Perfume Culture Happenings never disappoint when it comes to meeting people who take a stance on ethics and aesthetics, especially in the ever evolving and often volatile perfume industry. Surely a reference in this sense is perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, and it was through him and Roberto Drago—a pillar of the Italian niche perfumery—that I was introduced to Frédérique Rémy. We first met in Turin, during the 2019 edition of the Per-Fumum Torino event, and from the very beginning, she left a lasting impression.

Listening to how this amazing woman and her Company Floral Concept delivered the pitch-perfect Timur pepper oil to Monsieur Ellena following a tailor-made process was almost touching. After smelling a few other gems in their natural raw materials palette where everything vibrates and speaks of true love for nature, my admiration for this Lady grew even more.

As she recounted the meticulous tailor-made process through which her family-owned company, Floral Concept, delivered the pitch-perfect timur pepper oil to Monsieur Ellena, I was almost moved. The story revealed not just technical excellence, but also a personal and ethical commitment to the raw material and to the perfumer’s vision. What struck me most was how much care, time, and craftsmanship were invested into creating an ingredient that would become a precious part of a fragrance. It was a rare glimpse into the quiet dedication that underpins the world of natural extracts.

Grassoise by adoption, Frédérique Rémy along with her husband Jean-Pierre Mignatelli established the Company Floral Concept in 2002 near Grasse. Their goal was clear: to provide high-quality, tailor-made natural extracts to perfume houses with exacting standards.

Long before natural was in fashion, she was reared with the love for nature, perfume plants, and the people who cultivate them. While listening to her talking about her job, you can feel this unwavering feeling. Her stories behind every single raw material are fascinating and always put forth farmers and their territory as a meaningful step to excellent crops that need, above all, to be respected and valued in the extraction process. Her voice carries a quiet passion that speaks volumes about the kind of perfumery she believes in—one where quality begins at the source and where nature is never treated as just a commodity.

Over time, the company has grown into a true family enterprise. Her son Julien, along with her husband’s son, and a nephew have joined the team, each bringing their own energy and expertise to the business. Moreover, a new facility came as well in recent years to exploit the most modern tools and techniques and strive for new challenges without compromising excellence.

In 2024 at the Paris Perfume Week, I had the pleasure of seeing Madame Rémy in conversation with perfumer Marc-Antoine Corticchiato. They shared much about their long partnership, and led the audience to smell the Floral Concept raw materials that inspired the perfumer for his creations. All of them were showcased in a beautiful multisensory exhibition titled “Quand le parfum des plantes parle”, when the perfume of plants speaks, sponsored by Floral Concept. One standout was the exquisite ambrette seed absolute glorified in Parfums d’Empire Le cri de la lumière.

When we think of women in perfumery, our minds often go straight to female perfumers, overlooking the many others whose expertise quietly shapes the industry. When it comes to raw materials, one of the most motivating among these behind-the-scenes trailblazers is Frédérique Rémy. She was the first person who came to mind when I set out to highlight a remarkable female figure in perfumery. I reached out for an interview, and I’m thrilled she graciously accepted, for her words are truly inspiring.

1. Dear Madame, first of all, thank you for accepting my proposal to be interviewed for Essencional. Floral Concept is a family business, and I imagine that running it can be both rewarding and challenging. How have you managed to grow the company while also caring for your family—striking a balance between personal relationships and professional goals?
We are working in a very interesting business, and we have enrolled part of the family in our passion. I learned from my parents, and I am now working with my husband and my children. We also work a lot with families among our producers all over the world, and sometimes with the second generation.

2.Taking a step back, what led you and your husband to start your own business?
We decided to found this company together because we are a team that works. I am in charge of sourcing and customers, and Jean-Pierre leads the technical and production side. This is where his technical know-how and long experience in Naturals play a key role.
As an engineer in this field, he has worked with naturals all his life; he’s the to-go person when it comes to solving the challenging technical demands of our customers. Without his talent, I wouldn’t be able to offer these products. Together, we both strive for excellence and always aim to obtain the best possible quality.

3.What core values have you passed down to your family, and how have those values influenced the way you lead the company and manage your team?
I’ve always taught my children the importance of being passionate about a subject and trying to build a career around it. Hard work becomes less difficult when it’s also driven by passion.

My son Julien and my nephew Alain, who are both involved in business development, also participate in the supply chain audits we conduct. This helps them gain a deeper understanding of the source of the naturals ingredients they sell.

It's both motivating and exciting for them, especially since selling natural products nowadays comes with many challenges. Customers ask a lot of questions about the supply chain before deciding to use a product, so it's essential for the sales team to be knowledgeable.

4. As a woman leading a company in a traditionally male-dominated industry like perfumery, how have you navigated the challenges, and what has been your greatest source of empowerment along the way?

