Category: Packaging

While the busy merchant city of Grasse was already doing brisk business in olive oil, leather and gloves, it still added yet another line of business, that of “perfume oil” and “floral extracts”, leading to a new corporation: that of distillery. This in turn led to the development of boilermakers who were to expand their skills to include the making of stills. And so, in 1833, Joseph Tournaire, son and grandson of millers, set up shop in premises of 40sq.m on Place de la Roque. By the late 19th century, no fewer than six boilermaking workshops catered to the perfume industry in Grasse.

1833 – THE BEGINNING OF AN ADVENTURE

The growth of this industry, the activity of which depended on the season, fostered new needs: reliable storage, without any alteration of sensitive materials and shipping without damaging it. Perfume makers naturally turned to those with expert knowledge in materials and their various properties: the manufacturers of stills.

Thus, driven by client demand and based on the success of their stills, for which they received a medal at the 1884 Nice exhibition, the firm Antoine TOURNAIRE Fils soon diversified, expanding into the design and manufacture of tin-plated copper vats. At the time, tin-plated copper was also used for stills.

With the arrival in 1900 of the first steam factories in Grasse, and elsewhere in the west, arrived on the scene, Gustave Tournaire moved his ancestor’s workshop to premises of 600sq.m in Font-Laugière. As an engineer from the prestigious Arts & Métiers school, he developed the manufacture of tin-plated copper stills and vats for manufacturers in Grasse, French liquor-makers and the perfume-makers from all over Europe.

1920 – A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT

From 1925 to 1930, with Marcel Tournaire at the helm, Tournaire S.A. harnessed progress in aluminium technology, to spearhead a revolution, introducing a range of packaging in state-of-the-art monobloc aluminium. Type 1 was born. Vitrification with firing and glazing was soon added to the range.

1950 – OPENING TO OVERSEAS

In the 1950s, the firm now directed by Jean Tournaire started catering to new markets. Tournaire packaging was used by the pharmaceutical industry to wrap sterile active ingredients, and also chemicals.

The development of the pharmaceutical and chemicals industries stepped up and in 1960, Marcel Tournaire invested in a plot of land in Plan-de-Grasse on which to build a new plant, still operating today. In 1965 René Tournaire industrialised the production of aluminium packaging with the introduction of the first extrusion presses and swaging machines.

With Gilbert Tournaire as president and Jean-Pierre Forestier as CEO, packaging became Tournaire S.A.’s core business in the 1970s. Exports boomed: Sales Director Jean Tournaire expanded into Asia and the Middle East. Hugues Thibaud analysed and opened up the North American market with Tournaire S.A. partnering the firm O.Berk in New Jersey, and Xavier Arnoult became the first Exports Director, developing the European market.

In 1978, Tournaire S.A. introduced to the market its first tamper-proof mounting screw, designed by Jean Tournaire: Système Plus®. In 1980, Tournaire S.A. set up a plastic injection workshop to better control the performance of the closing mechanisms for its aluminium bottles.

in response to client demand, Tournaire S.A. expanded its savoir-faire in the 1990s to include co-extrusion blow moulding. The production of multilayer plastic jerry cans started up, adding further to the range of aluminium packaging. In 1993, Tournaire S.A. improved yet further the cleaning procedure, setting up an automated stripping and oxidation unit for aluminium packaging for active ingredients used in pharmaceuticals. This also helped to boost production capacity maintaining top quality. Further to several acquisitions, the site in Grasse was extended by 50% in 1995, with new premises being built to further develop the packaging business.

In 1999, Director Luc Tournaire founded the sales subsidiary TMM in partnership with a family business from the Jura, Millet Marius, in order to better serve clients working in agrochemicals. In 2003, the US subsidiary Elemental Container was created with the buyout of the subsidiary O.Berk International in New Jersey.

Tournaire S.A. earned ISO 9002 certification in 1996, then ISO 9001 certification in 2002 and lastly, ISO 14001 certification in 2003.

With a view to greater client proximity and to provide the best possible service, Tournaire S.A. created the industrial subsidiary Tournaire Plastic S.A.S on the former Kodak site in Chalon-sur-Saône in 2005. Thanks to this central location, Tournaire S.A. could quickly deliver its barrier packaging in coextruded plastic to its clients. This manufacturing subsidiary obtained ISO 9001 certification in 2008.

