Category: News

Interview of Françoise Fabre, Executive director of Fragonard

Would you like to introduce yourself and your activity?

I am Françoise Fabre, and I direct Fragonard, a company created in 1926, which is now run by the great, great grand-daughters of the creator Eugène Fuchs. We are Anne, Agnès and Françoise Costa, the fourth generation.

Historically, Fragonard has mainly manufactured perfumes and subsequently we have developed extensive ranges of cosmetics, eaux de toilettes, and for some years now a whole universe based on the art of living in Provence, hence fashion, articles for the home and products that we brought back from our travels, particularly in India. It’s a country that has always been very close to Provence and which is part of our culture.

Why are you here?

We have come today with a whole team from our company to see the evolution of TOURNAIRE, a magnificent company with which we have maintained a relationship of loyalty and friendship. We know the products we buy but certainly not the production tool. We were astonished by the investment, the quality of the machines, the technologies that I could not even have imagined. And then the possibilities of customisation. Moreover, we are currently working to improve a product which is an emblematic product of Fragonard: a small metal canister, or ‘estagnon’. Perhaps we are the last company to use the name ‘estagnon’, but it is an important name for us. It is part of the history of Grasse and our common history with TOURNAIRE. 

What are the challenges you face when it comes to packaging your fragrances?

We have products that have always been refillable. This was not the market trend 20 years ago. Everyone was using crimped products. We have always been keen to offer our customers refillable products and we buy 600ml refills from TOURNAIRE which are refills that no one else on the market does today. The sizes of Fragonard perfumes are 100ml, 200ml and 600ml in aluminium refills. It is certain that we all have the same objectives, namely, to have products that have the least impact on the planet and that are recyclable and refillable. That’s what’s at stake.

What advice would you give to a company looking for barrier packaging to protect its sensitive products?

In our business, which is a niche perfumery business, the use of aluminium is atypical. Generally speaking, companies use glass. We work a lot on the weight of the glass, the bottoms of the bottles, the luxury with the transparency that glass gives. It’s a real challenge to use aluminium to sell perfumes. This is our case, it is emblematic, the ‘estagnon’ is really the flagship of Fragonard. I don’t know if it can be duplicated that easily in terms of the finished product for a client. As far as refills are concerned, for all the products that are used in larger quantities, aluminium has an extraordinary added value. In terms of product quality, because it can be recycled very easily, because it does not pollute, it does not break, and because it is impervious to light and heat. These are all features that we have consistently valued in this product.

The entire range of TOURNAIRE aluminium monobloc packaging under 2 litres has been approved in “Group 1 ” with a density of 1.4 and an outstanding test pressure. This corresponds to the maximum level for UN certification and thus offers the guarantee of better performance for greater peace of mind when storing and transporting dangerous products.

UN certification.

Specific rules have been defined by the United Nations (UN) for the different modes of transport: air, road, rail, inland waterways, and maritime.

For Europe, it is the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe that determines and regulates this standard through the ADR (considered one of the most important sets of rules for the transport of dangerous goods by road within the European Union).

The general principles, the latest version of which is revision 21 of 2019, can be found here.

This UN certification aims to secure national and international transport for all means of transport through a universal system of classification, packaging, marking, and labelling of dangerous goods.

Dangerous goods are classified as: explosive substances and articles, gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidizing substances, toxic and infectious substances, radioactive substances, corrosive substances, and various dangerous substances and articles.

Obtaining UN certification.

To obtain UN certification, the packaging must be tested by an independent laboratory. For TOURNAIRE, these pressure tightness and drop resistance tests on the entire TOURNAIRE aluminium range are carried out by the BVT laboratory, which also audits Tournaire regularly to check the compliance of its quality system.

Dangerous goods can only be transported in packaging or overpacks bearing a UN mark. Each chemical component is classified according to its hazard level, which defines the provisions to be followed for its packaging and transport. The UN marking defines the ability to safely transport each product according to its characteristics and classification; here is an example of the marking on some TOURNAIRE packaging:

Certification for the most demanding materials.

