The Art of Picking Blooms for Perfumery
Experienced flower pickers are the unsung heroes in the world of modern perfumery. If it wasn’t for these skilled workers, perfumers wouldn’t have the fragrant essential oils necessary to blend the fragrances we enjoy wearing each day. In fact, the best bloom pickers demonstrate a precise dexterity that almost looks like they are conducting a symphony. Their hands float over the shrubs twisting in turning in precise movements. They gently pluck the bloom from the stem and drop them into cotton shoulder bags they wear when picking.
Thierry Wasser, a Paris-based master perfumer says that synthetic ingredients replicated in a lab can’t duplicate the character and soul of natural raw materials. He says that there is something soulful and magical about real floral essential oils that elevates a composition – something soulful that just can’t be created with synthetic notes. That’s why the flower harvests are so important. They result in better eaux de parfums.
Enter the flower pickers, employees that the top fragrance houses value immensely – because their businesses depend on them. Without these pickers, there would be no fragrance houses at all. The work is tough and it begins before the sun has even risen.
Roses are typically harvested in the early morning at daybreak, as early as 5:00 am during early summer when their fragrance is most potent. The best time to pick the rose blooms is before 11:00 am when the flowers are richest in essential oils. Surprisingly, roses lose 40% of their fragrance by midday so timely harvesting is crucial. In fact, roses lose their aroma so quickly that some farmers in Turkey transport their own copper stills to the fields, heat them over wood fires and distill the Damask Rose Oil on the spot. The heat separates the rose oil from the water resulting in a highly concentrated oil, ideal for perfume.
Typically, May is when Rose de Maie blossoms are picked. Damask are harvested in both May and June. Approximately 70% of the rose oil in the world comes from Bulgaria but there are also major rose fields in Turkey and in Grasse, France.
Jasmine too is picked in the months of May and June, from 7 am to 1 pm. A worker picks 350g of jasmine petals per hour using a very gentle twisting motion. This can cause the bloom to make a squeaking noise. This is very skilled work as pickers must be very precise and gentle so as to not damage the blooms while still working quickly. You have to delicately separate the mature flowers from the green foliage and stem. It is tiring job because you have to bend over all day to reach the flowers as the shrubs are low. It takes 800 kg of fresh jasmine flowers to obtain 1 kg of concrete which is 600 g of jasmine absolute after processing, with 8000 flowers per kg collected. This is why the ingredient is so expensive to purchase.
As you can see, flower pickers deserve a big round of applause for the skilled work they do. Hopefully in the years to come, they will enjoy greater recognition in the perfumery industry.
3 Comments
September Dee
May 19, 2025 at 11:32 amAmazing! Certainly not an easy job but wow the scented environment would be so lovely.
Linda L
May 5, 2025 at 9:40 amMuch gratitude for the flower pickers as they dedicate their skill and time to their important job. Well done!
Angela Citrigno
May 4, 2025 at 7:26 pmI tip my hat off to these flower pickers. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 We envision how beautiful the smell must be but forget that it’s back breaking work and the importance of avoiding the thorns on each stem. We have a few rose trees in our yard and they smell amazingly but you cannot pick them for your inside enjoyment. The amount of rose petals that you need is jaw dropping and then you mention the jasmine flowers. A jasmine bloom is so tiny. I have a jasmine plant in doors that bloomed for me. Then we transplanted it and pouted big time. I have my fingers crossed that it has survived and will grow once again. The white flowers are so beautiful and they smell heavenly.