Lasting success, alongside social and environmental responsibility are major values underpinning S.A. Tournaire’s development. In 2011, Director Luc Tournaire set up the firm’s school, with the aim of documenting and teaching the firm’s very specific savoir-faire. This school also fosters the professional development of staff, helping them gain professional qualifications recognised by the French government, while maintaining jobs.

2010 – ROBOTICS FOR QUALITY

In 2013, the first robots came on the scene and the manufacturing lines were modernised, facilitating routine tasks and making them more reliable.

On the strength of its 185 years’ experience serving its clients, Tournaire S.A. created, the sales subsidiary Tournaire Asie Pacifique in Bien Hoa City, Vietnam in 2018, to reach out to its partners and boost its international footing.

From a tiny boilermaker’s workshop in Grasse in 1833 to the international group of today, Tournaire S.A. has ever developed and reinvented itself, lasting through two world wars, recessions and pandemics. Tournaire S.A. remains a family business with a rich and unique experience, ever adapting to its clients and its environment to remain a privileged, innovative partner to industries for sensitive materials.

FAMILY PICTURES

Overlooking the French Riviera from foothills resplendent in the colours of Tuscany, between the sea and the mountains, the town of Grasse has prospered since the early Middle Ages.

Grasse, doing brisk business in a traditional industry: tanning

It became a powerful, independent city in the 12^th century, controlling access to the entire hinterland and doing brisk trade with Italy. In the early 15^th century, the tanning industry developed considerably, for which the town was reputed all over Europe. Grasse leather was famous for its quality and green hue obtained by macerating it in myrtle. Further to the unification of Provence with the French kingdom in 1482, Grasse was able to expand its flourishing tanning business (gloves bags and belts) even further afield. The magnificent fortified city also started large-scale production of jasmine, the May rose, tuberose and lavender in 1560,.

The downside to tanned leather was its unpleasant smell. To better cater to the requirements of the aristocracy, a tanner from Grasse hit on the idea of adding perfume to his leather gloves. He is said to have offered a pair to Catherine de’ Medici, who loved them so much, she launched a new fashion for perfumed gloves at the French court, thus sparking Grasse’s global reputation. In 1614, Louis XIII created the glove and perfume makers guild, which developed such delights as marzipan gloves “à la provençale”.

 

The birth of the perfume industry

Hit by heavy taxation and competition from across the Alps in Italy, the tanning industry then suffered gentle decline through to the late 18^th century. However, this coincided with the wearing of perfume being increasingly included in beauty routines. While the two lines of business were intertwined, perfume started to boom. With perfume makers growing many different aromatic plants and flowers in the Grasse country’s unique climate and soil, the perfume business ousted tanning in Grasse, soon to flourish and carve out the city’s reputation worldwide.

In the 19^th century, the perfume business scaled up from craftsmanship to industry. Large family businesses started up, some of which are global leaders today.

 

Founding of Tournaire to serve Perfume makers

The craftsman’s workshop founded in 1833 on Place de la Roque in Grasse by Joseph Tournaire, also came about thanks to those glove-makers who started selling perfume.

As this industry was taking off, the need to distil natural products developed, ushering in the arrival of the first boilermakers, specialising like Tournaire in the manufacture of stills. With the introduction of steam in manufacturing in the early 1900s, large quantities of raw materials could be handled. Gustave Tournaire harnessed this development to upgrade his boilermaking workshop into a factory.

Along with stills, perfume makers also sought sturdy, waterproof packaging to ship their precious essences as far as Australia without any alteration. So Tournaire designed tin-plated copper packaging, including vats in which to ship perfume. Aluminium packaging first took off in the 1930s, driven by Marcel Tournaire, as copper became too expensive, and aluminium processing technology became more effective. Switching from soldered copper to monobloc aluminium, aluminium flasks would be used worldwide.

From 1833 to the present, a company standing the test of Time

 

Emblematic family businesses in the perfume business in Grasse

The perfume business of course included the growing of plants used to make perfume and their processing, and the composition and creation of finished products (perfume and aromas for the perfume business, cosmetics, hygiene and food products). It also drove imports and exports, trade, and the processing of raw materials.

Many family businesses still operate in this industry today, including Mane, founded in 1871, and Robertet founded in 1850, Payan Bertrand founded in 1854, Argeville in 1955 and Jean Niel in 1779.

Like Tournaire, these firms have been directed from the outset by generations of leaders who have managed to preserve their independence, innovating and developing profitably for nearly 200 years now.

