ESXENCE 2025 – Mastering a dream

The theme of Esxence 2025 was “Masters of Dreams” and it was bigger than ever, as was last year and each year before:

Before I started writing, I thought the Esxence report would be finished after I highlighted the new perfumes and the parts of the program I liked. I did that, but I felt I was not done.

Instead of shedding some light, I was (also) mastering a dream:
I did pass on the information, but not my opinions, which were formed from my experience at the largest art perfumery event in Europe.

Considering that the statistics are used for support, not illumination, I added a few more lines about what I saw with my eyes wide open.

PERFUME HIGHLIGHTS

Cristiano Cavagna, Dusita, Frassai, Francesca Bianchi, Source Adage, Free Yourself, Coreterno, Eau de Boujees, Vallense, Blackcliff, Sarah Baker, Hiram Green, Borntostandout, Fugazzi, Double Dragon, Emil Elise, ELDO, Filippo Sorcinelli

Off-pavillon highlits

Angelos Balamis offered me to smell the beautiful narcissus he was about to launch, and that creation instantly ended up on my skin. It was still lunchtime, but I took a break and called it a day.

I also got the precious insight into the collections of the two Thai brands:

Prin Lomros’ (Strangers Parfumerie) and Nutt Wesshasartar’s (Siam 1928 and Voyager) PERFUMES

A fascinating discovery

Prin Lomros of Strangers Parfumerie, a prolific independent perfumer and Art and Olfaction finalist, also introduced me to a colleague, Nutt Wesshasar, a perfumer and the founder of the brand Siam 1928, whom I was previously unfamiliar with.

Thai origins and inspiration, similar generation, same independent and art-oriented approach to perfumery and such different handwritings!

I am about to explore further and in detail the perfumes created by both because they are fascinating:

Smelling their collections took almost an hour and a half, and then it seemed to pass in a second. It was undoubtedly my most significant discovery on Esxence 2025!

FROM THE PROGRAM

CALABRIAN BERGAMOT – MATERIALS AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF CULTIVATION AND PRODUCTION

A project by Accademia del Profumo

Academia dei Profumo, the Cosmetic Italia initiative (Milano), offered a sensory journey into the Calabrian bergamot by exhibiting the fruit, the four exquisite materials, and the early history of cultivation and production.

I took the journey to explore the diverse olfactive profiles of bergamot essential oils from Calabria and the Central Ionian Region, which are produced using modern techniques but grown on distinct terroirs and harvested at varying times.

I also smelled the bergamot petitgrain oil (produced by distilling bergamot leaves) and the bergamot essential oil produced using the sponge technique, the oldest extraction method dating back to before 1700.

L’OSMOTHEQUE – THE ROARING 1920s

I can not be more grateful to Anne-Cécile Pouant and Antonella Fontana for the guidance through the selection of perfumes from Roaring Twenties:

On L’Osmotheque’s stand, there is no apparent pressure to stand out.

L’Osmotheque stands out like a lighthouse built to spread a different set of values. It keeps shedding light on the olfactive and cultural aspects of the perfume trade and market, both in the past and the present.

THE LIGHTHOUSES

“We need a lighthouse to show us the right direction,” said Francoise Henin at the very beginning of the panel mentioned above.

While listening to the sentence of the successful, long-standing business insider, distributor, brand owner, and perfume connoisseur, I immediately thought none of the existing lighthouses were mentioned—and it’s not that there were none.

I could only half-agree with Mr Henin because the brands swim and drown in the sea, which is already overcrowded with lighthouses of all kinds.

Surely, there are various types of lighthouses and various kinds of lights.
It is also true that, once the light is cast, it is impossible to unsee, and unreasonable to close the eyes.

Esxence 2025 also showed that lighthouses work more than ever – only the light they spread has changed.

A new path is needed, rather than simply adding another lighthouse to shed more light on the current routes.

That first requires a willingness to find a solution, and then the courage to take a risk.

Until then, God help too small or quiet brands, and good luck to all new brands who believe they arrived at the show just in time.