"Chinese consumers feel very strongly about their cultural heritage", Émilie Coppermann, Symrise

For Emilie Coppermann, Master Perfumer at Symrise and creator of the fragrance, the female Chinese fragrance buyers are "curious and hyper connected" and have open their mind to new olfactory codes from the West. However, their main “references remain mainly rooted in the Asian culture and focused on natural and soft scents.”

Boosted by a growing interest from Chinese Millennials, sales of fragrances are booming in China. In this buoyant context, the Jahwa group, owner of the Herborist brand, chose to celebrate its 120th anniversary with the launch of what it wished to become the "first Chine prestige perfume.”

For this ambitious development, far from the habits of the brand, the group has drawn on the experience of global design agency centdegrés, which has taken over the repositioning of Herborist’s global image since 2008. For the packaging, the agency imagined a hourglass-shaped bottle, thus expressing the three dimensions of time suspension, as suggested by the tperfume’s name. "This fragrance stops time. It reflects the paradoxical status of time in China, which is both infinite and cyclical, with no beginning or end," said Matthew Rochette-Schneider, General Manager Greater China & Southeast Asia at centdegrés.

The development of the fragrance has been entrusted to Symrise. To better understand the brand’s DNA, Émilie Coppermann travelled to China and visited Herborist’s spas and shops. "I was deeply moved by the brand’s minimalist, natural, feminine and sophisticated identity. That’s why I wanted a flower that could express these values and be found in China as the main ingredient of perfume. Therefore, I selected magnolia and used both the flower and the leaves," explains the fragrance creator.

Symrise and centdegrés teams worked in close collaboration during development phase with the aim to achieve "a truly consistent and unique product".

"Chinese consumers are increasingly supportive of the creations launched by local brands. In this context, Herborist’s Mon Instant was created to be a true Chinese perfume, from the concept to the ingredients. As far as olfactory trends are concerned, I think that natural fragrances will continue to prevail. Furthermore, the current interest of Chinese consumers in their own traditional heritage could pave the way for the development of fragrances based on traditional Chinese ingredients," concludes Émilie Coppermann.

To meet these expectations, the master perfumer imagined a very feminine and floral natural fragrance, inspired by the values that have been driving the brand for more than twenty years.