1873 Vetiver, fourth perfume from Maison Arsène
The brand's fourth Perfume has been a long time coming, and all the more so because it marks a special anniversary. As its name does not indicate, 1873 Vetiver celebrates the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the trip of Arsène, ancestor of the founder of the brand, to Algeria. A look back at the history of this perfume.
The project of an anniversary perfume
A brand that pays homage to the ancestor of its founder could not miss the event. Exactly a century and a half ago, in January 1873, Arsène Flühr left for Algeria. His story, which is that of a number of Alsatians thrown onto the path of exodus following the Franco-Prussian conflict, was recounted in a previous article.
The launch of a perfume which is inspired by this journey, without referring to its origin or its destination, made sense. A fragrance that evokes the sensations caused by the journey itself, in the woody warmth and muted light of the means of transport of the time, whether in the stagecoach, the carriage of a train or the hold of a boat which leads to the port of Philippeville.
The intention of this perfume is to transcribe this atmosphere that is both warm and comforting, and an olfactory direction quickly emerges: woody amber.
Olfactory description
1873 Vetiver opens with a surge of bergamot combined with a floral touch of anisic aldehyde, notes that are momentarily fixed by the vetiver before giving way to a warm woody accord made up of notes of cedar, amyris, sandalwood and Scots pine. The dive continues into the warmth of these woods thanks to the notes of patchouli, while an amber aspect emerges provided by ambroxan combined with majestic Bourbon vanilla for more sensuality.
The formulation is therefore deliberately short for this new fragrance, yet deep, as if to reflect the extended duration of the journey.
An intense creative complicity
One is a perfumer, the other is an entrepreneur. Catherine Petyt and Laurent Fluhr met in 2018 and immediately created an intense creative bond. Common values, the same love of beautiful materials, as much as respect for a certain sobriety, brought them together around a desire to redefine new and timeless elegances.
1873 Vetiver joins a collection of three first fragrances whose contours are designed jointly by Catherine and Laurent. The creation of a perfume starts from an olfactory direction, from a sensation, impression or feeling, even from a memory or a visual projection, shared by Laurent. Catherine is then given carte blanche on the choice of materials, so as not to restrict her in her creative process and several versions are proposed depending on the number of adjustments necessary to correspond to the original idea of the project. At the beginning of the project, 1873 Vetiver was intended to be a woody amber perfume, and it was during creation that touches of bergamot and aldehyde were proposed for more originality.
Once the final version is adopted, the composition is created from floral, woody and resinous essential oils developed in a specialized laboratory in the immediate vicinity of Avignon. Manufacturing is done according to specifications respecting standards of quality, naturalness and durability. In fact, 1873 Vetiver is a 99.93% natural and 71.27% organic perfume. Everything is assembled with soft wheat alcohol distilled in a distillery in Vaucluse.