Givaudan opens the doors of first perfumery school in Singapore

The fragrance firm's new hub will be home to perfumers who will work to develop fragrances in the region and undertake consumer testing, building on the model it already has set up at its Perfumery School in Paris, which trains perfumers under the guidance of Jean Guichard.

Givaudan hopes to expand the Asian fine fragrance business through 'cutting edge technology and highly automated systems' to achieve shorter lead times in production and delivery, helping customers to go to market faster. 

It was officially opened by the chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board, Dr Beh Swan Gin, and Chief Executive Officer Gilles Andrier.

“We are especially excited to open our first ever Perfumery School campus located outside of France. This marks a very significant milestone in our Company’s history and reinforces our commitment to Asia, Singapore and our customers in the region,”​ says Andrier.

And adds; "The hub represents our continued strong commitment to high growth regions. It also positions us to work in even closer partnership with our customers to offer fragrance solutions that meet the latest consumer trends."​

Regional investment​

The Swiss based manufacturer's business activity in Asia has been about enforcing and improving its competitive position on a selected portfolio of products in recent years.

In 2014, it partnered up with Zhejiang Xinhua Chemical for the production of fragrance ingredients in China.

Xinhua is one of the leaders in aroma chemical manufacturing, with an established history of quality production; and Givaudan hopes this will stand it in good stead to make its mark in the region.

“This joint venture is another step forward in our global strategy to get closer to customers in developing markets; Xinhua is perfectly positioned to partner with Givaudan in Asia Pacific,”​ says Gilles Andrier, CEO.

Then, later in the year, the company revealed that it had entered exclusive negotiations to acquire French manufacturer, Soliance, as it aims to step further into the skin care segment.