Pitti Fragranze 2022
Sensing Authenticity, Change and the Rose
3 min.
09/22/2022
Pitti Fragranze 2022, a B2B exhibition of artistic perfumery hosted in Stazione Leopolda, Florence, from September 16th to 18th, brought together perfumers, brands, manufacturers, distributors, perfume critics, and publishers.
When rethinking the keywords of the just-finished 20th edition of Pitti Fragranze 2022, two words came to the forefront: authenticity and change.
The exquisite program, the well-thought-out theme—5 senses—accompanied by smartly chosen keywords Uniqueness and Authenticity, and the accent on the Rose once again made me feel blessed and fortunate to be a part of Pitti Fragranze.
The number of perfume brands exhibiting gave me the privilege and the opportunity to explore, not run, as if this exhibition anticipated my capabilities of sensing, thinking, and feeling without being overloaded and stuffed over the top.
I had time to do everything I wished:
I enjoyed the spontaneous moments of fun with colleagues and friends who, like me, took it slow and enjoyed Pitti’s beautiful atmosphere:
At the end of the program I attended, I didn’t run directly to the next stand, or from one stand to another.
I dropped by the brands I liked more than once.
I also took my time right on the spot to rethink the new information I collected and contemplate the messages I gathered along the way, without that awful feeling that I’m wasting precious minutes.
FROM THE PROGRAM
When Pitti Fragrance announced that the theme of this year’s RAW by MANE would be the rose – the iconic queen of flowers, I jumped!
RAW is a spectacular part of the Pitti Fragranze 2022 program. Led by the MANE team, this format offers quality insights into perfume materials and biotech innovations and the unique opportunity to learn by smelling and listening to the experts and perfumers.
Like all events, perfume events rely on communication and exchange.
In that light, have surely learned a thing or two about my complex relationship with the perfume concept. Still, my joined senses tell me that instead of the live contact with the unique professional, the installation created by Alessandro Gualtieri was a special guest.
I dearly miss the format of the talk.
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The Rose: Reinventing Iconics / RAW by Mane
Three different roses, 10 materials, 5 rose accords and the perfume!
One by one, I got to smell essences, absolutes and the biotech derivations coming from very different, but well-known roses: rose centifolia, grown in Southern France/Grasse and rose Damascena, grown in Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Middle East. Mane exclusively presented brand-new materials derived from the Crimean rose, a different sort, from the fields of Moldova.
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The Alchemical Wall
The olfactive instalation by Alessandro Gualtieri
That was a self-exploring experience! Luckily for me, the organizers waited until Day 3 to reveal what happens once you reach the end of the long, long waiting line and face the entrance to the Alchemicst Wall. The colleagues who already had their experiences about what is happening on the other side were reluctant to speak about it, until I had my own experience, too.
THE FACES OF AUTHENTICITY
There’s no recipe for authenticity.
Unlike uniqueness, which is much easier to pinpoint, authenticity has countless faces, but none in particular. It has delicate and spiritual roots in sensing and believing, because it comes from within, and is recognised and appreciated from within:
Our perception of authenticity rises from what we’ve learned, but also from how our smell is touched, how our skin is heard, how our lips are seen, and how our eyes are smelled—and from what our five senses tell us, we start to believe.
So, unlike how I approached the Alchemical Wall, I let my five senses guide me and decide.
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A new rose / cigar perfume from Antonio Alessandria
Amado Mio, launched in 2023.
Antonio Alessandria has the authentic talent to create short but striking and continuously personal motifs that burst with vividness, Sicilian colouring, and warmth and then translate them into voluminous and complex perfumes. The new creation is jet to be named and launched, but a sumptuous, swirling, dark, and glittering marriage of crimson rose and amazingly vivacious tobacco cast a spell on me.
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Fig infusion by Essential Parfums
Nathalie Lorson, 2022.
If it deceivingly seems simple, the face of authenticity may sometimes be considered self-understandable. But that is so until you take a good look around. This summer, I went through half of a 100 ml bottle of the latest Essential Parfums release – Fig Infusion. What in June seemed like the beginning of a beautiful friendship, in August, became a love that still grows.
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Tilia by Olfactive Pharmacy
Mark Buxton, 2020.
Olfactive Pharmacy caught my eye because of the coherent visual branding that follows the story and the concept, quality packaging and three interesting perfumescreated by Mark Buxton.
Olfactive Pharmacy is a German apothecary brand from Köln, founded by the pharmacists Oliver and Holger Dubben.
I liked on-the-spot Tilia, a vivid, delicate and faithful interpretation of linden blossoms in a spring air – a light composition, wearable as a go-to, but with character.
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18:9 Moldavite Green Light by Olivier Durbano
Olivier Durbano, 2022.
As his 18 perfume, Olivier Durbano presented 18:9 Moldavite Green Light: a classic, timeless and vivacious creation built around the angelica.
The bright and green composition moved me on a first sniff: through light, it possesses inner strength and is at the same time soothing and vibrating, energetic and calming, fresh and deep.
The perfumes Mr Durbano creates are true expressions of his spirit, up to the point when I feel that by smelling his compositions, he’s letting me inhale the layered expression of himself.
Off-Pitti Events
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Source Adage Fragrances
Source Adage organized the special event in a beautiful Studio Dimore in the centre of Florence, very near Santa Maria Novella. This is a brand to watch.
Source Adage is a New York-born brand, founded in 2015. by Christopher Draghi and Robert Dobay.
Capitalising on the first seven years of a successful business, the founders and creative directors opened a new chapter and relocated their brand and lives to Italy.I enjoyed smelling three perfumes from their US collection, re-made by Firmenich for the EU market: C’i’an, Aétai, and Monto’ac. All three were very nice.
I liked Monto’ac, a freshly green, airy, and aromatic perfume built around sage, oakmoss, tobacco, and leather. I was captured by C’i’an, an elegant composition based on the juxtaposition of fresh and moist sweet apple and uplifting, coldish juniper and mint.
The creative duo presented the two perfumes, which were entirely made in Italy and will be launched at the end of the year. I look forward to exploring Clouds, a composition inspired by the moody spring sky.
STAYING AUTHENTIC
The 20th edition of Pitti Fragrance was authentic and remains unique. The rounded concept, based on presenting artistic perfumery, exhibiting authentic brands, and presenting the outstanding program, presents the heart of the best part of perfumery (the way I see it).
I sense that Pitti Fragranze is undergoing some change, too: this year’s edition featured a noticeably smaller number of perfume brands.
The way we sense does not change, but our senses fine-tune differently, too.
Maybe the biggest challenge is to remain authentic, while the trends and strategies change, perfume production and competition significantly grow, and the times we live in become increasingly demanding.
