The Cote-d’Azur has a lot to offer. Although there are no official boundaries, the French Riviera as it is also known, spans the coastal parts of the Var and Alpes-Maritimes Departments in south-eastern France. From the Italian border in the east to Toulon in the west, it includes the independent nation state of Monaco and Nice, its largest city. In addition to the beaches, medieval villages, wineries, olive groves, the casino at Monte-Carlo, and mountainside roads with stunning views out over the Mediterranean Sea, the Cote-d’Azur is also home to the perfume capital of the world: Grasse, France. Located approximately 20 kilometres from the coast, Grasse has been the centre of perfume-making for four centuries. Blessed by abundant sunshine, plenty of water, close enough to the coast for moderation in climate, yet far enough away to hold the heat of summer, Grasse is the perfect location for growing the flowers and other plants for essential oils. The area was an early home to the leather-making industry, with all its associated odours and in the early 17th century the glove makers of Grasse settled on the use of floral scents to mask the residual smell from the tanning process. The art and science of extracting essential oils from flowers and plants developed apace. By the end of the 18th century a separate perfume industry had been created in Grasse to provide products for the salons of France.
Today Grasse remains at the centre of the perfume industry. Almost all of the most accomplished ‘noses’ in the world (those few consultants who combine the ability to recognize the smell of over 2000 essential oils with ability to structure a fragrance) work in or about the town of Grasse. Designers and perfume distributors flock here to gain access to their expertise. And there of the oldest perfume houses also make Grasse their home: Galimard, Fragonard, and Molinard. Each one has a factory and museum with tours and perfume-making workshops.
When a fellow Pangean expressed an interest in touring a perfume factory and participating in a workshop on a recent trip, I was a little resistant to the idea. However, I was ultimately convinced and it turned out to be one of the most interesting and memorable experiences on our trip. Daren A., the fellow Pangean, had chosen and booked a personal perfume creation workshop at Galimard, one of the oldest perfume houses (established 1747). Their workshops are held at 10:00, 14:00, and 16:00 each day at the Studio des Fragrances loacated at 5 route de Pégomas – 06131 GRASSE (pre-booking online is advised: http://www.galimard.com/index.php/en/creez-votre-parfum/a-grasse). We chose the workshop at 14:00 and ended up going to the Galimard factory and taking the tour there in the morning (Address: 73 route de Cannes, 06131 Grasse), having a leisurely lunch just up the road from the factory, before heading to the Studio des Fragrances.
As part of the workshop, the consultants leading the session explain the difference between base notes, heart notes, and peak notes. These are the building blocks that are combined to form an eau de perfume. For the workshop you sit at a ‘scent organ’ that wraps around you and holds 240 bottles of essential oils on three levels. The three steps corresponding to the base, heart, and peak notes and each oil is identified by gender preference. The consultants select a number of essential oils and ask you to select your three favourites. Using that initial selection as a guide, the consultants turn around the labels of those oils on the lower level that would be inappropriate leaving you with 20 to 30 oils to choose from that will form the base notes. These top five are added together in a test tube to total 50 ml (the consultant checks on your top five selections and suggests the volume for each). Building on this foundation for the perfume, you continue the process by adding in succession 30 ml for the heart notes and then 20 ml for the peak notes.
The cost of the workshop is 49 Euros and includes the 100 ml bottle of eau de perfume that you have created. I suppose this may or may not be a good thing depending on what that personal creation smells like. Fortunately, all four Pangeans in our group (the workshop can handle up to 30 participants and 60 persons at a session) were extremely pleased with their concoctions. I, for one, learned that I have a real knack for this stuff and should the ‘law thing’ not pan out I could retire to the south of France and become a ‘nose’.
At the conclusion of the session, the consultants ask you to name your creation then they take your perfume away so that it can be bottled and labeled. They also give you the code so that you can reorder it online. The recipe for my creation included both a nautical and a maritime scent so I chose the name “Offshore”. I was quite taken by both the scent and the name. Indeed, I was so enamoured by the scent that for the remainder of the trip I’d go into every perfume shop I’d see, check it out, then leave quickly muttering “it’s not much of a place – they don’t even have Offshore yet”.
If you go, Grasse is located about 30 min from Cannes, 45 min from Nice, or 1 hour from Monaco (all by car – mostly A8 Autoroute). We drove from Monaco (see an earlier post discussing the taxi and car rental situation there: http://pangean.org/the-problem-with-taxis-in-monaco/ ). There are two big flower festivals in the town, the rose exposition in May and the fete du jasmin or Le Jasminade at the beginning of August each year. And if you do go, check to see if they have Offshore on the shelves yet!