“An homage to fragrant China”: Symrise opens collaborative olfactory hub in Shanghai
23 May 2023 --- Symrise has unveiled Little Red House – a fine fragrance creation hub – in Shanghai, China. The hub offers a space dedicated to market research, creative arts and olfactory culture, featuring exclusive events and cultural programs. Symrise also launched its De Laire base Piviane Impériale fragrance to mark the inauguration, paying homage to “fragrant China.”
“We consider China a strategic market for Symrise. To support our customers in the most agile way, we opened an R&D facility in 2019 and invested €200 million [US$215.6 million] in a factory that opened in 2020. Now, the Little Red House will give us a dedicated space to co-create with our local and international customers,” says Ricardo Omori, deputy president of Fragrance at Symrise.
“It will also highlight many of our high-tech capabilities. Therefore, the Little Red House marks the continuation of the Symrise expansion and reinvention of the Fine Fragrance category in Asia.”
Ribbon cutting at the Symrise Little Red House, Shanghai.
Dripping red
Located at The Roof – an “iconic” building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel – in the Xuhui District, the Little Red House embodies Symrise’s signature red logomark with red interiors and Chinese platform The Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu 小红书).
“It represents the ‘go to’ place for fragrance creation and carries the Chinese name of Xiaohongwu 小红屋,” shares Symrise.
The hub is touted as a space for fragrance master classes, perfumer encounters and trend talks to learn, connect and share knowledge.
“We believe in leading at the forefront of innovation and accessibility to our customers. Like L’Appartement Étoile in Paris, the Little Red House is strategically located in the center of Shanghai and brings us closer to our customers. It also provides a modern ambiance that sparks creativity,” says Julianne Pruett, global president of Fine Fragrance at Symrise.
“Love affair with peony”
To celebrate the opening of the Little Red House, fine fragrance perfumers David Apel, Suzy Le Helley and Maxime Exler worked on a revamp of Symrise’s De Laire Base: Piviane. “It pays tribute to China’s long love affair with peony. The flower was considered a symbol of the country during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) and became the favorite flower of the people at that time,” Symrise details.
It further informs that in a survey by The China Flower Association in 2019, the peony was voted the national flower, topping all other flowers with 79.7% of the votes. Additionally, in feng shui, it forms one of the most auspicious flowers and symbolizes love, prosperity and beauty, also popularly known as the “monarch of the flowers.”
The hub offers space dedicated to market research, creative arts, and olfactory culture, featuring exclusive events and cultural programs.
Regarding the fragrance notes, Symrise elaborates that the new fragrance carries the leathery signature of the original Piviane and replaces the “animalic” undertone with a “smooth, smoky sensation and an intoxicating yet delicate floral bloom.”
“Genderless interpretation”
A blend of exclusive synthetic and natural captive ingredients known to De Laire bases, the modern formula features Symrose, Sympep, Artichoke Symtrap Longoza and Vetiver from Madagascar.
“After working in China, this new base pays tribute to Chinese beauty and their love for fragrance. I love to explore new ingredients and challenge myself. So, alongside our Symrose captive, I played with the addition of the Artichoke Symtrap. It brought something fresh, unique and genderless,” says Exler, perfumer in Shanghai, China.
Suzy le Helley, perfumer in Paris, France, adds: “The contrast between the delicacy of the florals and the leathery part of the original Piviane has always fascinated me.”
“I found it exciting to play with our Vetiver from Madagascar in the revamped Piviane Impériale. It smells quite elegant and brings a smoky and sublime undertone. This enabled us to keep that amazing contrast – in a new and genderless interpretation.”
Meanwhile, Apel describes that the team deep-dived into the Symrise De Laire universe and modernized the base by elevating the leathery signature from animalic to smoky. 
The Little Red House embodies the Symrise red.
“For that, I played with our new Sympep captive. I also added a touch of Longoza that refreshed the floral heart. This also results in a floral bloom with a unique premium touch. Exactly these traits make our De Laire bases so special,” he explains.
Symrise recent highlights
Symrise recently expanded its botanicals portfolio with hyper-frequency extraction technology, touting it an environmentally sustainable solution maximizing molecular benefits. PersonalCareInsights sat down with Diana Campos Gomez, global product manager for Botanicals at Symrise, to discuss the SymFrequency technology.
Gomez told us the company is “very concerned” about the environmentally sustainable approach the market seeks. “When working with botanicals, there are always new challenges concerning the personal care market trends. Because of that, it seemed necessary to work with new technology to get a new category of extracts, where we can produce botanicals of interest for personal care applications, providing proven efficacy,” she highlighted.
The company also launched a range of bioactives for nutricosmetics, branded Diana Food. It aims to deliver “inside-out” beauty benefits for crucial consumer demands in skin conditioning and anti-aging, skin brightening, hair and nail care. The range includes naturally sourced bioactives, such as collagen type I, vitamins C and A and polyphenols from various fruits.
Edited by Radhika Sikaria
