Forty minutes from Cannes, the world capital of perfume. What you actually do there, why it works with teenagers, and what you bring home.
It’s one of the rare activities I suggest to just about everyone: couples, families, groups of friends, clients who have already done everything on the coast. And it’s the one that produces the widest gap between the enthusiasm when I suggest it (polite, moderate) and the enthusiasm on the way back.
Grasse is about forty minutes from Cannes, up in the hills. It has been the world capital of perfume since the eighteenth century, and that isn’t a tourist title: a considerable share of what you wear has some connection to this town.
What you actually do
The creation workshop usually lasts two hours. You’re seated at a perfumer’s organ (those tiered shelves covered in amber bottles) a professional nose explains the structure of a fragrance in top, heart and base notes, and you compose your own. At the end your bottle is filled, labelled with your name, and the formula is kept: you can reorder years later.
What makes the exercise a success isn’t the fragrance you end up with, let’s be honest, an amateur in two hours doesn’t produce a masterpiece. It’s understanding how it works. After this workshop you’ll never smell a fragrance the same way again, and that’s exactly what my clients tell me afterwards.
Why I suggest it to families
Because it’s one of the very few Riviera activities that works with teenagers. They’re active, they create something, they leave with an object that is theirs and carries their name. I’ve never had negative feedback from a teenager about this workshop, and I can’t say the same of a museum visit.
It’s also the region’s best fallback on a rainy or windy day, when the sea is unworkable and everyone is going round in circles at the villa.
How I arrange the half-day
- Morning rather than afternoon. The sense of smell saturates quickly, and works better before lunch than after. It’s the most useful tip in this article.
- Don’t wear perfume that day, and avoid coffee just beforehand. It sounds excessive; it genuinely changes what you perceive.
- Two hours of workshop, lunch up in the hills, and back to the coast mid-afternoon. A whole day isn’t necessary.
- On the way there or back, the nearby hilltop villages (Mougins in particular, a quarter of an hour away) are worth the detour and round the outing off perfectly.
- Workshops need booking, especially in summer and for morning slots. Places per session are limited, which is precisely what makes them good.
The right time of year
The workshop runs all year, but if you have the choice: spring. May, when the centifolia rose is in bloom in the region, gives the outing an extra dimension, you understand where the raw materials come from by seeing them grow. It’s also the best time for the hinterland generally, before the heat.
