Grandiflora SASKIA photo courtesy of Grandiflora

This month marked the launch of Grandiflora SASKIA sixth and final fragrance eponymously named after the brand’s founder, Australian florist Saskia Havekes. SASKIA is the stellar new fragrance capable of conjuring all the emotion one experiences when entering the world of Grandiflora, Havekes’ iconic flower shop in the leafy Sydney suburb of Potts Point.

 

Saskia Havekes surrounded by her colorful flowers

Grandiflora has been part of the cultural fabric of Potts Point since Havekes opened her flower shop in 1995. As Grandiflora flourished, so did Havekes’ reputation, not only as a florist but also as an author and creator of fragrances. Grandiflora’s first fragrance, Sandrine, was launched in 2013. It was named in honor of its perfumer, Sandrine Videault, who sadly passed away shortly after finishing the formula. Havekes wanted to capture the scent of newly opened Magnolia grandiflora flowers. Michel was Grandiflora’s second fragrance, named after perfumer Michel Roudnitska, whose fragrance was inspired by the same flower’s scent at the height of its bloom. In the year that followed Havekes worked once more with Mr. Roudnitska to create Madagascan Jasmine (2015). Next came Queen of the Night (2016) and Boronia (2017) with perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour.

Each fragrance was a detailed study of a rare flower Havekes had discovered through her working career with flowers. The final fragrance Grandiflora SASKIA (2021) followed the celebration of Grandiflora’s 25^th anniversary and it is the interpretive essence of Grandiflora store itself.

 

 Photo of James Beck  and Saskia Havekes at the February 6th concert Remember Me which included the Sydney Quartet

The new fragrance was launched in Sydney amidst a multi-sensorial event; a performance presented by Havekes and her close friend James Beck, Artistic Director of the Sydney Art Quartet. The quartet performed six pieces of music from Debussy to Ravel, which the audience listened to as they smelled each Grandiflora fragrance paired with music. The event was set on a staged garden. Havekes spoke about the unsettling nature of the pandemic lockdown and the calming effect of plants, which is why her stage was covered in greenery instead of flowers. The highlight of the performance was a piece of new music written by composer Elena Kats-Chernin. Also called Saskia, the composer wrote music inspired by the new fragrance. The event was titled Remember Me. Onstage, Havekes reflected on the beautiful yet temporal world of flowers and people, and recognized it was her fragrances that would live beyond her. They are the heirloom gifts she will pass to her daughters to remember her by.

 Grandiflora store in Sydney

The event was clearly an emotional moment for Havekes, who retraced her journey in fragrance. She explained the story behind each of her creations before Beck explained the music chosen to accompany the scent. Hearing those stories was also a nostalgic moment for me. Being based in Sydney, I’ve had the great fortune of visiting Saskia Havekes at her Grandiflora store as each fragrance launched. Huddled around her work bench at the back, surrounded by buckets of towering foliage and flowers, she would tell me about the inspiration behind her latest fragrance and the creative process she undertook with her perfumers. I had the opportunity again to discuss the creation of the Saskia fragrance. She told me stories about recent and older scent memories as a florist, early morning visits to the flower markets and returning to the shop, her van laden with sweetly scented flowers. Her flower shop is also unique. It has a rustic urban spirit where Havekes celebrates nature’s imperfections instead of concealing them. It was fitting she worked with perfumer Christophe Laudamiel to create a scent that represented Grandiflora.

Photo of Christophe Laudamiel by Clayton©

Laudamiel has created fragrances with mass appeal for brands like Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie & Fitch, but it is his almost punk-rock approach to perfumery that has found traction under small independent brands like Strangelove NYC, TheZoo and now Grandiflora. Laudamiel saw the project as an opportunity to showcase some of Australia’s lesser-known botanical ingredients used in fine fragrance. “I like it when I can promote a region and show that Grasse and also the US is not the center of the world all the time in perfumery,” says Laudamiel who used Tasmanian myrtle (kunzea) and boronia leaves in his formula. He was also quick to point out that the mimosa flower, which he also used, is often considered French even though the plant’s origin is Australia.

Another technical challenge he faced was how best to incorporate a note of gardenia in the fragrance. The smell of natural gardenia extracts does not bear close resemblance to the living flower and perfumer reconstructions often mimic the work of early 20^th century perfumer Jean Carles, who based his gardenia around the molecule styrallyl acetate that has a green, fruity odor. Laudamiel doesn’t strongly associate it with gardenia. Instead, he used Living Gardenia, a fragrance ingredient from IFF based on headspace technology to closely represent the smell of the flower in nature. This was paired with Laudamiel’s own gardenia accord to accentuate the feeling of velvety white gardenia petals.

 

Saskia Havekes in her Flower Shoppe

Grandiflora SASKIA bursts open with chorus of floral notes. In the same way the eye it stimulated by colors and shapes of many varieties when entering the Grandiflora shop, the nose is stimulated with a myriad of complex floral accents, the delicate fresh floral scent of water hyacinth, intoxicating ylang ylang, powdery mimosa, and gardenia petals. These blooms are made more vibrant with spicy notes of fresh ginger and pink pepper. Laudamiel pairs herbal and floral notes, a technique he said increases the floralcy of the fragrance. For SASKIA he used Tasmanian myrtle. A verdant note of violet leaves leads to Tasmanian boronia leaves which is like a nest for the flowers. Immortelle and oakmoss cast a vintage light over the fragrance and a touch of petrichor is a clever reference to the wet environment of a flower shop, especially Grandiflora, with its charming stone floor.

Australia may be a world away for many perfume lovers, but Grandiflora SASKIA makes the trip possible with this charming floral tribute.

Notes: Ginger, pink pepper, violet leaves, Tasmanian myrtle, water hyacinth, gardenia petals, flower shop accord, petrichor, ylang ylang, Tasmanian boronia leaves, immortelle, oakmoss, French mimosa

Disclaimer: Many thanks to Saskia Havekes and Grandiflora Fragrances for the personal introduction to Saskia and the bottle provided for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

–Clayton Ilolahia, Guest Contributor and Editor of What Men Should Smell Like

All Art was supplied by Clayton and Grandiflora unless otherwise noted.

Thanks to Grandiflora we have an avant premier 50 ml bottle of Grandiflora SASKIA for a registered reader anywhere in the world. To be eligible please leave a comment with what you enjoyed about Clayton’s review, quotes you will remember from Saskia Havekes, where you live and if you have a favorite Grandiflora perfume. Draw closes 2/19/2020

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