Fanny Grau

A Symrise perfumer who came to fragrance through chemistry.

The story

Fanny Grau grew up in Tunisia, which she says sharpened her sense of smell. She studied chemistry, hoping to discover new olfactive molecules, and that path led her into the fragrance industry and perfumer training. Working from Brazil, she fell for its fruits, such as jabuticaba, cupuaçu and graviola, and uses olibanum and sandalwood for depth. When COVID-19 took her sense of smell for about a month, she kept working from olfactive memory.

At Scentorium

Is and Was by Neandertal (2025), written with Isaac Sinclair and Nicolaj Koralewicz. Both came from the same brief: one was composed by the three perfumers, the other by Symrise's artificial intelligence Philyra 2.0. Neandertal does not say which is which.