France - The Hotbed of Scents

France has been deemed as the luxury capital of the world for its culture of openness to things that are pleasurable to the mortal senses. It is the hubbub and arena of literature, fashion, and of course fragrances that have captured the olfactory attention of the world. The attention that French citizens devote to perfumes can be partly caused by the country's fertility in growing luxuriant and sweet-smelling flowers in their hills and meadows. Despite the fact that the twist present in perfumes are brought by essences extracted from chosen animals, hence, the popularity of musk and amber, flowers are still the staple ingredients in many perfumes.

Indeed, it is because of flowers that the real perfume capital in France is not Paris but Grasse located in the hinterland of Cannes specifically in French Riviera. In the controversial and quite disturbingly written French book entitled "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" authored by Patrick Suskind, Grasse was given a significant attention in a sense that the extraction of the precious oils and essences from flowers in the said hinterland was mentioned in detail. For centuries, jasmine, roses, lavender, irises, and mimosa have been generously growing on the remote lands of Grasse along with aromatic plants that are essential in perfume making for their precious essences.

Today, French perfumes account for a substantial share of world perfume exports and four of the eight major groups in the sector are French. The great irony on the great economic venture on perfumes that have been deemed as luxury and source of refinement is that it is not even necessary as a basic requirement of human existence but it has been a surviving industry for decades overcoming great economic turmoil including the Great Depression in the 1930s. Despite the somewhat frivolous connotation on perfumes, the industry has drifted through the recession virtually unaffected, without dropping into negative figures. In France alone, nine out of ten women and one out of two of men use perfume. This is a great basis for the industry in keeping itself afloat amidst the series of economic turmoil.

Despite the fact that state of the art technology has been introduced to manufacturers to ease the gruelling labours in producing a bottle of perfume, French perfumes still adhere to traditional processes in concocting bottled fragrances. The so-called scent connoisseurs are essential in perfumeries because of their famous noses skilled in the art of blending different essences. These perfume connoisseurs apply the latest technological knowledge and latest chemistry findings as well as market prices of expensive natural raw materials in creating a collection of fragrances and scents.

Today, perfumes appeal to all demographic sectors in the society from all ages and scaling the walls of gender and religious differences. Even in the most conservative countries, perfumes are still one of the few accepted luxuries. In this kind of luxury industry, French perfumes constitute and represent a good share in the worldwide exportation of scents and fragrances.