As the company that helped expand the international presence of Trudon and Fornasetti, United Perfumes are connoisseurs of luxury home fragrance. The latest brand bestowed with the honor of being on UP’s roster is Italian heritage brand Ginori 1735. The lifestyle company, part of the Kering Group since 2013, is one of the leading brands in porcelain craftsmanship, channeling this artistry into sophisticated living objects, drinkware, and tableware. In honor of its mission “to forward a modern Renaissance, a rebirth and rediscovery of the pleasure, personal expression, and art of everyday life,” it is now turning its attention towards scent in the form of candles, incense burners, and room diffusers.
“Our very first home fragrance collection is aimed at strengthening our positioning towards the high end of the luxury and lifestyle international market, as well as being increasingly close to a young and connected public,” Alain Prost, Chairman and CEO of Ginori 1735, tells BeautyMatter. “This new relationship [with United Perfumes] will consolidate our focus on reinterpreting our stylistic codes with a contemporary aesthetic vision, thus managing to return to our roots and achieve the ‘gracious audacious’ spirit that characterizes our idea of innovation within tradition.”
The La Compagnia Di Caterina collection, or LCDC for short, features refillable creations designed by Luca Nichetto, the founder of multidisciplinary design studio Nichetto Studio, whose work spans the worlds of fashion, furniture, and industrial design. Nichetto’s eye for detail certainly embellished the debut collection with some unexpected elements, from the Lucha Libre mask and Jean-Paul Goude illustration-inspired face sculptures on vessels, to the “light my fire” slogans cheekily adorning candle exteriors.
Equally as eye-catching is the color palette: shades of lilac, gray, fire-engine red, pale pink, and emerald (alongside the classic black and white) are paired with delicate gold accents, handmade at the Florence workshops of Ginori 1735. The scents filling said objects are also testament to artisanal legacies, created by prestigious family-owned perfume house Jean Niel, with creative direction by Nichetto. “The scents were studied to be unique and timeless, telling a memorable story, reawakening sensations and naturally disseminating a long-lasting scent. A symbolic sensory journey, between places and traditions, linking Florence and Paris,” Prost explains.
That journey is embodied in three fragrances: Purple Hill, a citrus and floral composition with juicy mandarin, relaxing lavender, and elegant white flowers and violet leaf resting atop a whitewood base; Orange Renaissance, a woody and uplifting fusion of fresh blackcurrant, invigorating mint, sweet honey, earthy Tuscan cypress, and sensual musk; and Black Stone, an amber-laced concoction with spicy notes of nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon, balanced by patchouli notes.
After debuting at Salone del Mobile in September 2021, the collection is now available at key international retailers such as Harrods, Bergdorf Goodman, and Lane Crawford, with two new fragrance releases planned for the third quarter of 2022.
For United Perfumes, the process doesn’t stop at distribution. Instead, the entire conception and creation of the LCDC collection was an ongoing and immersive collaboration between the company, Ginori 1735, and Nichetto. “Working with the Ginori team and Luca Nichetto on making the collection ‘fit for the category requirements’ has been very educative and creatively stimulating. Developing a brand-new product category through a very elevated concept is an exciting challenge,” Laurent Delafon, CEO at United Perfumes, adds.
The challenge is certainly worth the effort given the current boom in prestige and home fragrance sales. “There has been a general ‘upgrade’ in the type of products and brands consumers used during the pandemic while stuck at home, and they are not going back. If anything, the ‘decorative’ aspect of home fragrances has only gotten stronger,” Delafon notes. As for future activations, he states: “We are planning in-store installations with selected retailers, mixing the two universes of the brand: tabletop and home fragrances. This is a unique proposition that only Ginori 1735 currently offers on the marketplace.” After all, it’s the small but efficacious reminders that prove that la vita è bella (life is beautiful).
