Rebecca had booked us all into the perfume-making class and museum tour at the Fragonard Perfume Museum in Paris. Grasse, in Provence, is the capital of perfume-making in France (and hence, the world), and the famed 18th century painter Fragonard was from Grasse: hence the name. Fragonard himself probably smelled of linseed oil and lapis lazuli. Anyhow, it was another great experience, like that at Dior: thanks, Rebecca!
 |
The perfume-making classroom/lab; one wonders what
message is conveyed by the 55 gallon drums marked
"Fragonard" |
 |
| Members of our party; Vicki sitting |
 |
The equipment: test strips, very small beakers, the 15ml spray
bottles that we'll take with us, full of the perfume we have made;
and the ingredients: high notes, low notes, and musk (no relation
to Elon; I think) |
 |
The classroom was loaded with 18th century-looking furniture and
paintings; the paintings did not look like Fragonard's; FWIW |
 |
Penelope and me with our finished products...a very nice
sweet citron, lemon blossom, with notes of a variety of things,
description of which is beyond the scope of this blogpost;
actually, an eau de toilette, I have been informed |
 |
| After the classroom and clinical bit, we are off to tour the museum |
 |
| More period decor |
 |
| An exhibit on the various sources of the scents |
 |
And a sort of map showing where all the ingredients come from;
making their way, of course, to Grasse |
 |
| Exhibits on the history of perfumes |
 |
| Ditto |
 |
| Containers |
 |
| An art itself |
 |
| Travel necessities... |
 |
| The rise of perfumery |
 |
| Modern perfumery |
 |
| Gorgeous art nouveau examples |
 |
| More lessons |
 |
| The olfactory notes...why there are specialists and experts |
 |
Older equipment; had the perfume thing not worked out,
they could have gotten into cognac or gin... |
 |
| Our founder, way back in 1926 |
 |
| Just a small family business...with retail stores everywhere in France |
 |
Now we are back downstairs, in the gift shoppe, more samples, more
experiences...yes, that's the Palais Garnier beyond the window...not
the low-rent dsitrict |
 |
| Would that wine tastings be so generous... |
 |
While the ladies were sampling and experiencing, I did the same in the
modest mens' department, trying out each of the 8 or so different parfums
pour hommes...to me, they all stunk of musk, frankly...I'll stick with my
40+ year old bottle of Canoe |
