Suppliers

The two biggest differences in the pattern of my raw material purchasing over the past 40 years has been the number of companies I deal with and the MOQ's. Unfortunately for small companies, the days of being able to purchase 250gms of anything under £1,000/Kg have long since gone. The number of companies has shrunk beyond recognition too. In the 60's I used to buy from a beautiful little family business in Grasse called Antoine Chiris, but they were taken over by the conglomerate UOP fragrances, who were swallowed up by Givaudan Roure, who became Givaudan who then closed all accounts for anyone spending less that £150K per annum. Good bye then..and the story is the same for countless others.

True there are still some exquisite small companies remaining that produce some wonderful materials, but the odds are stacked against them surviving. The big boys are always circling overhead and legislation from Brussels is heaped upon them by the day.

It was against this background that I was recently bowled over by the most wonderful citrus extracts I have ever smelled. Produced by a small Italian company using a new process they have developed, the quality is quite simply out of this world. I was sent mandarin, lemon, bergamot and blood orange. As I sat in my lab, all I could think about was the effect on existing formulations of replacing all the citrus oils with these, but of course you can't because of consistency. They will certainly be used in future compounds though. Fantastic.

Comments

[Jenny]

Dear John,

How wonderful that you started a blog. I love to read all your posts.

Good luck and thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[catherine]

Hi John,

These extracts sound very interesting, especially the blood orange extract. May I ask the name of the Italian company behind them? As a French niche perfumer based in Paris, I only have a very small production and would love to work with such suppliers.

Many thanks in advance and I look forward to reading your posts.

Catherine.