According to Philippe Massé, head of the national association of manufacturers of aromatic products (Prodarom) “The Grasse perfume industry boasts 64 firms employing 4,600 staff and a turnover of 2.9 billion euros” (Source Capital – January 2021 – in French only).

“The Grasse basin has played a crucial role in the perfume business, accounting for almost half the perfume business and aromas and something like 7-8 % worldwide”. The family businesses in Grasse have developed a long-lasting heritage, unique in this world. (Source: Wikipedia, in French only).

The war years, the 1929 crash and the boom in international trade have all chipped away at the  20^th-century expansion of the industry in Grasse, facing off the spectacular growth of synthetic aromas, propelled by multinational giants based in Switzerland, the US and Germany.

 

Grasse and nature, consecration and a new boom since 2018

However, the Grasse families have not had their last word.

All players in the Grasse country ecosystem have teamed up with local elected officials to invest heavily in the past years, to promote natural products and a large-scale return to growing perfume plants.

A quarter of Grasse’s territory has been classified as a “protected nature reserve”. Along with other Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Rhône-Alpes regions, it became a national business cluster in July 2005, boasting its own label called P.A.S.S (Parfums-Arômes-Senteurs-Saveurs).

The association “Fleurs d’Exception du Pays de Grasse” (Amazing flowers in Grasse country) created in 2006 to promote plant production in Grasse country, is an umbrella organisation for 25 perfume plant-growers. Its president, Armelle Janody, confirmed: “Fleurs d’Exception du Pays de Grasse is an association of perfume plant-growers in Grasse country, who have chosen to go organic. They have all signed a charter encouraging solidarity and sharing. The aim of the association is to promote perfume plants and local production”.

In August 2013, the Association Patrimoine Vivant du Pays de Grasse (Living heritage in Grasse country) was created to apply for “the skills related to perfume in Grasse country: the cultivation of perfume plants, the knowledge and processing of natural raw materials, and the art of perfume composition” to be classified as  “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. Chaired by former French Senator and Mayor of Grasse Jean-Pierre Leleux, this very active association represents all industry players and has gained unanimous approval. It aims to “make a representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, including the entire heritage of the Grasse country, encourage its preservation, and promotion, help to raise awareness among the public, by way of publications, websites, meetings, facilitate access to this heritage to as many people as possible by all means, and apply to be listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Lastly to encourage recognition of Perfume making as an art form”. Click here to find out more.

In 2018, the Grasse country received UN consecration  with the listing of its skills related to perfume as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In 2020, elected officials modified the Local Urbanism Plan to multiply possible farmland by more than five, from 178 to 928 ha, i.e. 20% of the town’s territory!, to develop the growing of rose and jasmine.

Major luxury brands placing great importance on the use of natural products are established in Grasse: Chanel, Dior, Lancôme and Louis Vuitton…

From the outset, the Grasse glove and perfume makers used locally available natural raw materials including lavender, orange blossom, rose and mimosa to perfume their gloves.

Synthetic perfumes and aromas by mainly foreign firms had been making inroads for years, yet the entrepreneurs and elected officials in Grasse country have demonstrated a new sense of initiative, and reasserted Grasse as the territory spearheading the revival of natural ingredients in industry, in anticipation of newfound consumer enthusiasm for natural products.

As the birthplace of family businesses in trading and processing of perfume plants and aromas, the composition and the creation of perfume, Grasse country is ever proud of its ranking as the world capital of perfume, quality and natural products worldwide.

Following the success of lavender, orange blossom, rose and mimosa, other plants too are making a comeback: tuberose and jasmine, unique authentic fragrances. All Tournaire staff are proud to help ship these precious, sensitive perfumes the world over.

Interview of Anna Yàñez
General Director of Inquiaroma

Can you present Inquiaroma and its activity?

Inquiaroma (Internacional Química Aromática SA) is a commercial company specialized in the distribution of technical packaging for the pharmaceutical, chemical and perfumery sectors, as well as in the distribution of natural raw materials, especially for the cosmetics, nutraceutical, food and home care markets.

The company was founded in 1969, it is a family business that thanks to our know-how, our capacity to adapt and innovate, Inquiaroma is a reference company, highly qualified in technical terms.

We operate in the Spanish and Portuguese markets and in some product lines in Italy.

Our objective is to be the strategic partner of our customers and with our experience to have tailor-made solutions to satisfy all their needs.

What is your relationship and activity with Tournaire?

Inquiaroma has represented Tournaire in Spain and Portugal as a distributor since the end of the 70’s, but it is only when Spain was integrated into the European Union that we were able to develop the market and grow.

