Fragrance brand Maison Francis Kurkdjian has joined forces with French non-profit Longitude 181 to protect the vulnerable sperm whale species.
The LVMH-owned maison, renowned for scents like Baccarat Rouge 540 and 724, is funding a new mission as part of Longitude 181’s WhaleWay programme.
This specific project, known in French as La Voix des Cachalots, or The Voice of Sperm Whales, is based in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of France’s Port-Cros national park.
Its primary aim is to better understand how sperm whales live in order to protect their environment and enable them to thrive.
According to Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s co-founders, Marc Chaya and Francis Kurkdjian, this commitment has particular resonance for perfume, given its historic use of ambergris as a fragrance enhancer.
Now replaced by synthetic molecules due to its rarity, ambergris is a natural substance secreted by sperm whales and collected from beaches.
Its distinctive scent is said to intensify, evolve and mature under the effects of ocean salt, UV and air.