Wednesday 30 March 2016

SMELL FESTIVAL 2016 : Magiae Naturalis.


  Illustrazione © Georges Bousquet - Casajordi.

The perfume of Smell Festival 2016 is “Magiae Naturalis”.
From May 18 to 22, 2016, Bologna once again welcomes “Smell – Festival dell'Olfatto”, the event dedicated to the sense of smell and the art of perfume. “Magiae Naturalis” has been chosen as the theme for the VII edition. With international guests, exhibits and paths dedicated to botanical perfumery, the Festival celebrates the “Perfumer-Magician” and Nature, the inevitable reference point for any fragrance lover.


Bologna, 01 March 2016_ Magiae Naturalis is the theme of the seventh edition of Smell - Festival dell’Olfatto, the event dedicated to the culture of the sense of smell and art of perfume scheduled from May 18 to 22 in Bologna. Promoted by the Orablu association, the Festival avails on the collaboration of the Istituzione Bologna Musei (Institute of Museums in Bologna). 
The title of the seventh edition refers to the book with the same name by Giovanni Battista Della Porta: the humanist, scientist and alchemist from Naples, who contributed to spreading the techniques of distillation and the art of perfume at the end of the Renaissance period. The “Natural Magic” evoked by the Festival focuses on the perfumer-magician, who knows the secrets of nature and is part of the transmutation of reality, combining elements through the knowledge of their “magical embraces”.

@ Smell Festival

The main location for the event is the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna, where Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22, the botanical perfumery by Olfattiva will be the focal point, transforming the exhibition space of the Museum into a Mediterranean garden. Among natural grass carpets and flowering oranges; spagyric cucurbits and alembics, the Olfattiva space will be an oasis where the public can enjoy sensorial experiences and laboratories dedicated to natural perfumery. 


@ Smell Festival 

From its very first edition, Smell Festival has forged a fruitful bond with the artistic perfume scene, thanks to participation of Italian and international representatives. These include Oliver Valverde, founder of Oliver & Co, the Madrid-based independent fragrance brand with fragrances inspired by numerous influences: from botanical illustrations to outer space. Natural olfactory archetypes are processed by Valverde with an avant-garde approach. Futuring Nature is the title of the presentation at the Music Museum, during which he will share his creative process mindset and his vision of perfumery in the 21st century. Known as a self-made fragrance designer, Oliver Valverde will also hold a perfume workshop where he will introduce the participants to his personal method of composition, based on extemporaneous intuition, abstraction and objective-free experimentation. The botany of outer space is the title of the exhibit he created especially for Smell Festival, using tables, images and olfactory evidence in order to translate the atmosphere of a cosmic nebula photograph into a fragrance.


© Oliver & Co Perfumes - Gincense

Again at the Music Museum, Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi, founders of Masque Milano, contribute to the development of the theme, “Magiae Naturalis”, explaining to the public how a perfume can interpret the smell and symbolism of the Narcissus, a flower rich in mythological and literary echoes around which Romanza – Victorian Narcissus, the latest fragrance by their House, revolves. The exquisite essence of Narcissus Poeticus, cultivated in France and processed at Laboratoire Monique Remy (leader in natural raw materials) is used to compose this perfume that, as is the intent of the two creative directors of Maque, becomes the glorious emblem of the Victorian Epoque, exulting, in pure dandy style, artifice as a creative antidote to the repetitiveness of Nature. As Oscar Wilde said, “A really well-made buttonhole is the only link between Art and Nature."


@ Smell Festival


Do not miss the appointment with Room 1015, the French brand founded by Michael Partouche (alias Dr Mike). The brand name refers to the room at the Hyatt Hotel in Los Angeles used to bear  the  distinction of being favorited by  bands like  The Rolling  Stones or The Who  specialists of  the “room trashing”.  It is  known  for being the  most  destroyed room in the story of  rock’n’ roll. Escaping from a rigid destiny as a pharmacist, Dr Mike discovered the power of salvation of the electric guitar and, crossing the notes of a Gibson with those of scented materials, he creates powerful perfumed potions. His high volume scented visions will be presented on May 21 at the Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica in Bologna. During this event, their designer, Dr Mike, will spread rock chills embracing his electric guitar.

