PremièreMer

It was an encounter with an old man by the beach, when the Créateur Olfactif was still only a child, that, many years later, would become the origin of the main accord in this formula.

The old man approached the Créateur Olfactif and said:

“You know, you are very lucky to still be able to look at the sea the way you do…

When I was a child, I experienced the sea differently. The moment I glimpsed it in the distance, whether from a train or a bus, I was overcome with joy. Waves of ecstasy would pass through my body like an electric current, as if it were the most exciting thing in the world… It was the most exciting thing in the world…

Now, when I see the sea, I see only the sea.”

He looked at the Créateur Olfactif, and continued as though he wanted it documented, as though he somehow knew that this child would one day document it.

“So I made a small ritual of it. Whenever I see the sea, I stop and try to summon that old feeling again as if trying to strike a match in the wind. I look at the beach, at the waves, at the shimmer of light on the water, and I search for the spark I once felt so easily.”

Then, like an actor reaching the end of his monologue, he bowed and left the scene, disappearing as quickly as he had arrived.

To capture this moment, I first composed a honey accord from around twenty raw materials. Honey has many faces: some are spicy, others sensual. I wanted something very particular—buttery, soft, innocent. Around it, I built a salty sea breeze using precious seaweed absolute and carefully chosen molecules, introducing a trace of iodine without letting it become overly metallic or aldehydic. Sandalwood lends the composition the sensual warmth of sun-warmed sand. For me, the salt evokes the old man’s maturity, while the honey holds the innocence of the child he once was, whose sense of wonder he longs to rediscover.