Maison Vetiver · Grasse · Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Avec amour et patience — seventeen years on the same rue Eau de Toilette · Eau de Parfum · Extrait
Founded MMIX · Twelve compositions per annum

Of patience & petals. — a perfumery composed slowly, by hand, in the old way of Grasse.

Every fragrance leaves our atelier at least two years after its first sketch. We extract our own materials, we macerate our own tinctures, and we refuse the ingredient list of any composition that takes less than thirty-one revisions.

12
Compositions per year
31+
Revisions, each
2009
Founded
100%
Natural extraction
— La Collection Permanente —

Eight compositions, always in stock.

№ I
N°I Rose Two centifolia roses on a soft pale ground, evoking the May rose at the heart of N°I

Rose Centifolia

— Floral, Soliflore —
May rose, geranium-bourbon, white pepper, ambrette.
€ 240
№ II
N°II Vetiver A brown apothecary bottle on a quiet ground, standing in for the dark vetiver tincture of N°II

Vetiver Noir

— Woody, Smoky —
Haitian vetiver, burnt cade, lapsang tea, leather absolute.
€ 260
№ III
N°III Tabac Bundles of cured tobacco tied with string, an honest stand-in for the Latakia tobacco at the heart of N°III

Tabac d'Orient

— Oriental, Amber —
Latakia tobacco, frankincense, labdanum, dried fig.
€ 280
№ IV
N°IV Iris A dark purple iris flower with green leaves, evoking the Florentine iris butter in N°IV

Iris Pâle

— Floral, Powdery —
Florentine iris butter, violet leaf, suede, mineral salt.
€ 320
№ V
N°V Fougère A cut bundle of green herbs and leaves, evoking the lavender and hay absolute of the Fougère N°V

Fougère Sauvage

— Aromatic, Green —
Lavender, oakmoss, coumarin, sage, hay absolute.
€ 250
№ VI
N°VI Cuir A close-up of warm brown leather grain, standing in for the birch-tar leather of N°VI Cuir Rouge

Cuir Rouge

— Leather, Animalic —
Birch tar, saffron, isobutyl quinoline, civet (synthetic).
€ 290
№ VII
N°VII Néroli White orange blossoms on a fruiting bitter-orange tree, the source of the neroli at the heart of N°VII

Néroli d'Avril

— Citrus, Floral —
Bitter orange blossom, neroli, petitgrain, bergamot, musk.
€ 230
№ VIII
N°VIII Oud White incense smoke rising on a black ground, evoking the smoke and oud at the heart of N°VIII

Oud Sacré

— Oud, Extrait —
Indian oud, rose damascena, saffron, sandalwood, ambergris.
€ 480
— De la composition —

The pyramid, by way of explanation.

Tête —
notes de tête · the first impression
The first eight to fifteen minutes after the spray. Volatile, bright, often citric — bergamot, neroli, pink pepper, mandarin — these escape soonest and announce the perfume before its meaning has arrived.
Cœur —
notes de cœur · the heart, the body
Where the composition lives — minutes thirty through hour four. The florals, the spices, the woods that carry the personality: rose, iris, jasmine, geranium, vetiver, cinnamon. This is what the perfume actually is.
Fond —
notes de fond · the after-trace, the dry-down
What remains on linen, on skin, in memory. Heavy and slow-evaporating — oakmoss, labdanum, ambergris, musk, oud, leather — these are the molecules that make a perfume last past midnight, and past the next morning.

De la maison.

We are a perfumery of three people on the third floor of a building that has held one perfumery or another since 1834. Two noses, one apprentice. A balance, six hundred and forty tinctures on the wall behind us, and a window facing south-west over the rooftops of Grasse.

Our materials come from the fields and forests we have been buying from for seventeen years. The rose absolute from the Bar-sur-Loup harvest. The jasmine from the August fields just outside our door. The vetiver from one cooperative in Les Cayes, Haiti. The oud from a single distiller in Assam.

We do not blend by formula. We blend by hand, by nose, by the slow accumulation of weeks where the same composition is sniffed in the morning and again at dusk until we know what it is.

MV MAISON · GRASSE · MMIX

To begin.

If you have never met our work, we keep a small wooden box at the boutique containing eight 2ml glass vials — one of every composition in the permanent collection.

Take it home. Live with each one over a week. Wear it on a Tuesday afternoon, on a Sunday morning, on a long evening at supper. When you find the one, return the box and we'll deduct its cost from your full bottle.

€ 75
Order the discovery set →
— La Découverte —
Maison Vetiver
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Coffret · No I–VIII · 2 mL