Located at Harrods 6th floor, in London, Le Salon de Parfums is a real kingdom of fragrance where you can discover the several marvellous ancient or contemporary fairy tales from the world of luxury perfumery. Today I would like to tell one of these fairy tales, it’s the story of a perfumer whose memory would be lost over time if it weren’t for a lucky coincidence…

Pierre de Velay Parfums at Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie (photo credit Roja Parfums)

A few years ago, Roja Dove was visiting a small town in the South of France, not far from Grasse. In a street market, amid several books and objects displayed, his eyes fell upon an old journal whose cover only displayed a name: Pierre de Velay. While leafing through it, he realized that inside there were several perfume formulas. He undertook a research, but he could find no trace or mention, neither of Pierre de Velay, nor of his fragrances.

Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie (photo credit Roja Parfums)

Intrigued and fascinated by this enigma, Roja Dove translated the texts of the diary and found that, amongst the several simple formulas, there were a few that were very elegant and complex. He decided to experiment and recreate them, finally interpretating three wonderful fragrances and giving them a second life after almost a century. On the website dedicated to Pierre de Velay, Roja Dove traces a profile of the forgotten perfumer:

“Velay is a town in the South of France, not too far from the fabled home of perfumery, Grasse. However, despite extensive searches, not much is known about this talented perfumer. It is thought that Pierre must have been working in the 1920’s, but it is more likely to be the 1930’s, as the formulas center around the styles that were at their zenith in this period.

Many creations of his contain aldehydes, which did not manifest until 1921 with Chanel No.5; it seems logical that Pierre’s first formulations took inspiration from this slightly earlier period to create for an existing and established French clientele. It is likely, as was the way with many French Perfumers of this period, that he worked for one of the houses of the region, but also for individual clients, often under their own or assumed names.”

Extrait No. 6

A floral fragrance. A soft powdery composition of heliotrope, violet, iris and vanilla, warmed by cloves, pepper and carnation, surrounding a bouquet of jasmin, rose and ylang-ylang with fresh hints of galbanum and bergamot nestling on a sensual base of cedar wood, sandal wood, vetiver, tonka, bean, benzoin and civet.

Extrait No.11

A chypre fragrance whose protagonist is the rose, highlighted by jasmin and violet, enlivened by a note of lemon and other citruses, by celery, rhubarb, pepper,  red pepper and other spices on a warm base of cedar wood, patchouli, oakmoss, vetiver and orris, the whole enriched by jasmin on a musk and vanilla base.

Extrait No.23

A rich floral bouquet of jasmin, rose, ylang-ylang and orange flower shining through a flight of shimmering aldehydes and luminous hints of bergamot and mandarin. Slowly revealing a warm base of cloves, cedarwood and sandalwood, vetiver, oakmoss, tobacco held by a blend of benzoin, vanilla, tonka bean, labdanum, leather notes, ambergris, civet and musk.

A tribute to the splendor of an era and to the talent of a mysterious perfumer whose work, thanks to the sensibility and talent of Roja Dove, has been saved from anonymity and indifference of time. The fragrances are exclusively available at Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie at Harrods sixth floor and their story is told on www.pierredevelay.com.