Jean Poivre - Fairground Temptation

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The birth of an icon

Just as iconic as the fragrances themselves is the figure whose name they bear: Jean Poivre. As if he had stepped out of one of the great novels of Hugo or Dumas, he conquered the world of perfumery with a primal force that could only have been born of a powerful brew such as the French Revolution, with its rebellion, liberation, the smell of gunpowder, war, betrayal and regicide. Jean Poivre's story is not a biography. But it could be. His diary, his ‘treasure chest of memories’, is a compendium of his untold stories – a genius whose creation has been forgotten over the centuries. A visionary who never succeeded in realising his ideal of a perfume during his lifetime. Poivre has the delicate nose of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. However, his obsession with creating the perfect fragrance does not turn him into a mass murderer. Rather, he carries within him the tragic inner turmoil of Dorian Gray. His immaculate appearance hides the struggle he wages deep inside himself. There is this recurring vision of the perfect perfume, which cannot yet be realised with the methods of his time. Elegant, complex, nature-inspired fragrance compositions that blossom like a beautiful flower sprouting from a seed.

Only his girlfriend Sophie recognises the monster that torments him in the deep blue of his eyes. She leads him into the world of the occult – unaware that from there it is only a short step to laudanum. Tormented by his passion, Poivre eventually becomes an opium addict, as described by Thomas de Quincey, and leaves this world in an opium haze. Had Jean Poivre not left us his ‘treasure chest of memories’, countless ingenious symphonies of fragrance would have been lost to posterity. We owe the discovery of these priceless records to a fortunate twist of fate. Now, a visionary perfumer can turn Poivre's dream from 200 years ago into reality with today's technology. The libertines of the Grasse Institute of Perfumery, one of the most renowned perfume schools in the world, engage with creative muse and sensual beauty on a daily basis. Together with them, we have created fragrances that reflect the true haute parfumerie of the future.