Le Geste D'Edmond

In the 16th century, vanilla, one of the most treasured plants, arrived in Europe, creating a sensation among high society and becoming the object of desire for Ana of Austria, Queen Elizabeth I of England, and Henry IV. Due to the specific pollination process, vanilla could only be produced in Mexico. Over the next 300 years, English and French scientists attempted, unsuccessfully, to replicate its cultivation in various European colonies.

On the exotic island of Bourbon, off the coast of Madagascar, French landowner Ferréol Bellier had been trying for 20 years to cultivate the prized vanilla. Ferréol had taken in a young slave named Edmond Albius, whose destiny would transform the history of perfumery.

Ferréol soon discovered Edmond’s remarkable gift for plants and decided to make him his assistant, sharing his botanical knowledge. Edmond always felt drawn to nature and its deepest secrets. Growing up surrounded by vanilla fields, his adventurous spirit yearned to uncover the mysteries and treasures hidden within the plant. He spent hours among the vines, meticulously studying the delicate flowers and experimenting with pollination techniques.

One morning in 1841, as Ferréol took his usual walk through the fields, Edmond approached him with an extraordinary surprise: flourishing vanilla plants that he had cultivated himself. It was incredible that a 12-year-old boy could achieve such a discovery. To demonstrate, Edmond parted the edge of a flower and, using a piece of bamboo the size of a toothpick, lifted the fold that prevents self-pollination, gently pinched the pollen-bearing anther, and joined it to the receptive stigma. Edmond had just discovered the art of cultivating the world’s most exquisite and highest-quality vanilla.