Given the topic of the event, reference to gardens, locations of delight and sensorial gratification, is a must. Creating this important connection is a laboratory dedicated to the perfumes and odors of the park and the garden of the Royal Palace of Caserta, held by Addolorata Ines Peduto and Gerardo Pasquale Iodice. The sensorial path winds through the Bosco Vecchio (Old Woods), an area of the park that dates to the sixteenth century, and the English Garden, built in 1786 for Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily. Over the years, the Park, 120 hectares, and the English Garden, 23 hectares, have become an enormously important botanical complex for the existing indigenous species and the exotic species, some of which are truly living monuments. At Music Museum in Bologna, the public can get to know part of this patrimony through botanical samples, such as leaves, flowers, fruits, cones, branches and bark, anticipating the special visit to the Royal Palace of Caserta that Smell Festival is organizing for the summer. 

Royal Palace of Caserta

The sense of smell is often considered the most instinctive and “animal” of all our senses, another special guest at Smell Festival, Roland Salesse, researcher in the Neurobiology of Olfaction Unit at the INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), will reflect on the cultural and aesthetic value of the perception of smells, starting from considerations regarding the nature and physiology of the sense of smell. For decades, Salesse has been working with the sense of smell, ranging from its biology through to very recent applications of this sensorial spectrum within the artistic and theatre environment, as explored his paper “Le spectateur olfactif” (in L'Art olfactif contemporain Ed. C. Jaquet, Les Classiques Garnier, Paris, 2015).


Royal Palace of Caserta
Starting on May 18, the days prior to the Smell Festival weekend involve other locations, like the Grand Hotel Majestic “già Baglioni”, Bologna’s 5-star luxury hotel. Here, on Friday, May 20, Perfume Showcase will be held: an evening dedicated to a selection of prestigious brands of niche perfumery, with special attention to new formats and products. During the event, Essenses Creative Lab will present “Beyond Appearances”, an interactive game that involves the public in theme paths centered on the leading fragrances of this Italian distribution house: Stephane Humbert Lucas, the acclaimed French Nose; Arty Fragrance by Elisabeth de Feydeau with her products inspired by the Palace of Versailles; Le Galion, founded in 1930 by Prince Murat; Jovoy, the brand bound to the celebrated Parisian perfumery and its ambassador, François Hénin; Olfactive Studio which arose from the meeting between fragrance creators and photographers; Altaia, new project by the founders of Eau d’Italie which encloses the scraps of a story set in Argentina. And, there’s more: Aedes de Venustas, symbol of high perfumery quality and luxury; Eight & Bob, the legendary fragrance loved by Bob Kennedy; the New York brand, Nomenclature, inspired by the beauty of the chemical molecules that have marked the history of contemporary perfumery.

Among the brand new products presented at the Perfume Show will be the artisan fragrances by Ac’M Design, emerging from the creativity of Emanuela Mangili Cozzi Mazzucchelli, designer of furniture accessories, jewelry, and fashion accessories, who has captured the olfactory notes for the perfumes of the souls of the locations in her heart. It is a limited edition, embellished with jewels and custom details, like hand turned plugs by Florentine masters.
The students of Smell Atelier who have completed the course “Il Linguaggio del Profumo” creating a collection of five fragrances, titled “Magiae Naturalis”, will exhibit their creations.


@ Smell Festival
Smell Atelier, as a creative production laboratory, will be involved in creating the fragrances for the performance “Tra Gli Alberi e i Profumi”, by and with Angelica Zanardi, presented the evening of Thursday, May 19, at the Fienile Fluò, an enchanted location among the gullies and nature in the hills of Bologna. The perfumes created for this occasion by Giuseppe Caruso will be the emotional counterpoint of the narration: a free wandering through history, legends and botany, among memories and sensations, shaded by century-old trees. Because Magic is nothing more than the “contemplation of nature”, as Giovanni Battista Della Porta wrote.



