In Grasse, France, the world’s perfume capital, Chanel’s September jasmine harvest unfolds at dawn—a ritual of precision, beauty, and intoxicating fragrance.
The town rises in the hills above the glamorous Riviera, far from the pull of the Mediterranean but surrounded by something far more intoxicating— endless fields of jasmine, May rose, tuberose, and lavender. You smell it before you even see it, that unmistakable hit of jasmine that floods the car the second you turn into the Mul family farm.
The fields are ridiculously pretty, but it’s the scent that really gets you. It’s so strong and so good you half expect someone from Chanel to start bottling it right there. Before stepping into the fields, we’re fitted with Chanel wellington boots—because, of course, even in the mud, fashion must prevail. Rows of jasmine shimmer in the morning light, with each bloom quietly rehearsing for its role in the world’s most famous fragrance.
The famed Chanel N°5 bottle
WHY SEPTEMBER MATTERS
I arrived exactly when I needed to. Jasmine from Grasse has a strict blooming window (August through early October), but its most fragrant, most expressive moment is early September. And that’s why the Mul family’s schedule is set with near-military precision.
Every day of the season begins in the dark. Pickers move through the fields with quiet choreography, collecting each blossom by hand. No machinery. No short cuts.
Pickers working in a jasmine field; Freshly picked jasmine
HARVESTING PERFECTION (AND A LITTLE BIT OF MADNESS)
The jasmine harvest begins at dawn when the flowers are still shy and fragrant. Pickers move through the rows like a ballet corps—no music, just the soft percussion of petals meeting baskets. Each blossom must be plucked by hand before the sun gets too high, or it loses its soul. The flowers are then put into wooden baskets with a wet cloth covering the blooms to keep their freshness.
By mid morning, the air is so thick with scent it’s almost edible. The blooms are weighed and whisked a few meters away to Chanel’s extraction facility: there’s no middlemen, no delay. This proximity isn’t romantic convenience, it’s science. The fresher the flower, the purer the absolute.
Then comes the alchemy: 560,000 jasmine flowers yield just 100 grams of absolute. Imagine that—more than half a million flowers to fill a vial no bigger than a lipstick. It’s absurd and sublime in equal measure. This is what separates a fragrance from a formula, and puts the poetry into perfume.
A jasmine-processing area
THE SOUL OF CHANEL N05
Since 1921, Chanel has been sourcing jasmine from Grasse for Chanel N°5—a decision that made a legend smell like a dream. The region’s microclimate and rich soil produce flowers of such purity that Ernest Beaux, operating under the daring eye of Gabrielle Chanel herself, declared no other would do.
In 1987, Chanel sealed that romance with its long- term partnership with the Mul family, perfume plant growers for five generations. Their 30 hectares bloom with five essential ingredients: jasmine, May rose, rosa geranium, tuberose, and iris pallida.
“Each flower tells a story,” says Fabrice, one of the artisans. “You can smell the morning in the jasmine, the sun in the rose. Together, they become Chanel.”
It sounds poetic—and it is—but behind that poetry is a precision bordering on obsession.
Jasmine being prepared to be distilled in a cauldron; Workers at Chanel’s extraction facility
THE 55 FRAGRANCE VOICES
What struck me most wasn’t just the fields or the flowers, but the people. The making of a Chanel fragrance is not a solitary act of genius, it’s a chorus. Fifty- five individuals, each of whom is a ‘voice’ in Chanel’s fragrant symphony: artisans, chemists, perfumers, farmers, glassmakers, designers.
Olivier Polge, the brand’s in-house perfumer, an elegant figure, sits down with the group to remind us of the importance of the Mul farm’s work and why the jasmine from Grasse is the exact scent needed for this particular perfume because in the floral kingdom, not all jasmine is created equal!
Then there’s Joseph, who calibrates the extraction machines with the precision of a watchmaker; and Luciana, whose hands seem to sense ripeness by instinct; and of course, there are the ‘noses,’ the perfumers who translate emotion into scent.
Together, they form what Chanel calls the ‘55 fragrance voices.’ It sounds romantic, but it’s also logistical brilliance, a creative ecosystem where every gesture, from picking to blending to bottling, exists under one harmonious roof.
“It’s a conversation across time,” one of them tells me. “Between the hand that picks, the mind that imagines, and the nose that composes. That’s how you keep something eternal alive.”
Joseph Mul and his granddaughter, Marika Bianchi; The Concrete and Absolute of Grasse Jasmine
FROM FIELD TO FLACON
It’s not just chemistry, or luxury; it’s devotion disguised as routine. Every bottle contains a thousand tiny miracles—each one is touched by a hand, guided by a craft, and infused with history.
Later, as I reluctantly returned my boots and brushed away the dust of Grasse, I realized the scent clings to everything, including my skin and hair. Maybe it was also because I did sit inside a cauldron of jasmine! It’s not just Chanel N°5 anymore. It’s the smell of a legacy in motion.
Now, when I lift the bottle, I smell dawn in Grasse. I smell the Mul family’s meticulous schedule. I smell hands that pick with artistry. I smell a century of heritage, rendered in flowers and devotion.
The fragrance hasn’t changed, but my appreciation of the scent most definitely has.
From top left: The plant itself; Thick jasmine wax waiting to become Chanel N°5; Jasmine absolute flacon; Hand-picking jasmine flowers; A small portion of the millions of flowers that are transferred to be processed; A basket of freshly picked jasmine; Olivier Polge, Chanel’s in- house Perfumer Creator
Taken from 10 Magazine USA Issue 6 – CHANGE, CREATIVITY, FREEDOM – out March 18th! Order your copy here.
THE NEW MAKERS
Photographer CARLOS RUIZ
Talent TONI CORNELL, TIFFANY HOWELL, GABRIELLE RICHARDSON, DEVONN CHARLES FRANCIS, LAURA ZHENG, AVA PEARLMAN, ANNA PARK, ELIZABETH KOURY, ARMANDO AGUIRRE, and ELLEN HARROLD
Text JOHN ORTVED
Instagram: @jortved
