Jagalbaily tribe. In both the epic and the famous film, Tolegen is treacherously slain by Bekezhan, after which Kiz-Jibek, devastated by grief, throws herself into the river.
