As spring flower festivals returned to Grasse this year, Dubai’s perfume market surged to $748.88 million and is projected to reach $1.72 billion by 2033.
Two cities are advancing competing claims to define the global fragrance industry. Each offers a different answer to the same question: what makes a perfume capital?
For centuries, the answer was simple. It was Grasse, a town in southern France where flowers and expertise combined to produce the raw foundation of modern perfumery. Today, Dubai presents a rival model built on scale, luxury retail, and global circulation. Perfume still begins somewhere. It no longer ends there.
Flowers Picked Before Dawn
Grasse’s authority rests on agriculture and accumulated expertise.
Its surrounding hills produce jasmine, rose, tuberose, and orange blossom, flowers whose scent forms the base of many of the world’s most recognisable perfumes. According to EU Today, the town produces around 27 tonnes of jasmine annually, much of it used by houses such as Chanel for its iconic No. 5 fragrance, which requires 1,000 jasmine flowers for a single 15ml bottle.
Harvesting remains intensely labour-intensive. Flowers must be picked by hand before sunrise when their scent is most concentrated, transported immediately to extraction facilities, and processed within hours before their volatile compounds evaporate. Each harvester picks around 350 grams per hour, and 1 kilogram of jasmine represents 8,000 individual flowers. This dependence on land creates continuity. Perfumery in Grasse evolved from local conditions, combining climate, soil, and human expertise accumulated gradually through apprenticeships and specialised schools.
The town’s perfume-making knowledge was recognised by UNESCO in 2018 as Intangible Cultural Heritage, cementing Grasse’s historical significance. Major luxury brands have invested heavily in securing access to these flowers. Chanel partnered with the Mul family in 1987, purchasing 20 hectares of flower fields to ensure control over ingredients for its formulas.
Dior followed suit, establishing exclusive partnerships with local estates and reserving entire jasmine harvests. Lancôme acquired the historic Domaine de la Rose in 2023.
Malls Built on Circulation
Dubai represents a fundamentally different structure.
Its perfume economy depends not on growing flowers but on attracting consumers. The UAE fragrance market was valued at $748.88 million in 2024 and is expected to reach $1.72 billion by 2033, exhibiting a growth rate of 9.22 per cent, according to multiple industry forecasts. Luxury malls, duty-free zones, and tourism infrastructure position Dubai as a central node in global perfume distribution.
Brands from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia converge there. In October 2024, Ajmal Perfumes launched three new scents (Golden Hawk, Blue Hawk, and Feather Blossom) crafted to provide elegance and luxury specifically for the UAE market. In February 2024, Emirates Pride announced its first-ever collaboration with master perfumers Nathalie Lorson and Olivier Cresp in MENA, aiming to develop unique fragrances combining creativity and craftsmanship. Perfume becomes part of a broader luxury ecosystem alongside fashion, jewellery, and hospitality.
Authority emerges from circulation rather than origin. Dubai does not produce most of the raw materials it sells. It produces visibility, accessibility, and aspiration. According to IMARC Group, the market is driven by rising disposable incomes, increasing demand for premium and customised fragrances, the growing influence of Middle Eastern culture in global perfumery trends, and strong tourism and retail sectors.
Arabic perfumes, featuring oud, musk, and amber, dominate the market and are highly popular among both locals and tourists.
Two Economic Logics
The contrast reflects fundamentally different systems of value creation. Grasse built its reputation through accumulated expertise over centuries.
Its perfumers trained for years, mastering extraction techniques such as enfleurage and distillation. Their authority rested on knowledge, craft, and proximity to raw materials. Time operates according to biological rhythms, with flowers blooming according to seasonal cycles, harvest windows narrowing to mere weeks, and climate determining yield. Spring festivals in Grasse, including the annual Jasmine Festival (Fête du Jasmin) held in August, celebrate this timing and reaffirm the town’s relationship with nature.
Dubai built its influence through capital and infrastructure.
Its perfume sector thrives on consumer demand, high-end retail, global connectivity, and year-round operation independent of agricultural cycles. Retail spaces function continuously, supported by logistics networks and climate-controlled environments. Time becomes flexible, separated from the biological conditions that created the scents being sold. Both systems generate value. One creates substance. The other amplifies it. Modern perfumery requires both.
Fragile Foundations
Each system carries distinct vulnerabilities. Grasse’s dependence on agriculture creates exposure to climate variability.
Rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall complicate harvest planning. Maintaining production requires protecting landscapes and labour practices that cannot be easily relocated. Over the twentieth century, developers put the future of Grasse flowers at risk by buying up land and pushing out generational farmers, which is why luxury brands began purchasing their own fields to secure supply.
Dubai faces different risks. Its perfume economy depends on continued tourism, consumer spending, and global trade flows. Economic downturns, travel restrictions, or shifts in luxury consumption could disrupt the model. Both systems rely on stability, yet their foundations differ fundamentally. One depends on soil, seasons, and skilled hands. The other depends on airports, malls, and consumer confidence.
A Distributed Definition of Power
Historically, the title of perfume capital belonged exclusively to Grasse, reflecting origin, expertise, and production.
Today, authority is distributed across functions rather than concentrated in a single location. Grasse remains essential as a source of raw materials and knowledge. Dubai has emerged as a centre of distribution and influence. The industry no longer revolves around a single place but operates through networks.
A modern fragrance may originate in French flower fields, be manufactured elsewhere, and sold in Dubai’s malls to an international audience. Geography fragments. Perfume becomes a global object assembled across multiple locations. In Grasse, perfume begins as a flower picked at dawn. In Dubai, it appears as an object of desire displayed under artificial light. Both are real.
Neither alone defines the industry. Between them, Grasse and Dubai define the geography of scent in the twenty-first century.
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