We Head To The Southwest Of France In Search Of Chanel's Camellia Flowers

Deep in the southwest of France in the village of Gaujacq lies camellia country. It is a wet and cool region where rain falls throughout the year; where the summer and winter temperatures are balanced; and where the soil is deep and the winds are described as almost non‑existent. Wedged an equidistant of 50 kilometres between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees mountain range, this part of France receives roughly 1,000 millimetres of rain each year – around half the amount that Singapore experiences annually. All these conditions are ripe for camellia plants to thrive.

A member of the tea family, the plant – which bears lush flowers with folds of silky petals in colours ranging from creamy white to blood red – is in fact not native to the region. Rather, it is indigenous to eastern Asia in countries such as Japan and China, as well as southern Asia, where they grow from the Himalayas to the Philippines. It was only in the 17th century that the plant arrived in France via the ancient Tea Road.

As of last count, there are between 100 and 300 recorded species of camellias in the world, as well as more than 3,000 hybrids. The hardiness of the plant is even more fascinating: Its flower blooms in full glory during winter – when most plants go into hibernation mode – and its petals and leaves are not ravaged or affected by frost or water.

Today, the camellia flower is one of the most recognisable emblems of Chanel. Regarded as Gabrielle Chanel’s favourite bloom, it appeared in the house archives as early as 1913, when a white camellia was pinned to a belt. The lore surrounding Coco’s predilection for the flower is well documented. It is believed that she was gifted her first bouquet of camellias by her beau Boy Capel and would pin silk versions of the flower on her hair and lapels. It was also noted that she wore camellias as they are scentless and would thus not interfere with the fragrance of her iconic N°5 perfume. Then there is the anecdote of how she was partial to the flower for its symmetry.

Thanks to the maison, camellias have become intrinsic to the Gaujacq landscape today. In 1998, Chanel introduced its first open‑sky laboratory in the area dedicated to the cultivation, observation and experimentation of the plant. (To date, there are four such labs around the world, each working to harness active ingredients for Chanel’s arsenal of beauty products. The one in Madagascar, for example, cultivates the vanilla plant that anchors its luxurious Sublimage collection, while another in the southern French Alps focuses on anthyllis and solidago, which are also used in Sublimage. The one in Costa Rica, meanwhile, specialises in green coffee – of which extracts can be found in the likes of the Boy de Chanel Fortifying Gel Moisturizer.)

In Gaujacq, the open‑sky laboratory features a conservatory spanning around five hectares (roughly the size of 12 football fields) that has been run by prolific camellia expert and fifth‑generation botanist Jean Thoby since 1986 – 12 years before Chanel came along. Sitting on the grounds of a 17th‑century chateau, it boasts a planetarium and a landscaped botanical garden where Thoby cultivates 260 species of plants and 2,000 varieties of camellias – reportedly the largest collection in the world – including the seedlings from the mother plants that Gabrielle Chanel ordered more than 100 years ago.

Through his efforts, 75 camellia species are said to have been saved. “We’ve done the work with the camellia to have it survive for another 1,000 years,” he tells us during our tour of the gardens. One breed that he has been credited to have protected is the Camellia japonica Alba Plena, which was on the brink of extinction before Thoby and Chanel studied it for use as a hydrating active ingredient. Since 2009, it has been the bedrock of Chanel’s popular and intensely moisturising Hydra Beauty line. (Interestingly, this very species has been in the Thoby family catalogue since 1864.)

A short drive from Thoby’s garden is the sprawling grounds of the open‑sky lab’s camellia farm, which covers a whopping 40 hectares. Agricultural engineer and agroecologist Philippe Grandry has been running the show here since 2018 as its crop operations manager and resident sustainability expert. Its peak season: January to April, when the blooms of the camellia are handpicked.

Besides monitoring the production of the flowers, Grandry is on a mission to surround the farm with a network of trees, shrubs, bushes and ground cover plants to provide natural shade, fix nitrogen from the air and protect the soil from erosion. Under his watch, the farm earned a Level 3 HEV (High Environmental Value) certification from the French government for its conservation of biodiversity and natural resources, and for putting minimal stress on the environment.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the farm’s main complex is the phytoanalysis laboratory where the crops are closely studied. Overseeing this is Nicola Fuzzati, an Italian phytochemist who has co‑authored more than 30 scientific publications. The gregarious scientist shares that being so close to where the camellias grow offers plenty of benefits for his team. For one, it takes just 10 minutes for samples to be analysed compared to weeks in the past, when they would be sent to Paris for examination. The moment the camellia is harvested, the countdown starts for the active ingredients to remain in the blooms – being able to move the crops directly to the lab thus ensures that the characteristics and an optimum concentration of active molecule in the flower are retained. “Every part of the camellia is precious. The field of possibilities is wide open if you consider plants in their natural environment,” says Fuzzati.