THE COMPLETE PROGRAM FOR SMELL FESTIVAL 2016 WILL BE AVAILABLE IN APRIL ON THE WEBSITE: 

WWW.SMELLFESTIVAL.IT


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  Illustrazione © Georges Bousquet - Casajordi.


(ITALIAN)

A Smell Festival 2016 il profumo è “Magiae Naturalis”.
Dal 18 al 22 maggio 2016 torna a Bologna “Smell - Festival dell’olfatto”, la rassegna dedicata alla cultura dell’olfatto e all’arte del profumo.“Magiae Naturalis” è il tema scelto per la VII edizione che con ospiti internazionali, installazioni e percorsi dedicati alla profumeria botanica, celebra la figura del “profumiere-mago” e la natura quale riferimento imprescindibile per ogni cultore di fragranze.


Bologna, 01 marzo 2016. Magiae Naturalis è il tema della 7a edizione di Smell - Festival dell’Olfatto, la rassegna dedicata alla cultura dell'olfatto e all'arte del profumo in programma dal 18 al 22 maggio a Bologna. Promosso dall'associazione Orablu, il Festival si avvale della collaborazione di Istituzione Bologna Musei. 
Il titolo della 7a edizione si rifà all'omonimo libro di Giovanni Battista Della Porta: umanista, scienziato e alchimista napoletano che contribuì a diffondere le tecniche di distillazione e l’arte profumiera nel tardo Rinascimento. La “magia naturale” evocata dalla rassegna vede come protagonista la figura del profumiere-mago conoscitore dei segreti della natura e partecipe dei processi di trasformazione del reale attraverso la combinazione degli elementi e la conoscenza dei loro “magici abbracciamenti”.


@ Smell Festival

Sede principale della rassegna il Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna, dove sabato 21 e domenica 22 maggio, sarà protagonista la profumeria botanica di Olfattiva, che trasformerà lo spazio-mostre del Museo in un giardino mediterraneo. Tra tappeti d'erba e aranci in fiore, cucurbite spagiriche e alambicchi, quella di Olfattiva sarà un'oasi in cui il pubblico potrà svolgere esperienze sensoriali e laboratori dedicati alla profumeria naturale

@ Smell Festival

Fin dalla sua prima edizione Smell Festival ha stretto un legame particolarmente fecondo con il settore della profumeria artistica e selettiva su cui la rassegna anche quest'anno si focalizza grazie agli interventi di rappresentanti italiani e internazionali. Tra questi, Oliver Valverde fondatore del marchio di fragranze indipendente Oliver & Co con base a Madrid i cui profumi si nutrono di diverse ispirazioni: dall'illustrazione botanica fino allo spazio cosmico. Gli archetipi olfattivi naturali sono rivisitati da Valverde in chiave avanguardista. Futuring Nature è il titolo della sua presentazione al Museo della musica, durante la quale condividerà con il pubblico la sua visione della profumeria nel 21esimo secolo. Noto per essere un autodidatta, Valverde condurrà anche un workshop di profumeria dove i partecipanti verranno in contatto con il suo metodo di composizione basato sull'intuizione estemporanea, sull'astrazione e sulla sperimentazione libera da finalità. Sarà inoltre artefice di una installazione appositamente creata per Smell Festival, che mostrerà attraverso tavole, immagini e reperti olfattivi, il percorso inventivo attraverso cui ha tradotto l'immagine di una nebulosa cosmica in un profumo. 
© Oliver & Co Perfumes - Gincense
Sempre al Museo della musica, contribuiranno a sviluppare il tema “Magiae Naturalis” Alessandro Brun e Riccardo Tedeschi fondatori di Masque Milano che spiegheranno al pubblico come un profumo può interpretare l'essenza odorosa e simbolica del Narciso, fiore ricco di echi mitologici e letterari attorno a cui ruota Romanza - Victorian Narcissus, l'ultima fragranza della Casa. L'essenza pregiata di Narcissus Poeticus, coltivato in Francia e lavorato nei Laboratoire Monique Remy (leader per le materie prime naturali) è stata utilizzata per comporre questo profumo che, nell'intento dei due direttori creativi di Masque, diviene emblema della gloriosa epoca vittoriana ed esaltazione, in puro stile dandy, dell'artificio come antidoto creativo alla ripetitività della natura. Perché come diceva Oscar Wilde, “Un bel fiore all'occhiello è l'unica cosa che collega l'arte alla natura."

