This month I met with Italian perfumer, Lorenzo Villoresi in his native Florence, a city rich in artisanal culture. Florentine arts flourished under the patronage of the Medici family in the 15th century and this tradition of fatto a mano has passed from one generation to the next. Today Florence contains many esteemed artisans who are expert in a variety of creative expressions. My first encounter with Lorenzo’s work was in 2004. I was looking for a new scent and using the newly arrived summer heat as an excuse to add to my collection of fragrances. Sandalo became my summer fragrance that year and is still one of my favourite perfumes to feature this exquisite wood as its main ingredient. Blending Mysore sandalwood with lavender, Bulgarian rose, resins and oak moss, Sandalo is a rich and warm experience compared to other more austere, transparent woody fragrances.
View over Florence from the atelier
I met Lorenzo at his atelier close to the historic Ponte Vecchio, overlooking the Arno River. The taxi driver questioned me to ensure I had the correct address as we arrive at the discreet entrance guarded by large wooden doors located away from the tourist hum further down river. I find the buzzer, pass through these grand doors and scale the stone stairwell. A smiling face greets me at the top of the stairs. It is Angela, part of Lorenzo’s team. His team is small, like a family. If you ask any of them about their job descriptions, they simply give a smile. You soon begin to understand that everyone is highly involved in the many aspects of the business; placing orders, sourcing raw materials, greeting media and of course looking after clients. Ilaria, who primarily looks after Lorenzo’s PR spends some time with me, taking me through the collection and sharing some of her own personal stories with the fragrances. I mention to her my history with Sandalo and we discuss the sandalwood being grown in Australia and the difficulty of obtaining Indian sandalwood in the quality they need to produce Sandalo. The price of sandalwood oil continues to rise yet the quality is dropping. The sap is being taken from younger trees in an attempt to maintain the global demand for this precious oil.
Artifacts and ornaments
Curiosities and books line the atelier walls
The showroom is full of artworks, curiosities and books that I am scanning to better understand Lorenzo in preparation for his arrival. Upon arrival we greet each other and Lorenzo invites me to join him at his desk where we chat. He is an intelligent and profound man and is open to my questions. Having read other interviews he has given I know something of his background and I am interested in the creative process he uses to communicate an idea through scent especially when creating a bespoke fragrance for an individual. It is becoming less common for perfume houses to offer this rare and exceptional service. Some houses offer a pseudo bespoke service where a perfumer will construct a fragrance from a range of pre-made bases. To have Lorenzo create a personal fragrance, the client usually would travel to Florence and spend a day with him for an intensive consultation. In contrast to the way he would approach the creation of a fragrance for his collection, Lorenzo is careful not to impose his own creative ideas onto the client’s desires. The psychology graduate asks a series of questions to better understand the client, a task I am sure is not always easy if the client does not have a developed olfactive vocabulary. Through this questioning technique Lorenzo assists the client in identifying what their expectations are for their personal scent and what raw materials the client reacts positively to that will go on to make up the fragrance. It is really collaboration between two people rather than Lorenzo creating a fragrance he thinks the client may like. The client leaves with their new scent that must rest, giving time to macerate. The formula can be adapted to other products such as soaps, creams, and men’s shaving products. Almost anything is possible.
Lorenzo works with with a variety of raw materials
When Lorenzo is working to create a fragrance for the collection that bares his name, I sense it is much more of an internal dialogue. Although travel is a reoccurring theme in his work, most of his creation takes place behind the desk from where I am now talking to him. He explains his work is often inspired by ancient myths and legends. In this way his perfumes travel not only geographical lines, but also through time. A voyage following the ancient spice routes his ancestors travelled to collect exotic spices for the Medici court. A mythical garden of ancient Mesopotamia or scent-laden markets along the shores of the Mediterranean, each of his creations is an ethereal journey. Housed in blue glass, Lorenzo’s classic fragrances focus more on one particular ingredient and explore some of perfumes most revered ingredients. Tuscan herbs, sandalwood, musk, carnation and lavender are some of the raw materials Lorenzo has explored. Not simply a soliflore or traditional cologne, these classic fragrances also have an ability to tell fantastic stories to their wearer. I ask Lorenzo about the materials he likes to work with and if he feels it is possible to generalise an Italian style in perfume. He believes there isn’t an Italian style. Sure, Italy has a rich history in perfume, even here in Florence; La Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella is a major contributor to the history of Florentine perfume having existed for over 400 years. Perhaps a loose connection can be made in terms of the raw materials produced in Italy, Calabrian bergamot, Florentine iris and Parma violets. But in general there has been no Italian school or collective of perfumers that has shaped the Italian approach to perfume creation. Lorenzo draws inspiration from his own personal travels, myths and legends of the ancient world.
