Scent Trek

A fragrance house sent an international group of its top perfumers to Yunnan Province on its second scent expedition. The expedition enabled the perfumers to discover the smells, tastes and sights of different areas in the Yunnan and Jiangxi provinces.

Expeditions in China

The senior perfumers started the week-long expedition in Kunming, travelling to Yuanjiang, Luliang and Jinxi. They visited fresh flower markets, tuberose, jasmine and gardenia fields, orris plantations, bamboo forests, tea factories and raw material processing plants, among others.

Expedition to Tasmania

Another scent expedition went to Tasmania in search of the cleanest air on earth. The perfumers visited various places, including Cape Grim, which according to scientific research has the cleanest air in the world. They also explored the Tarkine Rainforest at the northwest end of the island. Since the local and protected plants of the area cannot be taken back home for research, the team travelled with its own mobile mini-laboratory. This allowed participants to analyse unusual new scents from leaves, blossoms, tree barks and grasses directly on location. Fragrances from indigenous plants such as pink leatherwood, lichens that grow on coastal rocks and the wood of the extremely rare Huon pine were collected.

Sourcing in the field

Two Swiss companies purchase thousands of different natural raw ingredients, in addition to synthetic ingredients, from all corners of the globe. Field teams and partners of a fragrance house journey from the misty forests of Madagascar to the sunburnt slopes of Andalusia to source natural ingredients for flavours and fragrances. Local knowledge is essential when looking for or understanding new and rare plants. Finding a new scent is often a team effort that requires plenty of patience. Some plants are collected for later analysis and description back in the laboratory.

The work of the scent sourcer

Explore all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.