ABOUT THE PEAR: Jo Malone London continues the legacy of the pear…

As a staple in the Jo Malone London portfolio, the pear has been loved, adored, and associated with the brand for many years.

In the latest launch, English Pear & Sweet Pea the pear has been reimagined and reinvigorated. In this interview, we dive into the creative process with fragrance and lifestyle expert, Emma South and discover more about the brand’s developments of the pear, the power of scents, and what we can look forward to from Jo Malone London in the future.

What does fragrance and the power of scent mean to you?
For me, our sense of smell is the most emotionally compelling of the senses. Yet, although it works tirelessly with every breath, it is often under appreciated. I love that in our industry it has center stage, and it is such a privilege getting to connect with people over Fragrance - where treasured memories are suddenly retrieved and stories unfold.

Whether consciously chosen or not, fragrances often bookmark different chapters of our lives and offer a time capsule to revisit the most precious moments.

And beyond its nostalgic value, I believe that heightening our everyday awareness of scent opens a new window through which to appreciate and understand the world.

Jo Malone London has a traditionally British essence; how has the brand connected this traditional essence and modernised it for the consumer in the new English Pear & Sweet Pea?

English Pear & Sweet Pea faithfully renders an iconic slice of the British countryside in scent: Orchards bathed in golden light, poised on the cusp of autumn. A crescendo of summer evidenced by abundant blooms and ripening fruit. Yet, as always, the brand’s characteristic scent aesthetic feels utterly contemporary; an elegant simplicity that is stunning worn alone or enjoyable layered for endless transformations.

In the visual campaign oversized pears make a playful dramatisation of this bountiful season, alongside the witty musings of Adwoa on what a pear actually smells like. This humorous, authentic engagement with the subject of fragrance is not simply modern, it’s timeless.

Was there a certain type of freedom in reinventing the Pear in the new scent or were there challenges faced in creating something new and obtaining the same quality that we have seen in the original English Pear & Freesia?

There was certainly the challenge of maintaining the same olfactive fingerprint, equating to barely perceptible changes to the overall scent.

But the freedom of exploring new processes, thinking outside the box with regards to accepted perfumery norms, and being able to replace some of the original formula with an up-cycled ingredient, was definitely worth it.

English Pear defines the scents, what is it about the ingredient that is so special that the brand wanted to reimagine it with a floral Sweet Pea?

Having exclusively owned ingredients enhances the uniqueness and inimitable quality of the final formula. From the same perfumer’s palette, you can create a seemingly infinite series of scents but when you go further, adding new colours to the wheel so to speak, the final fragrance composition has even greater differentiation and distinction. Understandably, armed with this new extract, Celine was eager to revisit the orchard moment with another flight of floral fancy to accompany the Pear.

How do you see Jo Malone London fragrances and the power of scent in general reflecting and embodying a timelessness?

Scent has the power to transport through time as we know, ahead of every other sense. This in itself is a form of timelessness, and it is not limited to our personal histories, there are strong examples that point to a timeline beyond ourselves. Our unanimous appreciation of ‘Petrichor’ -the smell of rain on baked earth, is suggestive of our long evolutionary gratitude for rain. These are the moments that Celine draws from, everyday snapshots we all share, with the natural world as muse told in aesthetic qualities that outlive trends.

Céline Roux’s imagination and creativity runs through Jo Malone London, how does the new fragrance differ from what we may have seen before from the brand?

Celine has been seized by vast and varied moments of inspiration; from a stone fragment in a museum, patchwork landscapes of agricultural grains, windswept shores, historical epochs, the humble orchard gilded by late summer sun. Whilst English Pear & Freesia and English Pear & Sweet Pea share the same starting point and pear extract, both fragrances present a detailed study of two very different floral characters. The Freesia stands gracefully arching on crisp, almost succulent stems and is animated in the fragrance with a tea-green clarity. The cottage garden staple ‘sweet pea’ flutters in comparison, flowering prolifically all summer in a haze of honeyed, powdery pastels.

How would you describe the English Pear & Sweet Pea fragrance in three words?
Luscious, pretty, pastel!

What’s been a highlight of your experience working on the new scent?
Launch day is always the highlight, witnessing the reception, seeing the smiles and delight is a moment we eagerly anticipate, it is the final breath that animates the fragrance.

What is something that you are excited about at Jo Malone London and the future of fragrance?

At Jo Malone London Christmas is on the horizon which is always our most exciting time of year. This holiday campaign promises a delectable selection of limited-edition scents and sees the iconic packaging decorated as gingerbread.
In the wider field I am really excited about the post-pandemic research revival in our sense of smell.

Loss of smell is a known predictor of several diseases.
Better understanding of the causal links, finding a way to measure and augment this sense in the way hearing and sight are quantified and supported, could offer groundbreaking therapeutic benefits.

What is one of your scent memories?

This one is frequently referenced, but nonetheless a very powerful one for me: the first mown grass in spring.
It is verdantly optimistic and dreamily nostalgic all at the same time, forever the promise of summer holidays ahead. A more personal one is the smell of antiseptic TCP. It is such a harsh, acerbic scent and detectable at the lowest concentrations, but to me it might as well be cloud of vanilla.

It takes me straight to the comfort of big hugs with my grandparents.