Ode To The English Pear

While her official title is Global Head Of Fragrance, at Jo Malone London, we like to think of Céline Roux as something of a scent magician. Because when she conjures up a brand-new, often unexpected fragrance, she tends to begin with a magical journey. These intriguing, immersive jaunts follow a playful path, with the final destination being a dreamy scent that one can't help but fall in love with. A case in point: the exciting launch of English Pear & Sweet Pea, a fresh new take on a timeless ingredient. ‘Ah, with this one I have nothing. There is no journey,’ Céline says, laughing. No one is fooled by this, though; the story behind the new English Pear & Sweet Pea is nothing less than captivating. ‘We asked ourselves which wild flower we could use that could bring a bit of a twist [to English pear].’ And it is exactly that; a subtle new twist that is the youthful, pastel-soft counterpart to the original English Pear & Freesia. If it was a colour palette, this scent would be corals, light lilacs and blushy pinks. How would Céline describe it? ‘It is beautiful.’

While she may not have taken one of her meandering, tangible journeys to create English Pear & Sweet Pea, Céline did take a few trips down memory lane. ‘There is a pear orchard at the back of my parents' country house, where I have spent all my summers since childhood,’ she reminisces. ‘My bedroom is the only one with a window that backs onto the orchard.’ This throwback is something she admits to taking for granted: ‘I did not realise how lucky I was actually to grow up with this – how special it was to be able to just go to the tree, pick up a fruit and eat it.’ Seeing the trees heavily laden with juicy, ripe, ready-to-eat pears takes her right back to the original, if accidental, inspiration for English Pear & Freesia and, more recently, English Pear & Sweet Pea. ‘Really, the orchard is the star,’ she says, her voice filled with wonder. ‘That, and the John Keats poem.’

The poem she’s referring to is To Autumn, the sensuous ode written by the prolific English poet, which considers the point the season turns from late summer to autumn – which also marks the season of the pear. As the name suggests, the words pay homage to this time of year: the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ became one of the starting points for English Pear & Freesia when it originally launched in 2010. ‘We did the press launch in John Keats’ former house in Hampstead,’ recalls Céline. ‘To be in this house, to know the poet lived there, the way he describes the atmosphere in his ode… you are there. It is such a precious memory of Englishness.’