SCENT EXPEDITION CHINA
Symrise’s Second Scent Expedition in China Closes with a Final Event on May 31, 2011
Nine days full of immersion, experiences and inspiration in three distinct areas of China culminated in a closing cocktail party at a chic, Yunnan-themed lounge bar in Shanghai, to reflect the primary destination of the expedition, as well as to bring to life the constant tradition/modernity imagery that struck the participants throughout their journey. The expedition focused on China’s botanical garden – Yunnan Province – where 9 perfumers had the opportunity to see and smell flowers, herbs, tea, plants, and fruits, uncovering new facets of seemingly well-known ingredients, as well as discovering new and astonishing scents. They learned a lot about local scent preferences and traditional Chinese medicine. In Jiangxi Province, they also visited raw material processing plants, and in Shanghai they got an intense introduction to the new China, ever looking forward. These memories will remain a rich source of inspiration to our super noses for a long time.
At the closing event, the guests had the opportunity to hear from travelled perfumers about their experiences in Yunnan and smell first creative shots. Especially for this event the creatives had turned their Chinese inspirations into fragrant reminiscences. Symrise Regional President, Scent & Care Division in ASPAC, Mr Markus Steger and Mrs Jojo Xu, Head of Oral Care in Greater China, went into a lively discussion about the results. Also, Mr Achim Daub, Global President Scent & Care right and Mrs Beatrice Favre-Bulle, Senior Vice President Global Fragrance Creation, Home & Personal Care, as well as Personal and Home Care, exchanged experiences and impressions. They summarized the journey as follows: “The insights into the Chinese market will serve as valuable support when developing products for this market. Perfumers must adapt their work to a specific country and need to capture local preferences for inspiration. During the expedition, they were to gain an understanding for the culture and market of the consumer. Here, they smelled and experienced local products and formed a link to the products and raw material basis they know.” The guests in turn showed themselves deeply impressed by the vivid report Pierre Kurzenne, Senior Perfumer in Paris, delivered. But Symrise does not only aspire to create new scent experiences. We also engage in projects preserving the biodiversity of the local fauna and flora. In Yunnan, we sponsor activities to conserve the Yunnan Musk Deer. Paul Buzzard from the China Exploration & Research Society gave an overview about the latest achievements.
But the learning will never stop. The next scent expedition will lead to Brazil – another continent with plenty of exotic scents and fragrances and exciting worlds to discover.
May 26th
Plantations, plantations and again plantations. So many impressions to capture. The morning plantation visits merged various sensations. Here, rosemary is grown together with nashi pears. There, eucalyptus provided fresh breath. As a special surprise to our scent adventurers came a wild purple blossom with a custard smell. To preserve its unique characteristic it was captured in a silica gel.
The tour then continued with a ride through foggy mountains. The perfumers were afterwards more than compensated with a lunch that even came up with some scent experiences. The hosts served traditional Chinese dishes, such as potato pancakes, young pumpkin, and even a dish of pomegranate blossoms.
Thus well-fortified our fragrant company went on to visit michelia plantation. Bernard made a special discovery here – the curry plant.
The day ended with loads of jasmine. The local jasmine market gets its flowers and blossoms delivered by motorcycles. The next logical stop was the visit to a jasmine tea factory. The delicious aroma of jasmine filled the air and wakened a lot of inspirations. Of that we are sure.
The impressions are piling up and we can’t wait to learn what’s next on the tour …
May 25th
What better place to go in the morning than to visit a local flower market. The Kunming Flower Market offers a huge variety of fresh cut Chinese Flowers. Exotic smells were lingering in the air. But the market also offers an interesting selection of dried flowers for medicinal purposes. Excited about the diversity of flowers our scent acrobats wanted to see more. At a nursery, they found what they were looking for: orchids, cyclamen, jasmine, lotus, and the star of the bouquet: osmanthus.
A botanical garden is always worth a visit – in particular for perfumers. This morning they had a thorough look at astonishing huge white blossoms. Guess what they smell like. At the Kunming Agricultural University our noses learned interesting stuff from Professor Jiang about Chinese flora. After that another botanical garden followed with more impressive flowers to admire. A typical Yunnanese dinner in an antique pavilion with Yang Liping dance performance of “Dynamic Yunnnan” ended the day with more sensuous impressions. What a plenty of tastes and smells in one single day.
May 24th
First stop in the morning at Carrefour for a store check. Our creative noses were curious what they could discover here. After that, they went to a Shanghai shopping mall to see what sense experiences the local shops got to offer. In the evening, the perfumers traveled to Kunming, the next stop of their expedition. After the late arrival at night, they prepared for the experiences to come.
May 23rd
Although it was raining on their first day, all participants set off for a Tour de Shanghai to discover what scents the mega city has to offer:
Traditional Chinese Medicine works with many exceptional substances. Many of them come with a very distinctive smell. Surely, they have delivered many first day inspirations.
Next, the way led into the home of local inhabitants. What products do they use in their daily life and how do they smell? This was the task our seniors tried to solve.
Their last stop led our perfumers to Chinese chemistry. The impressions they gathered there rounded out their first day.
