Fornasetti

For decades, the Milanese atelier Fornasetti has been known for a distinctive visual language featuring archetypical motifs and surreal compositions. Chief among them is the iconic woman’s face from the ‘Tema e Variazioni’ series that Fornasetti has repeatedly used in various iterations on a whole array of objects ever since 1952. The face is that of opera signer Lina Cavalieri, a celebrated beauty of the early 1900s. The poetic Fornasetti images also now form the basis of an Extrait de Parfum collection.

Paolo Terenzi, an experienced nose from the world of Italian niche perfumery, composed the three creations ‘Immaginazione’, ‘Frutto Proibito’ and ‘Giardino Segreto’, each with a strong character all its own. The highly individual identity of each fragrance is expressed visually in the glass bottles, which feature three different interpretations of the Cavalieri motif. The face remains the same but the accompanying attributes and the story behind them vary.

The way in which Fornasetti transfers the design of its objects to perfumery is not brand extension in the customary sense. Rather, it is the logical progression of a language that the atelier has cultivated from the beginning: imagination as a form of insight; memory as creative material.