Discover new fragrances with GEODESIS candles. This French brand offers home fragrances for interiors through room sprays, reed diffusers and scented candles. The floral, woody or spicy fragrances take you around the world.
We had the opportunity to talk with Mathilde Hiblot, Marketing and Communication Manager for Geodesis for three years. After a commercial reorientation during her studies, Mathilde decides to embark on the great family adventure.
In this interview, she reveals the story of GEODESIS. Let’s have a look!
What does GEODESIS mean?
Geodesy is the ancestor of Geography. It’s a technique to create an earth map. This concept seemed to my parents at the same time original, poetic but also evocative of the journey which is our DNA.
How did this adventure begin?
GEODESIS was founded by my father 24 years ago (1996). I was in elementary school when the first perfumes came in our apartment. All my life I have lived with this company and its creations. It was a great joy to join the adventure even if it was not planned at the start.
What is your first creation?
GEODESIS’ first creation is a glass sphere containing scented powder. We received the innovation award for the glass sphere, it was a very beautiful creation.
My first creation was the Nature collection, in an amber glass and without box. Trendy and more respectful of the environment thanks to the limitation of waste and the use of a coconut-based wax.
How do you design each of your collections? What inspires you?
We have a permanent collection in transparent glass that has always existed. Its design has evolved over the years.
When we create other collections, we are always looking for a high aesthetic but also pragmatic. What we are selling is really the scent. For this reason, our collections are sober, timeless while remaining elegant.
Regarding perfumes, we like to work on new creations but also to update the perfumes which already existed in our collections. This is currently the case for vanilla, rose, coffee wood and orange which we have reintegrated into our Nature collection.
How many scents have you created? A preference?
We have created more than fifty.
The first one is the Immortelle. It’s the scent of childhood. I adore the Immortelle, which I hated at the start! It is a very particular fragrance, with a little curry / mustard accent. It is very divisive (we love it or hate it). I am absolutely addicted to coffee wood, vanilla (very floral and delicate). I also really like black tea (original smoky and delicate scent in the house), neroli (orange blossom) and sakura (Japanese cherry blossom).
We have also offered this winter in a limited edition the Long Pepper which is extremely original because although it is a pepper it is very fruity with notes of cinnamon and candied pineapple. We will integrate it into the range, based on its success in a limited edition. It is a very original and delicious fragrance.
How do you make your candles? A secret ingredient? A special know-how?
Our manufacturing secrets are rigorously kept ?
What I can tell you is that making a candle seems very simple in appearance, we can easily find tutorials on the internet to do this. Making a candle that burns properly and really scents is much more complicated! We are one of the rare brands to manufacture our candles and to develop the formulas ourselves. Our market is very competitive, and we have always distinguished ourselves by the quality of distribution of our products, while having subtle scents. What interests us is precisely the subtlety and delicacy of the notes, while offering a real presence in the perfumed room.
What is your philosophy?
Offer a high-end quality product at a fair and reasonable price. We manufacture the candles ourselves, all the products are tested before being placed on the market. We develop all formulas. We know what we are doing because it is our job and our passion.
All our raw materials are selected for their quality and their absence of danger to health. We prioritize green solutions whenever we can.
Our products are priced right. We do very few promotions and sales in order to respect our resellers and encourage the survival of shops and local shops.
We are part of the French candle manufacturers’ union which encourages good relations between the different manufacturers. We are together in a market without attacking each other, which I find very healthy and desirable.
Rather candles, reed diffusers or room sprays?
It depends on taste. The candle has a warmer side and the scent comes out slightly differently from being heated. Personally, candles are my favourite.
But for rooms that you want to scent continuously or in which you do not want to light candles (for example a desk or a bathroom), the reed diffuser is very useful.
The room spray allows a strong and fast diffusion more localized and less long. Typically when you are cooking and want to mask cooking odours.
Each fragrance is associated with a country. It’s a real round the world tour. But let’s focus on one continent. Have you ever been to Africa?
My parents went to Zanzibar, Egypt and Tunisia and my father went to Namibia.
I went a long time ago in Egypt and Tunisia and more recently in Morocco. Each time for short periods. I would love to stay there longer. I am very attracted by Namibia especially, South Africa, Morocco in its Saharan part.
Do you know where Shea Butter comes from?
Not at all! Shame on me… I would have said Africa and / or Caribbean islands
Almost. Shea Butter comes from a tree, large and majestic. The Shea Tree growths in the savannas of Central Africa and West Africa mainly in Burkina Faso, in Mali and Sudan. Do you know the virtues of Shea Butter?
It seems to me that it is very repairing and nourishing.
Indeed, the Shea Butter has many virtues. It is effectively repairing and nourishing. It also softens and protects the skin. To learn more, don’t hesitate to read: ” Shea Butter… an exceptional ingredient”
A last word from the founder?
“As a child, I was fascinated by the olfactory subtlety of nature. During my stays in Corsica, I collected samples of odourant plants and brought them home to prolong my memories of holidays throughout the winter. These childhood vacations, then trips around the world for a first life as a photographer, fuelled the amazed gaze I have always had on nature. For 20 years, I have been guided by the quest for excellence, expressed with simplicity and sobriety, to offer you an original collection of scented candles, room diffusers and room sprays. I wish you a wonderful journey full of dreams and emotions.” Norbert Hiblot, founder of Geodesis
