Inside the World's Most Prestigious Perfume School

Hello, Fragrant Friend 👋,

Did you know? For the first time, SIMPPAR (International Exhibition of Raw Materials for Perfumery) was held in Grasse — the previous year drew a record 3,350 attendees.

🗓️ Contents of this Issue

1. Story: Inside the world’s most prestigious perfume school
2. Quiz: What’s that on the beach?
3. Olfactory Training: Become a Fragrance Pro in less than a day

Story: Siann Gobin 🏫

An interview with Siann Gobin, a promising new talent. She discovered perfumery by chance in 2018 while interning with independent perfumer Marion Habault in New Caledonia. At the Grasse Institute of Perfumery (GIP) — which admits only 12 students a year — she followed a rigorous schedule of weekly olfaction tests, learned to recognise ~400 raw materials, recreated accords, and participated in harvests. Each year is sponsored by a major firm (e.g. Louis Vuitton).

For Cygnet Perfumery she created two fragrances: Terre et Mer, inspired by the Mornington Peninsula’s dry grass, black cliffs and stormy seas, and Avant la Nuit, capturing the transition from a warm yellow-orange dusk to deeper red tones as the sun disappears.

Olfactory Training: Become a Fragrance Pro 🤓

Learning to speak fragrance is like learning a language. The Fragrance Wheel gives amateurs and pros a foundation — from “Fragrance Family” (most generic) on the outside to “Notes” (more specific) on the inside. Pro tip: start at home, training your nose on what you already have — lemons, black pepper, dried dates — or order a beginner materials set.