The Guerlain Orchidarium

Guerlain has always sought to reveal the power of natural ingredients to enhance women’s beauty. So the encounter between Guerlain and the flower with exceptional longevity was more than just love at first sight, it was the beginning of a wonderful human and scientific adventure. To unlock the orchid’s secrets of longevity, Guerlain built a research platform that is unique in the world. This integrated network has experts working in the three centres of the Orchidarium, three complementary and interconnected research units placed under the direction of Guerlain Research. The Experimental Garden in Geneva, Switzerland, headed by the ethnobotanist François Gérard, is the agrobiologycentre. This is where Guerlain orchids are kept, and where experiments to understand their physiology are conducted. Programmes aimed at optimising their production in the wild are also established here. It was at this “orchid bank” (which is home to over 1,000 specimens of 50 botanical species from all over the world) that the three star orchids at the heart of the New-Generation Imperial Orchid Molecular Extract were identified and selected. The Basic Research Laboratory in Strasbourg, France, the phytochemistry centre, is the first biological research unit dedicated to the orchid. Headed by Annelise Lobstein, Professor of Pharmacognosy, its mission is to focus on the metabolism of the orchid plant in order to discover the molecular secrets behind its exceptional longevity. Work carried out by the Basic Research Laboratory, headed by Guerlain Research, has resulted in the registration of eight patents. The Exploratory Nature Reserve, in TianZi, China, was created by Guerlain in collaboration with Doctor Joseph Margraf, an eminent specialist in tropical ecosystems. This biodiversity centre is now overseen by his wife, Minguo Li Margraf. Within the framework of a reforestation programme, based on the principles of the “Rainforestation Jungle Farming System”, Guerlain replanted orchids in their wild environment. This protected environment allows the plant to maximise the potential of its longevity active ingredients. Combining protection with production, it ensures that Guerlain has a constant supply of orchids to formulate future Orchidée Impériale products.