On Wednesday, July 16, 1902, Antoine SORADORA was born in the sweltering heat of Loulé, a small town in southern Portugal. On this spit of land where the cliffs pretend to break under the crashing waves, the foam of the sea swirls in the breeze. It reminds us just how light life can be.
Antoine's parents are very religious and earn their living from farming. Antoine accompanies them to church every Sunday.
Antoine SORADORA is a loner. He is so wise and thoughtful that his elders see in him the makings of a future priest.
But secretly, Antoine feels an intimate and mysterious inner turmoil: the intoxication of scents - the vertigo of perfumes. And God knows, as he wanders through the plains and undergrowth of the seasons, the scents never cease to swirl in his mind, shaping his senses and sculpting his inspirations.
From the lavender hanging wild along the roadsides, from the fusion of earth and water, from the gush of springs at the edges of the undergrowth, from the peat, the hay, the freshly cut grass, the flowers and the fruit, Antoine draws all his astonishment, feels all his transport.
The year is 1920. On his 18th birthday, Antoine SORADORA is faced with a dilemma: either follow the path set out for him, or leave his country.
Leave everything behind and live life to the full.
As the winter - wet and mild - drags on that year, the young man hears a piece of news that will lead him to make up his mind. "France is recruiting foreign labor to supply its large mining operations", his friend Sandro whispers to him on a street corner.
Without looking back, Antoine SORADORA decides to leave his homeland.
The journey was tough, but he finally managed to reach a small village: Gréasque, in south-east France.
On the spot, he was welcomed by a local family who gave him a modest garden shed to live in.
Antoine is very happy. The first sign of his gratitude to this family was not long in coming: he quickly transformed this virgin land into a little paradise. A Garden of Eden in Provence, filled with fruit trees, flowers and hundreds of varieties of aromatic plants.
During this period, Antoine's days were divided between working at the mine and tending his garden. When he had free time, Antoine SORADORA set off to discover the region, and it was during one of his visits that he fell under the spell of the town of Grasse.
On the heights of this small town, the young man meets Etienne, a jasmine grower. Etienne, 20 years his senior, is tall and slender, but still has the soul of a child. Sensitive and comforting, he quickly makes Antoine feel at home. A natural complicity is born of their shared passion for plants.
Antoine SORADORA shows him around his garden, arousing the grower's wonder. As Etienne saw his enormous potential, the boy from Loulé became head gardener of the jasmine farm.
In secret, the two began work on a new project. Antoine SORADORA and Etienne pooled their knowledge and sensibilities to experiment with perfume creation. Thanks to the capital generated by jasmine cultivation, the two men have the freedom to order all the raw materials they need for their work.
On the death of his friend, Antoine SORADORA was entrusted with the keys to this great project. He put his inventiveness at the service of scents, and produced his first perfume just one year after taking over the reins of the workshop.
The young man discovers the small bars of Aix-en-Provence. There he met Rose. The love of his life. From Gréasque, she became his wife. With her, he will have three daughters to whom he will pass on all his know-how, with gentleness and high standards: Jany, Claudie and Marie-Rose.
Today, the SORADORA fragrance brand, named after this Portuguese immigrant, has become a prestigious brand for four generations. The seven fragrances in the 2021 collection combine all the power and emotion of Antoine SORADORA's career.
Each bottle of perfume contains all of this man's tremors and tendrils.
About a man who dared to leave his country and his loved ones to make his dreams come true.
To let us breathe his life.
