It’s difficult to create a new material and to register it, notably for wood, which must come from an ethical plantation. At Robertet, the solution has consisted of reconsidering the house materials, reworking them to develop a range of cedars. With woody notes, yes, but also amber, balsam and floral notes. All of the facets of cider enhance the offer. Faced with attacks against oak moss, Robertet created an algae extract that smells like oak moss and gives the effect of naturalness to a formula. “Everything is being reconfigured,” explains Christine Gladieux, vice president raw materials of the Robertet group (Charabot-Robertet), “and we’ve become increasingly specialized in agriculture. Robertet bought an agricultural cooperative located in the Drôme and specialized in organics, with a fair-trade, sustainable approach that we benefit from. In Turkey where we have a location, we have set up an organic rose garden with them,and adapted the non-organic rose garden to standards of sustainable development. Why not grow iris there? You can easily transplant certain plants, preserving their features. We have to change our habits, be reasonable and think of the future. Before there are no longer any fragrance plants.” Among the new things from Robertet, there are rose features such as the very subtle rose petal, a bit peony-like and very natural, more like the flower than the essence. Or a recent extract of rosewood, the result of five years of work in Laos to come up with a very woody, very heady scent. Not to mention the “Alcohol” collection, concentrates of rum, whisky and cognac, in great demand for men’s fragrances. Or the recently registered smoked black tea from Sri Lanka.

Sabine Chabbert

Beyond Beauty MAG #28

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