In the beginning, the tariffs made the price of the packages very high and, given the economic situation at the time, it was difficult to get them approved.

It was in the 1980’s that we were able to really develop the Tournaire market and position Tournaire containers as high quality, value-added technical containers for API’s, fragrance compounds and chemicals.

Tournaire products are now well known in the Spanish market for their reliability and quality.

Inquiaroma has just celebrated its 50th anniversary, what has been the evolution of your packaging demands in your markets?

Yes, we have. Two years ago, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the company and I would almost say that we have been with Tournaire for more than 40 years. We have grown together and Tournaire is one of our main partners to whom we owe part of our prestige and development.

The evolution of Tournaire’s packaging business has been very positive over the years, and especially in recent years, customers have become more demanding, looking for high quality packaging that offers reliability in packaging and transportation, and they have found this with Tournaire packaging.

In the Pharma market, Tournaire has been a great support in terms of documentation and traceability, and each year the number of follow-up checks increases.

Thanks to the quality offered by Tournaire, customers have also been able to develop their markets and grow, especially with aluminum containers.

What are the main markets where Tournaire packaging is used today ?

Our market with Tournaire mainly concerns aluminium packaging for the perfume industry (manufacturers of perfumed compositions), the pharmaceutical industry (manufacturers of APIs) and the chemical/agrochemical industry.

We have more difficulties with plastic containers because of the competition’s prices, but they are becoming more and more interesting every day. Very little presence of glass containers.

How do you see the evolution of your market in the next 10 years? 

In demanding sectors such as perfumery and pharmacy, customers are looking for Tournaire quality. It guarantees the quality of your products.

But we must consider that cheaper alternatives may appear for the chemical sectors (fairer prices) and even for the perfumery sector. Crises like the one we are going through trigger the emergence of alternative suppliers, and this is very dangerous.

What are the services you and your customers expect from Tournaire Packaging ? 

For such a technical packaging, our customers and ourselves are looking for a guarantee in the quality of Tournaire packaging, a quick adaptation to the legislative changes, a quick supply and a better protection of the drums during the transport so that they are not damaged.

The truth is that we are very satisfied with the quality and service of Tournaire and we hope that they will continue as they have done until now and that in the future they will adapt well to the growth so as not to have supply problems.

Interview of Marc Cusset
Corporate Head of Sales and Marketing at Tournaire

Can you introduce yourself and your department ?

Dear all, my name is Marc Cusset, I’m the new Corporate Head of Sales and Marketing of Tournaire Group. I lead a team of around 20 people worldwide for the packaging division. On a personal standpoint, I have been working for more than 25 years in very similar environments in BtoB, industrial sectors, international, multi-cultural and very competitive.

My function as part of a more global transformation plan of the group and is intending to accelerate and to structure our future developments. In that context, another new position in my team is led by Gilles Durand as the Marketing Director. Gille’s expertise in both applications and product is crucial for the efficiency of our marketing team in order to always serve better our customers and distributors.

Why do you strengthen your organisation in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis ?

It’s about converting the covid prices from a threat to an opportunity for reinforcement and sales growth. In that purpose and despite the long-lasting turmoil in our social and economic environment, our obsession is to maintain our optimum customer service.

This is our DNA while constructing our strategic roadmap. Keywords of this roadmap are focusing our resources on a relevant market application to serve our customers and to implement our international deployment.

What is your vision of the role of your department for a manufacturer like Tournaire?

Our main mission is to generate profitable and sustainable sales growth for the group. Sustainability is essential for family-owned groups like Tournaire. In that purpose, customer relationship, listening to their needs along with the product and service offerings are key success factors for differentiating ourselves over time. For example, product range extension but also providing compatibility tests thanks to our testing lab new recent and very much appreciated by our customers.

How do you foresee the exit from the COVID-19 crisis?

The acceleration of our development at I was referring to earlier in this presentation, we materialize during the second semester by new product launches in stand-by since early 2020. But also by broader international development of our distribution network. Finally, another strategic topic is the securisation of our procurement of raw materials as well as their purchase cost and therefore our pricing in 2021.

How do you help the customers understand the packaging issues in their market?

Thanks to the creation of our marketing team in the second part of 2020, we are able to provide more and more marketing tools for documentation and trading purposes to our customers or distributors in our sale forces. All of that will be available step by step from September 2021 and I warmly invite you to join us on our website tournaire.fr.