@ Smell Festival

Imperdibile anche l'appuntamento con Room 1015 marchio francese fondato da Michael Partouche (in arte Dr Mike). Il nome del brand si rifà alla stanza dello Hyatt Hotel di Los Angeles preferita da band come i Rolling Stones e The Who, nota per essere la più distrutta nella storia del rock’n’roll. In fuga da un disciplinato destino di farmacista, Dr Mike scopre il potere salvifico della chitarra elettrica e da qui, incrociando le note di una Gibson con quelle delle sostanze odorose, realizza le sue potenti pozioni profumate: visioni ad alto volume che il 21 maggio saranno presentate al Museo della musica di Bologna nel corso di un evento che vedrà il loro ideatore, Dr Mike, imbracciare la chitarra elettrica per seminare brividi rock

In relazione al tema della rassegna non poteva mancare un riferimento al giardino, luogo di delizie e appagamento sensoriale. A creare questo importante collegamento, sarà un laboratorio dedicato all'universo odoroso del Parco e del Giardino della Reggia di Caserta condotto da Addolorata Ines Peduto e Gerardo Pasquale Iodice domenica 22 maggio. Il percorso sensoriale si snoda nel Bosco Vecchio, un'area del Parco risalente all'epoca cinquecentesca, e nel Giardino Inglese realizzato nel 1786 per desiderio di Maria Carolina, Regina di Napoli. Nel corso del tempo, il Parco con i suoi 120 ettari e il Giardino Inglese, esteso su 23 ettari, sono diventati un complesso di enorme importanza botanica per le specie autoctone esistenti e le specie esotiche, alcune delle quali sono oggi dei veri e propri monumenti viventi. Al Museo della musica di Bologna il pubblico avrà l'occasione di conoscere parte di questo patrimonio attraverso campioni botanici come foglie, fiori, frutti, coni, rametti, cortecce pregustando la visita speciale alla Reggia di Caserta che Smell Festival organizzerà nel corso dell'estate. 


Parco della Reggia di Caserta


Se l'olfatto è spesso considerato il più istintivo e “animale” dei nostri sensi, un altro ospite speciale di Smell Festival, Salesse Roland, ricercatore presso l'Unità di Neurobiologia dell'Olfatto dell'INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), farà riflettere sulla valenza culturale ed estetica della percezione degli odori partendo da considerazioni relative alla natura e fisiologia dell'olfatto. Salesse si occupa da decenni di sensorialità olfattiva spaziando dalla biologia fino alle più recenti applicazioni di questa sfera sensoriale in ambito artistico e teatrale, oggetto anche del suo saggio "Le spectateur olfactif” (in L'Art olfactif contemporain Ed. C. Jaquet, Les Classiques Garnier, Paris, 2015).