The camellia that has been drawing the biggest buzz on site as of late? The red camellia japonica, which has been nicknamed “The Czar”. Now red camellias are an interesting varietal, as they are known for their high concentration of protocatechuic acid. This active molecule boasts such high antioxidant properties that it’s said to have the ability to slow down the onset of ageing and prevent the skin’s cellular damage at the earliest stages. Tapping on this, Chanel developed the N°1 de Chanel skincare line that debuted last year. With every one of its products, including its star Revitalizing Serum, packed with a high concentration of active ingredients derived from The Czar, the collection – distinguished by its eco‑designed packaging in the same red shade as the bloom – has become a Chanel signature and a hit for its holistic approach to invigorating the skin.

Here, Thoby, Grandry and Fuzzati share more about what makes the camellia a hero to Chanel and the natural world.

TELL US: WHY IS THE CAMELLIA SO SPECIAL TO YOU PERSONALLY?

Jean Thoby (JT): “There’s a kind of miracle that takes place in nature for certain plants such as Japanese oaks, ginkgo plants and the camellia. These plants do not have an ageing programme – no programme of senescence (a biological process in which cells lose their vitality and that Chanel has been studying since 2012), so to speak. Or if they do, it’s just incomprehensible for humans to crack. That’s the reason why the oldest trees in the world are thousands of years old. Camellias behave like these trees.”

Nicola Fuzzati (NF): “Every part of the camellia is precious. This flower has proven over time to be a real botanical treasure containing many molecules of interest with exceptional cosmetic properties. By observing and studying the resistance to winter frosts and the resilience of camellias, Chanel Research was the first to reveal the exceptional moisturising properties of Camelia japonica Alba Plena and then the anti-aging benefits of the red Camellia japonica. (Chanel has pretty much maximised every inch of The Czar for N°1 de Chanel. Protocatechuic acid is derived from the flower’s petals while red camellia oil is extracted from the seeds and added into the products’ formulas to strengthen the skin barrier. In addition, the lid on the jar of the N°1 de Chanel Revitalizing Cream is made from a mixture of upcycled camellia seed shells and FSC‑certified wood chips that are by‑products of industrial side streams.)

BIODIVERSITY AND AGROECOLOGY PLAY IMPORTANT ROLES IN THE CULTIVATION OF THE CAMELLIA AT CHANEL’S OPEN‑SKY LABORATORY IN GAUJACQ. TELL US MORE.

Philippe Grandry (PG): “We have an irrigation basin on the farm that is a favourite spot for frogs. Right now (in March), there may be about 50 to 100 frogs there because it’s their breeding period. We also have the black‑winged kite (a small raptor) from Spain here. When I arrived in 2018, I saw one flying overhead and thought it probably had a nest somewhere around. Indeed it did and this shows how interesting it is to grow a forest environment, as this provides a balance to the ecology of the farm … We’re also interested in the quantity of nitrogen we introduce into the fields. Even if we’re using organic fertilisers, we shouldn’t use too much because the nitrogen would inevitably seep into the streams … We have irrigation registers to check how much water we use and we use as little water as possible. For instance, we employ drip systems that have probes in the ground to measure the humidity of the soil that in turn sets off the irrigation only when necessary. We also hope to have creeping plants such as clover, as they provide nitrogen naturally... This permanent symbiotic cultivation strengthens the ecosystem between the plant, the soil and the water, while increasing the plants' resistance to disease. The farming practices used throughout the farm are optimised to reduce pressure on the environment as much as possible. This approach also contributes to the conservation of species. Without our project, the Alba Plena white camellia, which is now grown only in Gaujacq, could have disappeared."

JT: “We have 40 classifications of camellia tea here, including those with red leaves or variegated leaves. We turn young leaves into green tea. We don’t make any elaborate tea that involves very complicated processes because tea – as it was originally created – was just green tea. We also have jasmine flowers in the garden and we dry them and add them to the tea. We can add some mint too because mint grows very well at the foot of the camellia plant.” (All of this biodiversity ultimately reduces the chances of the camellia, which is harvested for Chanel’s beauty products, from being attacked by diseases.)

