Fragrance house

Molinard

Molinard is a French perfume house founded in Grasse in 1849 and family-owned and independent across five generations. Rooted in Grasse, the house developed an industrial phase in 1900, when Albert Sittler partnered with Hyacinthe Molinard and brought the company into the Bastide Molinard. Henri Bénard, a chemist and mayor of Grasse, is credited with the innovations Habanita in 1921 and Concreta in 1925. Its identity combines tradition and avant-garde, heritage and creation, with know-how that joins craftsmanship and industrialization. In 2011, leadership passed to Célia Lerouge-Bénard, the fifth generation of her family to lead Molinard and its first woman leader. Habanita was launched in 1921 as scented sachets for women’s cigarette packets, then evolved through soap into a skin perfume. Molinard identifies it as its most famous perfume and associates it with vetiver in women’s perfumery. In 2012, Habanita changed from eau de toilette to eau de parfum, with its formula kept close to the original.