Parco della Reggia di Caserta

A partire dal 18 maggio, nei giorni precedenti il weekend, Smell Festival coinvolge altre sedi come il Grand Hotel Majestic "già" Baglioni, 5 stelle lusso di Bologna. È qui che venerdì 20 maggio si svolge il Perfume Showcase, serata dedicata a una selezione di prestigiosi marchi di profumeria, con un'attenzione particolare verso nuovi format e proposte. Durante l'evento, nella “sala Vignola” dell'Hotel, Essenses Creative Lab presenta “Beyond Appearances” un gioco interattivo che coinvolgerà il pubblico in percorsi tematici incentrati sulle fragranze fiore all'occhiello di questa casa di distribuzione italiana: Stephane Humbert Lucas acclamato naso francese; Arty Fragrance di Elisabeth de Feydeau con i suoi prodotti ispirati alla Reggia di Versailles; Le Galion, casa fondata nel 1930 dal principe Murat; Jovoy, marchio legato alla celebre profumeria parigina e al suo ambasciatore, François Hénin; Olfactive Studio nato dall'incontro tra fotografi e creatori di fragranze; Altaia, nuovo progetto dei fondatori di Eau d’Italie che racchiude i frammenti di una storia ambientata in Argentina. E, ancora, Aedes de Venustas simbolo della qualità e del lusso dell’alta profumeria; Eight & Bob la mitica fragranza artigianale amata da Bob Kennedy; il brand newyorkese Nomenclature ispirato alla bellezza delle molecole chimiche che hanno fatto la storia della profumeria contemporanea.
Tra le novità assolute presentate al Perfume Showcase, ci saranno anche le fragranze artigianali di Ac’M Design nate dalla creatività di Emanuela Mangili Cozzi Mazzucchelli, designer di complementi di arredo, gioielli e accessori moda, che ha catturato con le note olfattive dei profumi l’anima dei luoghi che porta nel cuore. Una collezione dalla piccola tiratura, impreziosita da gioielli e dettagli personalizzabili come i tappi lignei torniti a mano da maestranze fiorentine.
Espongono inoltre le loro creazioni gli allievi di Smell Atelier che hanno concluso il percorso didattico dedicato a "Il Linguaggio del Profumo" realizzando una collezione dimostrativa di cinque fragranze intitolata “Magiae Naturalis”.


@ Smell Festival

Smell Atelier, come laboratorio di produzione creativa, sarà infine coinvolto nella realizzazione delle fragranze per lo spettacolo teatrale  "Tra gli alberi e i profumi", di e con Angelica Zanardi,  presentato la sera di giovedì 19 maggio presso il Fienile Fluò, luogo incantato tra i calanchi e la natura dei colli bolognesi. I profumi realizzati per l'occasione da Giuseppe Caruso faranno da contrappunto emotivo alla narrazione: un libero girovagare tra storia, leggenda e botanica, tra ricordi e sensazioni, all'ombra di alberi secolari. Perché la Magia altro non è, come scrisse lo stesso Giovanni Battista Della Porta, se non  “contemplazione della natura”.



IL PROGRAMMA COMPLETO DI SMELL FESTIVAL 2016 
SARÀ DISPONIBILE DA METÀ APRILE SUL SITO: www.smellfestival.it

Wednesday 23 March 2016

A cup of coffee with...VERO KERN (March, 2016)





“What a nice interview! Thank you very much!
 I highly appreciated the original, 
non-stereotyped questions about perfumery -
  it was a real pleasure for me to answer.”   

Vero Kern, March 2016


Today I meet a dear friend, a perfume Lady who, in a few years, has given us some of the most fascinating fragrances of contemporary olfactory landscape: she's Vero Kern. From her native Switzerland, Vero has been able to spread over the air not only the unique aroma of her creations, but also the love for a research that turned her passion into art……



GABRIELA: Hello Vero!, it's a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to ask you some questions about your fragrant world. You've shaped your first creation in the new millennium and you already put an indelible mark in the hearts of  perfume lovers. 
VERO: Carissima Gabriela! (in italian), it’s a great honour and pleasure for me to answer your questions. Thank you for your kind comment on my fragrances, it pleases me very much…



