Crédits : Valentine Vernouillet. Translation: Jill Harry. Pictures: GettyImages, Courtesy of Chanel
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Make your way to Grasse, a town with a thousand flowers, and enjoy a unique olfactory experience founded on expertise of sheer excellence.
Thanks to its fertile soil and sunny Mediterranean climate, the Pays de Grasse is the ideal place in which to cultivate magnificent flowers such as the centifolia rose, grandiflorum jasmine, the tuberose, iris or lavender. This floral richness made the town of Grasse the world capital of perfume. In fact, for over three centuries, the “noses” of the most elite perfume-makers have here conjured up fragrances of character while perpetuating ancestral gestures. A tradition of excellence recognized by UNESCO, which made Grasse’s perfume-related expertise part of Humanity’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2018.
Grasse owes its renown to a past dating back to the Middle Ages. In those days, the town specialized in the tanning of leather, an activity which produced powerful, unpleasant smells. To fix the problem, a local tanner, Galimard, came up with an ingenious idea: that of perfumed gloves. He gave a pair to Catherine de Médicis, who fell for this innovation. The court of France rapidly adopted the fashion, making Grasse a flourishing centre of olfactory creation. It thus became the beating heart of the perfume industry, gradually drawing prestigious firms which built close ties with the region’s producers.
Chanel, for example, stocked up on jasmine from Grasse for its famous N°5 perfume and developed cultivation of these flowers in Pégomas in an exclusive partnership with the Mul family. Dior, owner of the Château de La Colle Noire, then joined up with Le Domaine de Manon, which reserved all its harvests for the perfumer. Dior fragrances were then created at the Bastide des Fontaines Parfumées in the heart of Grasse, a creation workshop shared with Louis Vuitton. Grasse continues to embody excellence in perfume-making, preserving ancestral know-how and producing raw materials of unequalled quality.
On their arrival, guests are welcomed by a herbal fragrance. Blending the freshness of bergamot, the sweetness of neroli, and the vivacity of galbanum, top notes leave room for a complex aromatic heart. Holy basil, rosemary and white lotus flower are revealed, supported by deep, warm notes of incense and grey amber. A unique olfactory signature, conducive to wellness and rejuvenation.
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