Grasse: The Town That Invented Modern Perfumery

## A Town That Smells Like the World's Most Expensive Things Grasse sits in the hills above Cannes on the French Riviera — a small medieval town that should have no particular claim to global importance. And yet it is considered the perfume capital of the world, the place where modern fragrance was invented, and still the centre of natural raw material cultivation and fragrance training. The irony is that Grasse did not start with flowers. It started with leather. ## From Gloves to Flowers In the 16th century, Grasse was a centre for the leather tanning industry. Catherine de Medici popularised perfumed gloves at the French court — gloves scented with the florals that grew abundantly in the region around Grasse: jasmine, rose, orange blossom, lavender. The glove-makers of Grasse began growing and distilling flowers to scent their products. When perfumed gloves fell from fashion, the industry simply pivoted to perfumery directly. ## The Golden Age By the 18th and 19th centuries, the fields around Grasse were given over almost entirely to flower cultivation. Rose de Mai, jasmine grandiflorum, mimosa, tuberose, violet, iris, lavender — thousands of tonnes of blooms harvested annually and processed by the great houses that remain there today: Robertet, Charabot, Molinard. ## Grasse Today The flower fields have shrunk — cheaper production in developing countries, pressure from urban development, and the growing dominance of synthetic materials have reduced but not eliminated Grasse cultivation. The most prized Grasse jasmine and May rose still command extraordinary premiums. The Grasse tradition — of careful cultivation, traditional extraction methods, and generational craft knowledge — remains one of perfumery's irreplaceable foundations.