GABRIELA: Well, here my first question: what is your inspiration, your starting idea of a new fragrance?
VERO: The high desire to create and to implement a certain idea: this is for me the biggest boost for a new creation. In my head there is a whole arsenal of ideas, but not all are useful from a “scent” point of view. I have very clear ideas and very high claims on my creations, and I need some time to check out what could possibly be done. But above all, there is a special raw material that initially fascinates and inspires me …and that I want to process in some way. Apart this, fragrances have a sort of dramatic effect for me, even a dynamic-emotional one, so desires and fantasies mainly turn around characters of everyday life, or around strong emotions. I'm not that guy who decides to create a rose or an oud in just minutes, not at all: I work more abstractly. I’m very stubborn and unconventional in realizing my creations.



GABRIELA: Once there were “scents”, period. Since a few years, we are used to classify fragrances into “mainstream” and “niche” ones. What are your thoughts about it, and where do you feel to belong?
VERO: I’d say niche fragrances were the answer -or the consequence- of a predominantly uninspired and very commercial perfumery. Once "niche" meant, above all, products that do not care of commercial criteria and were done by independent perfumers and houses. This reflected values such as passion and inspiration in the creation as well as using very specific raw materials. After a few creative years, “niche” has arrived now in the place where it never wanted to stay -i.e. in total “mainstream”. The reasons for it are very complex and for a better understanding, it would need a separate interview or article, only for this topic. I see myself in competition with brands of complete different standards and qualities. That makes it complicated and means that I have to think about how I want to survive in the coming years with my products and how my brand has to be positioned and organized accordingly.



GABRIELA:  Each year a lot of new features and products are flooding the market, but you stand against the tide. For this reason all of your creations represents a highly anticipated event. Could you tell us what do you think about the market?
VERO: I feel the “market” as a very confusing one, and probably it is even more confusing for the consumer. What it was referred to so-called “niche”, today has no correlation with it. The term "niche" is no longer relevant, since it is now called “Artistic Perfumery”, which can fit everything! It could be a simple fragrance or a candle, bought in an airport shop, as well as a creation with elaborate packaging sold at 1000 euros, and even more! The scent itself plays a marginal role, the most important thing is to stay THERE, in the market!
Almost every day I can see new products or entire brands appearing with the same old scents, bottles and stories. Everything is so predictable, uninspired, banal... no surprises, sometimes even barefaced copied, it's just a never-ending sea of products! With a sheer mass of constantly new products, a sort of trivialization and vulgarization took place.
For me, it's important not to get too strongly influenced by these developments. I know exactly where -and why- I walk along a direction. There are great and loyal clientele behind me that not only love and appreciate my fragrances deeply, but also is growing slowly - for that, I am so eternally grateful! 



GABRIELA:  In your creations do you feel a liaison with classic perfumery, or do you prefer to explore new horizons and to test innovative raw materials instead?
VERO: Each new creation means reaching new horizons. In fact, I have a strong affinity to classical creations. Not only have I learned to create in the old classical style during my studies in Paris, I also have been wearing for a long time so-called "classical" scents. Especially Guerlain fragrances, as Vol de Nuit, Jicky, L'Heure Bleue, Mitsouko, but also Shocking by Schiaparelli, or Féminité du Bois and Ambre Sultan, both by Serge Lutens. So, wearing these scents surely had effects, but beside the fact that it’s virtually impossible for me to buy “new molecules”, it doesn’t matter if this raw material is an older or newer one. The critical aspect is whether it fits (or not) into the concept, into the idea of my creation.
It often happens that I try new products, but I turn back to the old ones. The choice of a specific raw material is for me a matter of personal aesthetics and style. Thus, the creation will receive a certain personal touch, a personal style, which is recognizable again by the consumer. And above all, the inspirational idea behind the creation is very important, it determines in my case the selection of raw materials, and not vice versa. The fragrance has always to be seen in its entirety, and for me the idea or originality it’s most important than the raw materials used (such as precious absolutes being awesomely mentioned or enumerated, but used in the dilution of  0.001, i.e. practically not perceptible anymore….). So at the end I’d say my style is neither classical nor modern - it is simply my style, the “Vero style” – it’s hundred percent authentic!



