Grasse - Paris, one way please

In 3 weeks time I am moving away from Grasse for good. As much as it is difficult to leave this place, I think had my dose. I had my "obligatory" 3 years spent in the cradle of perfumery, like all famous noses had at a certain point of their education. I am now one of them; one of the tiny group of people in an already small club of perfumers.

Grasse taught me the admiration for natural raw materials, I do believe there is no more ideal place to learn that. It was a priceless experience in a special environment, where the perfume industry is so concentrated and so intensely active.

Weird it might sound, but it is not in perfumery that I have learnt the most. It is the continuous personal development that everybody goes through who comes here for a definite time. I would say, it is a common "side effect" for all perfumers passing by Grasse.

3 years of living alone, being far from your beloved ones; managing alone in the highly competitive perfume industry makes you tougher, stronger, more confident, more wise but you cannot spare the suffering and pain you pay for the 'lessons'.

As the greatest mentors, Grasse made me a better perfumer and a better person.

I will miss it. I will miss my friends who turned into my family during the years. I will miss the beautiful climate the South of France is so famous for. I will miss the magnificent surrounding valleys blooming thousands of different type of flowers, a world class experience for both the eyes and for the nose.

I will miss my amazing jasmine bush on my beautiful terrace, which blooms exceptionally two months early this year... Probably to say goodbye to me in a proper way, to please me with its narcotic aroma on my last few days. Never had a nicer farewell gift.