Firmenich inaugurates fragrance studio in China to meet tailored localized solutions demand

27 Sep 2021 --- Fragrance and taste company Firmenich is opening a customer experience studio in Guangzhou, China, to further expand its reach in the Chinese market. The studio is the company’s first integrated sensorial center in South China, allowing the company to respond to demands for tailored fragrance and health-conscious taste solutions in this fast-growing market.

“Bringing the Group’s commercial, marketing and creative teams under one roof in Guangzhou, where they can co-create innovative offerings with our customers, gives us a unique position in the all-important Guangdong province after over 30 years of successful China operations,” notes Paul Andersson, president of Firmenich China.

“In line with Firmenich China’s Transform 2025 plan that guides our growth strategy, opening a customer-centric facility in Guangzhou reinforces our strong commitment to the country, the economy of Southern China, and the fast-growing customer base in the dynamic South.”

Focusing on consumer needs
Studio Guangzhou joins Firmenich’s network of manufacturing, innovation and creation centers in the country, offering a new level of support to the needs of customers in Southern China, the company supports.

At the opening event, guests were invited on a sensory voyage of discovery via the studio’s Diffusion Booth, its Ideation Lab, and on-site evaluation and creation facilities. The facility will focus on immersing customers in emerging trends, technologies, and smell and taste experiences, grounded in Firmenich’s consumer insights.

As a result, customers will be able to co-create tailor-made solutions for the evolving tastes of their consumers in the form of best-in-class creations and innovations.

“Firmenich is working with its customers to shape the future of fragrance and the diet transformation of taste and beyond. We see China poised to become a leading consumer market globally, and this center is a key step to work more closely with our local customers,” supports Emmanuel Butstraen, president, Taste & Beyond, Firmenich.

“The new studio epitomizes Firmenich’s ‘Positive Perfumery’ ethos underscoring our belief that fragrance has an inherent power to improve quality of life in a meaningful way,” notes Ilaria Resta, president of Perfumery, Firmenich.

“China is our strategic market worldwide, and being able to deliver a diverse range of benefits to an even wider base of consumers is an important element of our China expansion strategy.”

Moves in fragrances
The company has been making rapid advancements in fragrances and it recently introduced Scentmate, the first AI-enabled platform that streamlines and simplifies co-creation to deliver fragrance solutions for entrepreneurs and independent brands.

Firmenich’s Studio Guangzhou offering a new level of support to the needs of customers in Southern China.Continuing on its innovation track, Firmenich unveiled Firgood collection, a range of pure, 100% natural extracts obtained by a sustainable proprietary extraction technology.

This patented process enables the processing of biomass never previously used in the industry for natural ingredients.

Collaborations and acquisitions
In May, Firmenich entered into a strategic partnership with Essential Labs, LLC, a B2B supplier of fragrance solutions supporting entrepreneurial, independent businesses in the premium home segment. As part of this partnership, Firmenich acquired a significant non-controlling interest in Essential Labs, LLC.

“This partnership enables us to bring our unique capabilities in science and our leading palette of natural, renewable and sustainable ingredients to the dynamic community of entrepreneurs in the US and beyond,” noted Firmenich CEO, Gilbert Ghostine.

The company also entered an exclusive collaboration with world-renowned arts and design college Central Saint Martins in London to reimagine the future of fine fragrance. Twenty-one projects provide a unique, “fragrance forward” vision for game-changing uses of fine fragrance, from heat relief, water conservation, and community empowerment, to mindful eating and scent travel.

It also introduced Olfactive Vision, a creative direction for the future of Fine Fragrance. Harnessing the talent of its perfumers, proprietary socio-cultural insights, and its palette of ingredients, Firmenich Fine Fragrance outlined four distinct territories and a collection of unique fragrances that translate consumer attitudes into olfactive pathways for the post-COVID-19 world.

“Through both RE|GENERATION and Olfactive Design, we are writing a new story including creation, distribution points, distribution methods, and physical or digital experiences to reinvent the value of fine fragrance. Perfume becomes a social intermediary, identity marker and mindful catalyst,” says Ilaria Resta, president, Global Perfumery, Firmenich.

By Kristiana Lalou

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