GABRIELA: Let's talk about historical perfumes: do you have your own favourite fragrance? And if so, which one… and why?
VERO: My all-time favourite perfume has been Vol de Nuit by Guerlain …the simple name makes me to dream. All of the Guerlain’s have been very complex and Vol de Nuit was no exception. This fragrance has been following me for a long time; it was a kind of signature scent. I see wearing scents as a part of my identity and personality, part of my story. Vol de Nuit has something mysterious; the scent is cool and warm, sweet and bitter, very elegant but not aloof. It has a frivolous side, something light-footed that feels like being newly in love…simply irresistible. I really fell daily in love with this scent.




GABRIELA: Remaining on historical perfumes discussion, and since you are an expert in aromatherapy and essential oils, could you name just a few particularly "well-crafted scents",  considering the composition, raw materials, accords, ...briefly, what are the high-quality historical scents according to you ?
VERO: For a long time I studied fragrance quality, by visiting repeatedly the Osmothèque in Versailles. Here I studied a variety of scents and even whole lines such as Coty, Houbigant, Balmain, Guerlain, Patou, Caron and many more. I was interested in how and from what these fragrances have been made of. Jeannine Mongin and Jean Kerléo from the Osmothèque founding team got me into this lost world. But finally fragrances are perceived very individually and therefore it is relatively difficult to give any quality recommendations…. I believe that quality can only be determined through the comparison of different products and by pros working by agreed criteria. My personal goal is to produce good smelling scents that satisfy my high expectations and those of my clients. I work daily with scents and in my professional life I wear mainly those that are currently being processed! I use whenever possible, cosmetics, cleaning products, detergents etc., perfume free. This kind of perfuming bothers me not only in my work; I find it often simply awful and boring. I sometimes love to wear natural fragrance in form of concretes or pure absolutes beside orange blossom and rose water, and occasionally I layer these with my own creations – totally ingenious...
However, back to your question: the only modern line with unique quality is for me Hermessence by Hermes. I love the work of Jean-Claude Ellena. It combines art, technique, originality, spirit, all-together, and this is ultimately the quality of a good fragrance. For me, Jean Claude Ellena is by far the only master perfumer - all those calling so, actually walk a bit in too large shoes.



GABRIELA: Your scents in some cases are inspired to well defined artistic suggestions, as Mito that refers to Villa d'Este in Tivoli or Rozy, which is a tribute to the great Anna Magnani. Will we then think that a perfume can be able to go beyond the olfactory memory and the emotion of the moment and become a true artwork for the contemporary and for posterity?
VERO: In my scents I put in evidence real experiences like in Mito with the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, an experience that impressed me and that I wanted to capture olfactorily, like a liquid diary. But there are also characters I chose, such as Anna Magnani, a woman with a strong charisma, simultaneously powerful and vulnerable. I grew up with Anna, she has been a very important role model. Rozy reflects Anna Magnani's unique attributes, they are universal, timeless and gender free – by no coincidence Anna was an actress. 
By creating, I feel very much as a movie director. I determine the scene being played, the different raw materials are the actors, and going together we create an olfactory drama or dream. The point is to bring NATURE and CULTURE in a unique combination, philosophically and timeless that enjoys the audience, stays for a while and then fades away again… silently and invisibly, like a ghost lost in infinite universe.




GABRIELA: And finally, do you have any future project that you can anticipate?
VERO: I have many plans, but most are not ready yet. The next adventure will be a new creation planned to appear during this year. I hope many of you will enjoy it…..be surprised!



Vero Kern is the nose of .vero.profumo founded in 2007
Vero Kern's creations are: kiki – onda - rubj - mito – rozy.
Each fragrance is presented in three formats: Extrait de parfum, Eau de parfum,
Voile d'extrait
website .vero.profumo :     http://www.veroprofumo.com/