Un Jardin à Cythère by Hermès is a recollection of the sights, sounds and scents of travels around Greek islands
19 April 2023
The island of Kythira, located in the southern part of the Peloponnese, embodies a picturesque landscape marked by medieval architecture, lush flora, and rocky cascades adorned with stunning blonde sands. This captivating setting explains why Christine Nagel, a distinguished Swiss perfumer who has been with Hermès since 2014, found inspiration to create Un Jardin à Cythère. “It’s my vision of Greece through perfume,” Nagel explains.
Christine Nagel
Inspiration Behind the Fragrance
This fragrance is the seventh addition to the Parfums-Jardins chronicle, a series showcasing sun-kissed, fresh scents inspired by nature’s bounty. However, how exactly does one encapsulate the intricate beauty of the wilderness into a bottle? Nagel reflects on her first visit to Kythira, which ignited her desire to distill that experience into fragrance. “My first trip to Greece was 20 years ago and I traveled by boat from island to island. Upon reaching Kythira, I was immediately taken in by the olive trees and wild grasses swaying in the wind. Every step I took was accompanied by the sensation of crackling grass beneath my feet, and a moment arose when the winds picked up, releasing a delicate scent that surprised me as it rushed through the grasses.”
Un Jardin à Cythère
Capturing Essence in Fragrance
Nagel vividly describes this experience, each description resembling a nostalgic snapshot embedded in her memory through scent. There’s an unmistakable aura of romance inherent in her reflections on Kythira, which is not surprising given that, according to Greek mythology, the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, was said to have been born on this very island. The memories lingered strongly: “Kythira, along with that unique scent, stayed with me. At Hermès, we traditionally craft the scent within the garden itself; however, due to the pandemic, I couldn’t travel to France. Instead, I embraced a painter’s approach. While they may paint in the landscape, they also draw from memory to capture the spirit of the place, which is precisely what I did.”
At the launch event of Un Jardin à Cythère
Innovative Ingredient Replication
Interestingly, some key ingredients such as olive wood, golden grass, and fresh pistachio do not readily exist as natural extracts, prompting Nagel to recreate them from memory for Un Jardin à Cythère. “I adore the rugged trunks of olive wood used in Greece; they possess a distinctly refined aroma. With that forming the base of the fragrance, I then sought to replicate the essence of the golden grasses and knew I required something to enliven the scent further.” Thus, she incorporated the warmth of fresh pistachio, which brings with it a soft, watery texture and an unexpectedly vibrant freshness.
The culmination of her work results in an exquisite summer fragrance characterized by a gentle complexity that unfolds throughout the day, gracefully evolving and ultimately fading into a warm whisper upon the skin. “Each year, we embrace a theme at Hermès,” Nagel mentions. “For 2023, the theme is astonishment. What could possibly be more astonishing than a wild garden?” The only fitting answer to that might be someone capable of converting such impressions into an authentic olfactory masterpiece.
A version of this article originally appeared in Condé Nast Traveller India.