THE CAMELLIA IS A RESILIENT PLANT AND BEST KNOWN TO BLOOM IN WINTER. HOW DOES THIS UNIQUE LIFE CYCLE OF THE FLOWER AFFECT THE BIODIVERSITY OF THE OPEN‑SKY LAB?

PG: “If you look at the bibliography, the camellia needs to have insects to pollinate it. If there are no insects around, there are no seeds and therefore no way we can extract things such as camellia oil (used in N°1 de Chanel for its skin‑barrier‑protecting properties) and more. We thus need to maintain maximum diversity … Here, we have wild bees nesting in our farm and it’s important to leave them here. We don’t introduce honey bees because they could disturb the ecology of wild insects here. And honey bees have one disadvantage: They begin hibernating when the camellia flowers bloom in winter. So it’s easier to depend on wild insects like bumble bees or flies even to pollinate the camellias.”

JT: “Higo camellias (which are grown at the open‑sky lab) are a breed of camellias that has been cultivated in the southern Japanese province of Higo since the 16th century. They are usually seen with splotches on their petals and have the largest number of stamens in the camellia family – more than 200, to be precise. They’re very interesting because their high number of stamens means they contain a lot of pollen, which in turn means a lot of food for insects in winter. (In this way, nurturing camellias gives back to the environment too.) When wildflowers don’t appear in December, January or at the beginning of February, the insects are very pleased to be able to pollinate and feed on these camellias. Nature needs to be sustainable so that it’s not too disturbed.”

HOW ELSE DO YOU THINK THE APPROACH OF CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IS DIFFERENT HERE AT CHANEL’S OPEN‑SKY LABORATORY?

JT: “Our philosophy is that nothing is ever a pest. There’s no such thing as weed. Harmful insects and harmful fungi don’t exist. When you say an insect is a pest, it’s because you haven’t understood what its positive role is. The problem comes from the fact that there’s an imbalance between fungi and insects, for example. And that is a very different way of understanding the ecosystem. When caring for the plants, we’re very careful to kill nothing, and to re‑establish the balance and equilibrium of nature. We have different procedures here, such as phytoneurology (the relatively new science of analysing the electrical signals emitted by plants). For instance, instead of treating a sick plant with chemicals, we measure and analyse its electrical signals and introduce materials such as carbon and copper into the water to treat it.”

PG: “We mow the grass once a year so that butterflies have time to fully propagate. The marsh copper butterfly, a protected species that has been away since the early 2000s, has made a remarkable comeback in the surrounding meadows. Normally, farmers cut their grass in May or June, but we cut ours at the end of August, September or even October. The hardest thing to mow would be around the area around the base of the camellia. These projects take a lot of time as we don’t use any chemicals, but instead use elbow grease. The total mowing distance amounts to 160 kilometres – the same distance it would take me to get to Spain … Another major element of this project is the forest we’re adding above the camellia plants: different trees of different varieties, including those that may be ornamental to add colour or flowers, or some varieties that can be interesting in our search for new ingredients for our beauty products. We planted dozens of varieties of trees such us fig trees, pomegranate trees and 15 species of trees planted in the hedges such us Cornus sanguinea and Frangula alnus. Perhaps in 20 years’ time, we’ll be climbing ladders to pick flowers from on top of these trees.”

NF: "The camellia lies at the centre of a circular economy that aims to value each part of the plant into active ingredients such as camelia ceramides, camellia wax or camellia water – with more to come in the future. The formulae for N°1 de Chanel products include up to 76 per cent camellia derivatives, using the petals, seeds and yeast to make the most of the plant in its entirety. What's more, the shells of the seeds are used for their resistance in the caps of the creams. Every part of the camellia is precious."

WHAT HAS BEEN THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE CAMELLIAS?

JT: “Camellias are sensitive to weather changes – super sensitive. For instance, the camellia reticulata usually flowers between March and May, but with climate change, it now begins to do so in October. When it’s hot and wet, the Camellia japonica Alba Plena can grow between 25 centimetres and 30 centimetres, but when it’s cooler, it stops growing. This year has been warm, hot and dry, so the buds are very numerous, but the plant didn’t grow very tall. Depending on the varieties, we now have all kinds of growth… From the 1950s up to 1985, my parents classified camellias according to different flowering seasons. Today, they’re all mixed up depending on their abilities and biology to respond to weather changes. Fortunately, the chemical compounds of the flowers do not change because that depends on the stage of the flowering and not necessarily the season.”

THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED FOR CLARITY AND BREVITY

This article first appeared in the June 2023 Time, Labour, Love Edition of FEMALE