A set of scales, numerous bottles and calculator assist him with his work
The perfumer works with only the best ingredients from natural raw materials to the latest in designer molecules. In this moment on his desk he has a bottle of castoreum absolute. He passes it over to me to sample. I have a synthetic version but have never sampled the natural absolute. In the small vial it looks like a dark chocolate paste and is surprisingly pleasant given its origin. Lorenzo is also in the process of creating a perfume academy here in Florence. The centre will be an access point for both professionals and enthusiasts to discuss and learn about perfume.
Lorenzo Villoresi
If you do find yourself in Florence, I recommend a visit to the atelier. It is one thing to buy a Lorenzo Villoresi fragrance online or at a perfume counter. It is an entirely different experience to buy a fragrance directly from the atelier. To see the context within which the fragrances are made and possibly meet the man behind these creations is a ‘money can’t buy’ experience. The entire team is welcoming and friendly. After this visit I added two Lorenzo Villoresi fragrances to my collection. Alumut, a stunning soft floral that melts away to rich amber and musk, inspired by a journey to the orient. And Iperborea, a fresh breeze of coastal spring blossoms: magnolia, jasmine and cyclamen.
Private appointments can be made by emailing the atelier directly from the Lorenzo Villoresi website www.lorenzovilloresi.it
An exceptional parfumeur indeed. I had to chuckle at your comment about the taxi driver, I must have walked up and down via Bardi so many times trying to find the LV atelier thinking that it was a store front. I wasn’t brave enough to knock on the door!
I really enjoy reading your blog – you make your readers feel very part of your experiences
Lol, I had an appointment and I was even a bit aprehensive about pushing the buzzer. Luckily I noticed a small sign on a wall and realised I wasn’t about to walk into a stranger’s house. This area of Florence was my favourite. A great selection of little stores on narrow cobbled streets. Thanks also for your post. I thoroughly enjoy writing this blog so it’s nice to know people enjoy reading it!
I recently had the pleasure of visiting the atelier. I was confused, but not apprehensive. Of course, any concerns I had melted away when I walked into the door. Lorenzo was not in that day, but I was well taken care of by his assistant, and walked away with a lovely bottle of Piper Nigrum. It is a polar opposite to my favorite of his scents: Vetiver, but is an incredible demonstration of the perfumer’s art! I highly recommend a visit!
Piper Nigrum is such a clever scent. Black pepper is something I normally have with my avocado on toast. It is a nice example of a creative perfumer surprising you with an everyday smell they have the ability to transform into something extraordinary. You must smell amazing!
Hi, I just found your blog, thanks for the great post on LV! I loved Sandalo too and just wrote about it myself. I wondered if he really did use Indian sandalwood oil. It’s good to know it’s true.
Hi Krista,
Thanks for reading.
I would send the atelier an email and ask them. I assume they wouldn’t mind you asking this question. It’s not a question I asked directly in my visit so I don’t feel informed enough to give you an answer incase I am incorrect but I assume if Lorenzo has published the notes as Indian sandalwood, then this is correct. Authenticity seemed to be a key theme in the way he works so I can’t imagine him saying one thing but doing another. I imagine this sandalwood accord is made of a few different sandalwoodesque molecules both natural and synthetic and this would include Mysore sandalwood. Let me know if you find your answer, as you now have me curious! All the best, C
A wonderful account of your visit! My interest in (obsession with?) fragrance is quite recent, and unfortunately developed only after I visited Firenze last fall, otherwise I would have been at SMN every day, and would have looked for Villoresi! But your reference to castoreum absolute has broken my heart: I read somewhere that Lorenzo Villoresi’s fragrances did not use animal ingredients (suggesting that he used plant-derived approximations, as well as synthetics, of such ingredients), and that it was cruelty-free. Relying on this, I have developed a total olfactory dependency on Piper Negrum and Spezie, with Wild Lavender soon to follow, I am sure. But if there are animal ingredients, I may have to wean myself off. I know others are not concerned with this. But, since you have met the master yourself, I wonder if you know the answer, or whether you might ask? (I had emailed the atelier a while back, without response….) I look forward to reading the rest of your blog. Regards, Jen.