TOURNAIRE has not only achieved certification in the strictest category “Group I” but has also succeeded in validating a high density and an extraordinary pressure resistance. Most of the packaging on the market is satisfied by lower densities and pressures or even by the hazard groups “II” for medium hazard or “III” for low hazard.

This new approval allows all TOURNAIRE packaging to protect even more sensitive and delicate products and to provide even more peace of mind to its users.

It is the technical optimization of the closure systems by TOURNAIRE’s teams that give TOURNAIRE’s monobloc aluminium packaging a head start over the regulations.

With TOURNAIRE, industrialists in the chemical, perfume and pharmaceutical industries can now safely transport even denser products (metal powders, oils, petroleum) and more volatile products (solvents) without adding specific measures or changing the packaging or the closure system.

The range of compatible hazardous product formulations is therefore wider, with densities that can reach “1.4”, and higher vapor pressures.

This is the case for certain innovative sectors with ever more demanding products, but also for new ingredients in existing sectors such as perfumery, chemistry, or pharmaceuticals.

TOURNAIRE packaging makes all the difference.

Thanks to the work of its Development and Quality teams, TOURNAIRE is constantly improving the performance of its products for its customers. This evolution of the homologation is a new testimony of this, especially since it concerns the whole standard range from 50cc to 1.25L. This major extension to TOURNAIRE’s certifications allows samples and commercial products to be shipped by road, air, sea, and rail in a safe and secure manner, without costly accessories or over-packaging.

Contrary to other industrial packaging on the market, this improvement of the TOURNAIRE range preserves all the other qualities of ergonomics and performances which have made its reputation.

TOURNAIRE takes care of your products to the ends of the earth.

Be sure to ask your sales manager for more details, by joining us at https://www.tournaire.fr/en/ or on social networks.

Interview of Jeanne Lions, Chairman of the Board et Laurent Zeller, Member of the Board

Question 1: Why did you organise these “Packaging and Fragrance” meetings?

Jeanne Lions: For several reasons. The first reason is that during the two years of the pandemic, we suffered from a withdrawal into ourselves. This did not prevent us from innovating, from developing products, from taking advantage of all this time to invest and so, once the pandemic was over or almost over, we wanted to celebrate with our local partners from Grasse some privileged moments with a note of conviviality notably by sharing an EcoVadis celebration for our CSR commitment. But also, and above all because fragrance is our DNA. It is the history of TOURNAIRE, which is intimately linked in a family and industrial way with all the partners in Grasse.

Laurent Zeller: I would like to add that it is really a relatively exceptional event which allows us to share and offer the privilege and exclusivity of our investments and innovations to this sector which is obviously very dear to us. The history of perfumery and fragrances in Grasse, and the history of the TOURNAIRE company have been intimately linked for nearly 200 years.

Question 2: What does the perfume sector mean to Tournaire?

Jeanne Lions: The customers from Grasse and the perfumers are the ones we most want to pamper. They are our privileged and historical partners. Through this event, we want to show them our commitment, our capacity for innovation, our investments, our fine company and above all our desire to follow this partnership for many years to come by implementing many elements to enable them to ship all their outstanding products throughout the world.

Laurent Zeller: Tournaire and the fragrance and flavour industry is an essential history, of course, and so this event is also a way to celebrate and to renew our wishes for growth together.

Question 5: Any final message?

Jeanne Lions: I think this is an event that should be repeated. Replicated and perhaps even in different forms. To show, involve, and share our customer culture, to draw on these meetings to enrich our understanding of the customers’ needs and again offer them the best possible products.

Interview of Gérard Gatti, Founder and President of Geodora 

Can you introduce yourself and the activity of Geodora?

I am Gérard Gatti, creator and president of Geodora, a new perfume brand that is part of a new panorama of high-end French perfumery. We are based in the Grasse area.

What are the specificities of your creations?

