My fragrance journey through France

TechnicoFlor

I started in the south, in the hills above Marseille. What I felt first was entrepreneurial spirit, not nostalgia. François-Patrick Sabater founded the company in 1981; since 2025 his son Christopher has been running it.

My impression: a mid-sized company growing up. Fifty-one million euros in revenue, fourteen perfumers and customers in more than seventy countries — that is no longer a small workshop. One sentence from the company stayed with me: “We were a small business, now we are a mid-sized one.” With the purchase of Azur Fragrances in Mouans-Sartoux they are now reaching for Grasse. Anyone who wants to play in this industry has to go there.

Arriving in Grasse

Then I drove up the hairpins to Grasse. Anyone who has been there in May, when the rose fields are in bloom, knows what I mean. The air almost tastes sweet.

This town owes its fame to a stench: in the 17th century Grasse was a town of tanners. To cover the smell of leather, people began to perfume their gloves. Out of that necessity grew a world industry.

Expressions Parfumées

At Plan de Grasse I visited Expressions Parfumées, and the story gripped me at once. In 1982 it all began in a garage. Today it is around 108 million euros in revenue, some 87 million of it from exports.

To me that is proof you can grow large beside the giants if you are fast and creative and stay close to the customer. It is the Silicon Valley fairy tale, only with jasmine instead of software.

Payan Bertrand

A few streets further, Payan Bertrand was waiting. The house has been in family hands since 1854 and exports ninety per cent of its production to more than sixty countries.

There is no pomp and no show here, but there is an automated plant built solely for fragrance compositions. My thought: this is the kind of family company that has simply delivered for 170 years, generation after generation.

Robertet

Then came Robertet, founded in Grasse in 1850 and still controlled by the Maubert family. With almost 844 million euros in revenue, Robertet is the world leader in natural raw materials.

I stood there and thought: what is won here from blossoms, resins and roots later ends up in bottles that cost hundreds of euros around the world. What impressed me is that the company holds the whole path, from the field to the finished scent, in its own hands.

Galimard — perfume for the king

The oldest stop was Galimard. In 1747 Jean de Galimard, lord of Séranon and member of the guild of glovemaker-perfumers, founded his house. He supplied the court of Louis XV with olive oil, pomades and perfumes whose formulas he had invented himself.

Picture it: jasmine pomade for Versailles, carried across France by coach. After the Second World War the Roux family brought the house back to life. I felt as if I were walking through almost 280 years of French history.

Jean Niel — nine generations

For me, Jean Niel was the real high point. In the middle of the 18th century the brothers Henry and Jean Niel worked as glovemakers. In 1779 Jean specialised in fragrance raw materials. Today the house is considered the oldest perfume factory still active in the Pays de Grasse, family-led for nine generations and financed from its own means.

What moved me most is that at the end of the 19th century a woman, Marie-Claire Niel, drove exports out into the world, in the middle of the golden age of Grasse. My conclusion: anyone who stays independent for 245 years has understood something no business school teaches.

Charabot — a hospital becomes a perfume factory

Charabot has perhaps the most adventurous story. After the French Revolution the state sold the church hospital Saint-Jacques in Grasse. The building was bought in 1799, and a perfume factory grew out of it. The founder, Jean-Joseph Hugues, was originally a carpenter.

From monastery building to distillery; out of wood and faith came flower oils. In 2007 Robertet took the house over and has since integrated it completely.

Mane — the finale

Finally I drove to the small mountain village of Le Bar-sur-Loup, to the home of Mane. The house has been family-owned since 1871 and in 2025 passed two billion euros in revenue for the first time. Mane is the largest French-owned house and number five worldwide, behind Givaudan, dsm-firmenich, IFF and Symrise.

Samantha Mane says the family’s independence allows them “to think ahead, to invest and to take bold decisions”. As an entrepreneur, I can only agree.