Mathieu Nardin was born in Grasse. He was a child of the country: his grandmother cultivated jasmine, rose and verbena. He elected to become a perfumer out of his love for these plants whose secret language he spoke. Because, in his eyes, as a prodigious reader, perfumery is a language. Becoming a perfumer was the learning of letters – the materials; then words – the accords; and finally sentences of varying length – the fragrances. In this work of writing, the imagination must stay free and intact, an antidote to boredom for someone who maintained by laughter his joyful eccentric whims. As for the material, it plays a decisive role in activation, in the kindling of desire.

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Today, Mathieu also nurtures a passion for woods, incense and certain balsams that serve his precise and welcoming style. He has a general calling for Mediterranean materials, such as myrtle, a symbol of the cultural cradle and landscape of his upbringing. Rose and jasmine mustn’t be forgotten: they give him a pleasure that is always renewed, inevitably bringing with them the old memory of their picking.