Hi Jen, I don’t want to speak on behalf of Lorenzo’s brand, but I would assume you would not find natural castoreum in his commercial line of fragrances. I would imagine there simply would not be enough supply and the resulting formula cost would not be viable for an 80 euro fragrance. The absolute he showed me was in a white bottle and had obviously come from a raw ingredient supplier that was with other samples from Givaudan and if my memory serves me right, Firmenich. I am sure it is quite common for perfumers to be provided with samples both natural and synthetic from all of the major raw material suppliers to aid their wholesaling efforts. Lorenzo’s perfume organ is extensive, you can see in the photos all of the brown bottles (and there are even more I did not photograph) each containing a singular note or molecule. I would imagine every perfumer needs to have on hand a complete range of materials, like a painter would have a range of colours but not necessarily use every colour in their palette. Your sentiment may be true, that in order to create a synthetic accord, one needs the natural counterpart as a reference point. If the use of animal byproducts breeches your values, I would suggest emailing the atelier again for a confirmation, but my suspicions are that most perfumers avoid working with these natural ingredients for reasons of cost and supply. I am not sure if animal cruelty is a factor here unlike civet where the animals are often caged and can be cruelly treated to encourage production of the excretion. From the little I know, the beavers are hunted for a number of resources such as meat and fur, not simply their scent glands.
Ps, I don’t condone the killing of animals and have been a vegetarian for almost 20 years. It is a utopian dream to live in a world where man does not kill as we have always been hunters. But I think to kill and waste is terrible…and well, the way animals are currently farmed purely for slaughter is another debate altogether.
ps: perhaps the castoreum absolute was there not as a currently-used ingredient, but rather as an inspiration, or as an exemplar for approximating it with other oils? Just a theory, but I am desperately hoping LV really is kindly to animals.
Thanks, Clayton, for your thoughtful response! And I concur with your “ps”. My view is that while killing animals can be defensible, it is really hard to defend cruely, so that’s where I draw my absolute line (and I am a vegetarian).
Being new to perfumery, I am finding it tricky to suss out the cruelty-free status of various perfumes, and have found that some of the perfumers are just non-responsive to these questions. And of course there are various nuances to this debate: for example not all animal ingredients involve cruelty (i.e., Ambergris, although that is almost certainly not used due to expense), and thus would not violate my strictures, but would those of other people. So I try to err on the side of no animal ingredients, because it’s quite hard to know the processes involved for any particular animal ingredient, and I believe that animal cruelty should be avoided where possible, and there’s no justification for cruelty in perfumery, which is about beauty.
But in any case, the general sense I am getting is that animal ingredients are seldom used nowadays both due to expense and for ethical reasons, and because there are substitutes (synthetic and natural). As for animal testing, that may be a more prevalent, because the fragrance’s components (not sure of the perfumological term) are sourced from various suppliers whose practices may be hard for perfumers (or consumers) to keep track of. But my sense is that the smaller houses generally do not directly test their pefumes on animals, but that the bigger “commercial” houses often do. These are general guidelines. Based on these understandings, I would guess that LV rates well. But I have asked LV about this again, and will post a follow-up if I receive a response. He does make gorgeous fragranecs and I am hoping for a positive response! His atelier certainly looks magnificent!
Hi Jen,
I hope you get a follow up. I have heard a few bloggers comment on a slow or non response from the Villoresi camp. I think it is great you consider your environment when making purchases. I had not given much thought towards the tests that must take place when testing new molecules. I also wonder how the IFRA tests molecules to create their increasingly strict guidelines on ingredient usage in perfume? I happily test my own perfumes on myself. One day I accidentally absorbed orange essential oil through the skin on my arm. I was literally tasting oranges for days!
Cheers,
Clayton