It took half a decade for Christine Nagel to succeed in making the ginseng root sing. With this new Hermessence, the perfumer of the house of Hermès marries a sacred plant from Asia with the memory of a tree with golden leaves. This launch constitutes a true lesson in patience in a universe saturated by immediacy, reminding us that time remains, for the house on the Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, the most precious of luxuries. On the roofs of the historic Paris address, the hanging garden offers an idyllic setting where nature expresses itself with a skilfully orchestrated freedom.
The quest for the perfect ingredient through time
Devoting five years of research to a simple root is a form of creative insolence in an industry that multiplies launches. Christine Nagel, Director of Creation and Olfactory Heritage at Hermès Parfums, explains that she had to unlearn urgency to embrace a rare privilege: searching without knowing when she would find. The story of this creation begins in Chinese herbalist shops, where ginseng, renowned for its vitality, caught her attention. Until then, this plant had never revealed its potential in fine perfumery, as the desired extract simply did not exist on the market.
To bring this vision to life, Hermès ordered several hundred kilos of roots to entrust their extraction to a French partner. After much trial and error to erase the overly earthy facets of the first attempts, the raw material finally delivered a deep, woody signature, evoking a liquorice stick with a subtle bitterness. This natural extract is now among the most expensive components in the house’s palette. True to its spirit of sharing, Hermès plans to make this unprecedented ingredient available to other creators after a period of exclusivity.
The sensory alliance of ginseng and ginkgo biloba
Ginseng Biloba is based on a dialogue between two major ingredients. To escort the ginseng, the creator drew inspiration from the ginkgo biloba, an ancestral tree symbolising longevity. Since the ginkgo belongs to the so-called silent plants from which essence cannot be extracted, Christine Nagel had to recompose its olfactory sensation. By assembling notes of green tea, matcha, maté and musks, she succeeds in restoring the vegetal freshness of the crushed leaves of the male ginkgo, avoiding the unpleasant scents of the seeds of the female subject.
The bottle is dressed in a vibrant yellow that evokes the autumn foliage of this legendary tree. It is crowned with a beige saddle-stitched cap, a direct reference to the natural colour of the ginseng root and the leather-making expertise of the house. This new addition follows in the line of unexpected duos that have made the Hermessence collection famous since its creation in 2004, perpetuating a tradition of elegance and olfactory surprise.
A philosophy of creation without compromise or tests
The creative approach at Hermès is completely free from conventional mechanisms. No consumer tests are carried out before the launch of a perfume. Decisions are made within a small circle including the creator, Pierre-Alexis Dumas and the management of the Perfume and Beauty division. This independence allows for the emergence of singular accords, such as the ginger overdose of Twilly or the bold vegetal notes of H24. The house also offers privileged access to the most innovative molecules from biotechnology.
By integrating sustainable processes such as fermentation to produce fragrant molecules, Christine Nagel reconciles tradition and modernity. This rigour in the choice of materials and this absolute respect for the natural cycle join the standards applied to leather goods. At Hermès, perfume is not a simple consumer product, but an object of craftsmanship that is part of a legacy of durability and excellence.
