Stephan lives in his native region of Prunelli-di-Fiumorbo on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. He works the land on his estate, Domaine Amuredda, concentrating much of his time and effort into cultivating a native variety of the everlasting immortelle flower. For him, working the land has been a childhood dream, he says:
“ I was born in Corsica and I always dreamt of working the land. I arrived in south Corsica when I was 8 and never left. As my family was not from farming stock, I had no land and it took me 20 years to achieve my dream. I first bought a building plot with the intent of having a house built but, instead, I used the place to set up a farm!”
These small golden flowers possess powerful antioxidant and anti-aging properties. Stephan harvested his first crop in 2014, manually as he didn’t have any machines at the time. These days he carefully and sustainably grows, harvests and distills the immortelle flowers, resulting in the 100% organic immortelle essential oil used in L’Occitane’s skincare range. He says:
“Today I am in complete control of the whole process, from growing to distilling. Extracting essential oil is something I was unfamiliar with before I started working with L’Occitane, and it was life changing.”