The luxury brand is experiencing a growth spurt. Sylvie Loday tells us why she is at ease with the competition game and why EX NIHILO 'blue' ambition has no limits.

According to Ernesto Collado, “Smell has more to do with emotion than with intellect and the language of plants is smell.” Having been an actor and director, he is an animated soul who discovered a passion for the plant world of his local surroundings in l’Empordà, a Catalan region in the Northeast corner of Spain.

Thanks to his caring mission, ingredients are no longer silent. In his book, we listen to each ingredient story and understand their unique melody. Spread around the world, this family untold story unfolds.

Italy is a reference point for art, culture, film, cuisine, la Dolce Vita and the love of beautiful things. What is much less known, and will be explored in this article, is the importance of Italy to the world of perfumery. Several months ago I wrote about the German approach to fragrance* which was enlightening, and now it is time to put the focus on the Bel Paese, to shed light on a country that has made significant contributions but that has not been in the limelight. To investigate the role Italy has played over many centuries, I sought out several industry experts who kindly provided insight and shared their knowledge on this fascinating topic.

Italy has a rich yet unknown perfume past. The present is flourishing thanks to prime ingredients, artistic creativity, and a wide merchants base. It is no longer shy.

It takes a lot of courage to have principles and take a stand against what you believe is wrong. I had the distinct privilege of speaking anonymously with the owner of a trading company in China who wanted to expose the dark side of the grey and fake market and, specifically, how it can affect artisan fragrances. To understand the context, let’s start with a definition and then some history.

Not that long ago, in the late 20th century, few people in the world knew that being a perfumer was actually a profession, probably because it was a craft taught by the master to the apprentice. It all changed in 1946 with the creation of the first fragrance school, and ever since, more institutions have cropped up teaching not only perfume creation but everything that supports it, from sourcing to evaluation to quality control. Researching the schools and learning about the breadth of job options became a ”who knew that existed” moment. This two-part series takes a deep dive into internal fragrance schools associated with oil houses where future perfumers are trained, as well as accredited institutes where broader offerings prepare students for multiple career paths.

The craft of being a perfumer is surrounded by mystery, glamor and idealized thoughts of a master artisan creating alchemy in his laboratory. In last week’s article it became evident that there is a lot of chemistry, science and repetitive work that is demanded of a nose in this highly specialized field. It takes years to memorize ingredients, to understand how they interact, and to consider supply chain, regulatory and production constraints when creating beautiful fragrances. This week’s article includes a visit to the world renown school, ISIPCA (Institut supérieur international du parfum) and in-depth conversation with IFF about the professional path a perfumer can take.

The first research of Essencional for Esxence 2019, in collaboration with Marco Ricchetti and Develon Digital

Fragrance communities abound in the virtual world whether on social media platforms, websites or elsewhere. On the surface we may think they exist to bring like-minded people together to share their love for fragrance, but it’s not always the case. Over the past year I’ve been following about a dozen communities to get a feel for the kind of activity and chatter that occurs regularly. The ones I tracked range in size from over 200,000 to just a few hundred members.