Where Wild Flowers Grow: The Secrets of CHANEL N°5

“In one little bottle of N°5 Parfum, there are over one thousand flowers.”
—Olivier Polge, CHANEL head perfumer

Nestled among the hills overlooking the Côte d’Azur in southern France sits Grasse, a small town with a sweet fragrance emanating from the flower fields surrounding the quietly flowing Siagne river. The fragrant scents from the roses, jasmines, and irises that bloom there have earned Grasse the distinction of being the world’s capital of perfume.

It’s the place’s peculiar combination of sun and terroir that makes it a fertile ground for the delicate flowers used to concoct the legendary CHANEL fragrance N°5.

In 1987, under the impetus of then head perfumer Jacques Polge, CHANEL partnered with the Mul family, the largest flower field operator in the Grasse region. Aptly known as Le Petit Campadieu, or The Little Camp of God, the farm is run by Joseph Mul, a fifth-generation farmer who devotes his days to caring for over 20 hectares of flower fields.

In the 17th century, the Grasse region introduced the May rose, a new bloom cultivated by grafting the white rose with the French rose. It was a breed made especially for perfume, emanating a sweet aroma of honey blended with spices. Its distinct scent became the soul of the now iconic CHANEL N°5 fragrance—12 May roses are infused in every 30 ml bottle.

The delicate and arduous processes that go into harvesting these precious roses and extracting their scents are part of the region’s heritage. It’s a craft where thoroughness is key, but so is efficiency as time is always of the essence.

The harvest period of May roses is fleeting, limited to only three weeks in May. During this period, skilled farm workers carefully but hastily comb through the fields of Le Petit Campadieu to hand-pick the best blossoms in the morning before the fragrance fades and the petals wither under the blistering Provençal sun.

The roses are then packed into large burlap bags and brought to the workshop in the centre of the field, where the extraction and distillation processes are carried out immediately to preserve the flowers’ most essential scent components.