Luxury Brands’ Environmental Philanthropy: Maison Francis Kurkdjian x La Voix des Cachalots

Maison Francis Kurkdjian supports efforts to protect sperm whales.

French perfume house Maison Francis Kurkdjian is supporting marine biodiversity conservation by teaming with non-profit Longitude 181 for initiatives to help protect sperm whales in the Mediterranean Sea. Founded in 2002 by oceanographer François Sarano, Longitude 181 works to protect exceptional biological and cultural diversity across the planet.

Co-founder and CEO Marc Chaya and Francis Kurkdjian have taken this civic-minded step to protect sperm whales, which have been classified as a “vulnerable” species. This commitment has particular resonance for perfume.

Ambergris, a precious natural substance, is a gift from cachalots, or sperm whales. Its distinctive scent intensifies, evolves and matures under the effects of ocean salt, UV rays and air. It has been employed as a fragrance-enhancer since centuries, but given the rarity of natural ambergris, it has been replaced by synthetic molecules.

Thanks to funding from Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Longitude 181 has launched a new mission as part of its WhaleWay program (in French, La Voix des Cachalots, or “The Voice of Sperm Whales”) in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of France’s Port-Cros national park. One of the primary goals of the program is to better understand how sperm whales live in order to protect their environment and enable them to thrive.

This commitment is another illustration of concrete contributions by LVMH Maisons to the environmental policy set out in the luxury Group’s LIFE 360 environmental roadmap.