This was never a topic, as in my generation many women are in the beauty business, and I also met a lot of women among our producers in Egypt, in India, and other countries, leading their own companies with enthusiasm.

5. Let’s put the nose on the remarkable palette of natural raw materials Floral Concept offers. The last time we experienced your Pink Pepper CO2 extraction, which I dare say delivers one of the most extraordinary tapestries of warm spiciness and tangy freshness, you mentioned it was the first extraction you developed, and it’s still your bestseller. How did it all begin?

It all began with a challenge! One of our biggest customers asked us to develop the best possible quality of Pink Pepper CO2 extract, because the product was already successful and had started to be used in many fine fragrance perfumes. We tried to adapt the best extraction parameters to obtain a beautiful CO2 extract. It is a challenging product, because we are dependent on climatic conditions, and the sourcing is not easy. But the demand is still growing!

6. Digging deeper into ingredients, several species such as Mysore sandalwood and rosewood have been unintentionally endangered in the past. Can you share some of the challenges you face in ensuring sustainability when sourcing raw materials?

Rosewood is a good example: The product was banned from distillation and export by the Brazilian government in 2010 in order to stop deforestation, and the product disappeared from the palette of the perfumers.
We have been offering, since 2017, a Rosewood oil from the Amazonian region of Peru, which is produced in a sustainable way and under CITES regulation. It means that for each tree cut, at least two new trees will be planted. This is a way to support the Amazonian populations and create revenue and well-being by exploiting their natural resources in a controlled and sustainable way. It is also a beautiful raw material that perfumers are happy to use again and again…

For the uninitiated, CITES stands for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and its regulation is an international agreement between governments that entered into force on July 1st, 1975. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species. CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organizations adhere voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention ('joined' CITES) are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties—in other words, they have to implement the Convention—it does not take the place of national laws. Rather, it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level. Speaking of Peru, the country started applying measures for the export of flora and fauna in 1989.

7. More and more nowadays, awareness is growing that perfume needs to be ethical—not only among professionals, but also increasingly among final customers. At last, there’s a sense that perfumers, raw material producers and farmers are finally playing on the same team. Has your company established any specific partnerships or initiatives to help ensure the fair treatment of workers in the countries where you source your ingredients?
The Rosewood from Amazonia is the best example, but we have had a few other engagements with producers over several years, in order to help them develop their products in a sustainable way. We need our small producers as much as we need our customers. They are at the beginning of the chain. We speak a lot about the products, but there are a lot of people behind, a lot of small family businesses who sometimes depend on just one crop. And we must support them. We are all part of the same chain from the farmer to the end consumer.

8. What has been the most challenging aspect of ensuring top-quality natural raw materials, considering the growing concerns around climate change and environmental degradation?
This is a constant challenge, returning every year, depending on climatic issues affecting our supply chains. We try to have advance stock in good crop years, in order to be covered in case of a shortage the following year. It means always financing a very heavy advance stock for security. But climate change is not the only challenge: we also face geopolitical instability—like in Haiti, where we source the Vetiver oil, or Somalia for the Olibanum, and Ecuador for the Ambrette. These civil wars make sourcing quite difficult.

9. Jean-Claude Ellena, Marc-Antoine Corticchiato and other perfumers have trusted Floral Concept with sourcing exceptional star ingredients for composing their most beautiful perfumes. Could you share with us more insights, stories, or experiences from these partnerships, and explain how they shaped the Floral Concept palette?
We have worked with several perfumers, always encouraging us to find the best possible quality and even to improve the qualities. Sometimes the perfumer finds a raw material while travelling and would like to test if we can distill it. But sometimes we are also asked for technical improvements to the product. We have developed a range of colorless floral extracts, for example. The challenge is to remove the natural color of the product without spoiling the smell.

10. Last but not least, as a knowledgeable professional and a woman, what advice would you offer young women aspiring to pursue a career in natural raw materials production or, more broadly, in the perfume industry?
Becoming a perfumer takes years of training and experience. But it is also true in our business. It takes time to learn about all the naturals, about the processes, the supply chains, and the people at the source. You really have to be passionate and humble to start in this business, because it is really a lot of work and commitment.

Thanks to Frédérique Rémy for sharing her journey, one of quiet strength, deep respect, and lasting passion. Through Floral Concept, she elevates natural raw materials to exceptional standards, combining quality with ethics and transparency. In a fast-paced industry, she balances a growing family business with rare values, leading through connection—between land and lab, farmers and perfumers, generations and communities. Long before ethical sourcing became a trend, Frédérique was already laying its foundations.

Her work is a reminder that beauty in perfumery begins far from the bottle—rooted in the soil, shaped by skilled hands, and guided by those who believe excellence must carry responsibility. Frédérique Rémy is more than a supplier of raw materials; she is a custodian of nature’s essence and a quiet, steady voice shaping the future of fragrance.