Antoine Soradora was born in a small town in southern Portugal at the beginning of the twentieth century. A loner by nature, his elders had him pegged as a future priest. But secretly, Antoine was intoxicated by scents — the vertigo of perfumes. From the lavender growing wild along the roadside, from the gush of springs at the edges of undergrowth, from the peat, the hay, the freshly cut grass, the flowers and the fruit, Antoine drew wonder and inspiration. His curiosity about the world led him to the south of France, where he cultivated an abundant garden around the modest shed where he lived. A chance meeting in Grasse led to a position as the head gardener of a jasmine farm, where he began to experiment with raw materials to create his first perfume. After meeting the love of his life, fittingly called Rose, they had three daughters who carried on the family business of perfume making. Today the house of Sora Dora has been thriving for four generations, thanks to the questing nose of a Portuguese perfumer.