We really wanted to put in this range of perfume, which is made up of a dozen very beautiful creations, all the know-how that we have accumulated over the years with very beautiful raw materials that we source from ethical sources around the world in beautiful containers and in an approach that aims to limit our carbon footprint while making and offering extremely qualitative and luxurious products. Through our entire product range, which consists of about thirty products, if we include our perfumes and another range called “emotion nature” which is a range of beauty products of 100% natural origin. We really wanted to offer, not only quality, but also a lot of generosity through our offer. We have fragrances that have a remarkable sawing, diffusion, persistence and the idea was to create fragrances that can speak to the largest number while offering a very rich signature, very generous and expressing the French know-how.

Why did you choose TOURNAIRE aluminum bottles and for which products?

As a creator of perfumes for 30 years, TOURNAIRE is a company that I know very well because we know their know-how, all perfume factories use their product either for packaging or for the constitution of their production tool. And for me, it was obvious to work with TOURNAIRE because it is synonymous with know-how, since 1833, it is synonymous with rigor. They helped me to find solutions to adapt certain large formats for filling my bottles. Their rigor and technicality and the fact that they also offer a tool that allows us to reach our objectives in terms of “upcycling”, that is to say, that we will be the first brand to offer perfumes that will not only be refillable, but also repackable. All these points confirm us in the idea that the choice of TOURNAIRE was an obvious one.

What are the strong points of aluminum packaging for a perfume product?

The advantages of aluminum for a perfume bottle are numerous. The first of them is that aluminum protects the product from light. This allows us not to put any additive such as dye. Our perfumes contain only organic alcohol which is also sourced in Grasse. Our perfume concentrates have a high concentration: we have no dyes, no additions, because our perfumes are very well protected. Then, we have bottles that are not fragile. This allows us to avoid secondary packaging and obviously not tertiary packaging. In our approach which aims to be more eco-responsible, obviously, it was an unavoidable solution. Thirdly, since they are very light, and we have this particularity of asking our customers to return the packaging to put it back into service, we save on carbon footprint since it is very light to transport, so it is a very eco-responsible solution.

Where can we get Geodora products?

We have also chosen to be in direct contact with the public, so our products can be found on our website, since we have an e-commerce site that will be launched in the coming days. The showcase site already exists: geodora-parfums.com We also have a workshop that we do in Grasse, where people can come and do an extremely rich workshop for two hours: an immersion in the world of a perfume designer.

Interview of Laurens Moens
Sales manager at Moens Packaging

1. Can you introduce yourself and the business of your company?

I’m from Moens Packaging, we are distributors in Belgium for all types of packaging materials. I’m Laurens Moens and I am the sales manager for all small packaging materials, so everything that is less than 30 Litres. In this range of packaging, we also sell the Tournaire range of aluminium bottles and coex bottles to our customers who are situated in Belgium and in the Netherlands.

2. How important is Tournaire to your activity?

Tournaire, for us, is a very important partner because of their range of aluminium and coex bottles. Actually, they are a lot of opportunities for our customers to access a quality product and quality materials.

3. What is the profile of your current customers?

Our customer profile is wide because it’s going from a small one-person company to big multinationals. All types of industry from food to chemicals and paint customers. We use a complete range of packaging from the very small bottle to the big 30 Litres aluminium canisters, through the whole range of packaging materials and sectors.

4. How is the packaging market evolving in your territory and especially packaging made of aluminium?

We see that customers looking more and more to have a very quality product and a quality material because like that they make sure that their customers will receive the goods correctly and they got nice tastes and that’s why we see a lot of opportunity for aluminium Tournaire products.

5. Are the regulations in your territory different, are they evolving, more demanding, in which field?

The regulations are becoming more and more strict and because of this, we have to act more and more sooner to find a great solution for our customers.

6. What are the recent evolutions in terms of environmental constraints in packaging?

We see that a lot of our customers have questions about what is possible for aluminium and coex bottles regarding the environment and we are looking together with them to find solutions.