Larger, more modern, back to the heart of the country of perfume … This global perfume giant inaugurates its new head office in the Pays de Grasse

It is a new chapter that opens for SFA Neroli.

On June 28, the perfume house inaugurated its new head office and Creation Center, located in the heart of the historic premises of Floressence and creations & perfumes.

“The old site was much smaller, and completely spread. For our needs, it had become far too small. There, we saw large and we gathered everything, enlarged and all modernized, while staying on the original site”Book Alexandrine Demachy, president of SFA Neroli.

After a year and a half of work, the new ultramodern perfumery site extends over 10,000m², and therefore concentrates all the activities of the company: creation, production, quality control, purchases or even logistics. To best manage the company, no less than 300 new people arrived in the region and work in the new premises.

“Back to Grasse” for the Symrise group

A symbolic event, marked by the presence of Jean-Yves Parisot, president of Symrise, group owner of the company since 2022. “Symrise has bought both Creations & Perfumes, which had already merged with Floressence under the name of Neroli, and also bought SFA Romani, to group these three societies under the name of SFA Neroli”specifies Alexandrine Demay.

The project, funded up to 20 million euros by Symrise, marks the strategic return of the German group to Grasse, historic cradle of perfumery. Indeed, Symrise does not set up in the Grassois country for the first time.

After leaving the region in the 1995s, Jean-Yves Parisot said it high and strong, thirty years later, it was “back to Grasse”. A return hailed by Jérôme Viaud, mayor of the capital of the perfume: “I am very proud that we welcome powers like Symrise, which is the world’s fourth power of perfume. It is also a great success to show that the Pays de Grasse again attracts all the global powers of perfumery, luxury, cosmetics and aromas. The five largest world powers are already there or will soon be installed. The objective is a bit to bring everyone back to the house”.

Grassois know-how radiates internationally

If Symrise has decided to replace herself on the Grasse lands, it is no coincidence. “The reputation of Grasse around the world is very well known. The markets are very sensitive to « made in Grasse”and in know-how and the Grasse tradition ”says the president of SFA Neroli.

“You cannot say, or go for someone serious, if at some point, you do not have a foot to Grasse, whether for access to raw materials or for know-how, Indicates Ricardo Omori, president of Global Fragrance Symrise. And then, fat, it is also international symbols, such as rose, mimosa, etc. […] In each place that I have visited in recent years, there is not one person in the profession that will say different. In Shanghai, Dubai, Singapore, Brazil, the United States … Everywhere, Grasse is recognized as the world capital of perfume “.

In addition, the site being located in the Mediterranean basin, the export of international products is clearly facilitated, both by sea and by air.

“This is only the beginning”

“We are proud to shine the Grassoise perfumery far beyond Saint-Cézaire”Announcement Alexandrine Demay. And Jérôme Viaud, the mayor of Grasse, to add that “This inauguration is not a culmination, it is the beginning of a new momentum, carried by passion, by competence, and by the desire to make our territory shine beyond our borders”.

And the future is already emerging with the opening, in 2026, of a new Lautier 1795 pole of 1,200m²dedicated to the natural, at the entrance to the activity zone. “This is the extraction of plants, so flowers. Here, it is especially mimosa, rose, jasmine, tuberose, lavender … All this is the great classics of the south of France in terms of odor”details the president of SFA Neroli. The redemption of the company by Symrise also opens up new possibilities in terms of ingredients. “The group works a lot with Madagascar. Thanks to that, we have access to vanilla, ginger, vetiver, patchouli, which was not the case before”she plants.