New Releases from Tiziana Terenzi: interview with Paolo Terenzi

by: Evgeniya Chudakova

Evgeniya: Hello Paolo! Finally we can talk about Tiziana Terenzi's novelties more in depth. During Pitti Fragranze I've been able to try all three. I did like Al Contrario for it being full, opulent and very elegant at the same time.

Paolo: Oh, thank you! This perfume is really made for very educated people [smiling]. It's not easy to wear, not easy to understand. It's on the edge of the niche and artistic line in my point of view. You see, I feel that unfortunately I matured in a certain way and these three new creations are like some kind of a new breath of my world, of the experience I now have, because I feel different from what I've done in the past. It always stays within my signature way of working of course, but this is something that is more cosy and it's also, I'd say, a little bit ironic. So, playing with this slight gourmand touch and balancing Al Contrario with malt, which is such an uncommon raw material in perfumery, brought this fragrance in the bitter gourmand area. It’s balanced with birch wood and sandalwood in the drydown, which are responsible for the perfume to be long lasting... I think it's a nice creation.

Evgeniya: And I experience  - though it can be just a trick of the imagination – a certain light animalic note here, as well.

Paolo: Yes, you are right, because the woody part of the base accord has this animalic touch. And also the malt during its maturation gives these animalic notes. So, your feeling could be correct. I'm very proud of this creation.

Evgeniya: What I like about it - is it's structure. It's really very supple, homogenic and perfectly balanced. I also have a question about your other novelty - Orion. If I'm not mistaken, I see a recent trend for some thick, pulpy and juicy fruity accords. And such accords are evident in your perfumesCassiopea and Andromeda as well.

Paolo: And Draco too, I think. The idea is that for me this fruity part really comes from my heritage. Because my grandfather was a perfumer and he created his own perfumes with the ingredients he extracted himself. Fruity accords were the most frequent ingredients that he used, along with flowers. He used pear, mandarin, grapefruit, apple and pineapple as well. So it's easy for me and quite logical to play with fruity notes, it's part of my childhood. I remember the time when my grandfather did the distillation, so, using these fruity accords is like playing with my boy-toys.

Evgeniya: What is interesting is that previously, most fruity accords were of a different structure – I’m used to fruits in perfumes that feel less juicy with a more grainy touch, often powdery, and these ones are more like expressionist paintings with thick lines, very raw and even wild. Do you use a special technique of extraction (if I understand correctly and these ingredients are all-natural)?

Paolo: Yes, these components are natural and you noticed it right. Expressive is the right word. I always wanted to use some ingredients that are different. For me it's  not important to keep the perfume sounding the same with every batch - I think it's important to let Nature speak for itself. I just follow Nature. If I take a pear, I have a pear. And if the juice is different with the same pyramid of the previous year - I don't care. I take a risk to move in this direction without any compromise. And yes, it's an  expressive way, a splash even maybe. Of course I do some fine tuning of the perfumes, but it's not of the ultimate importance. So, we just use what Nature gives us and if people like the result of our job, they buy it.

Evgeniya: Could you just in a couple of words tell us what is behind each scent? The nature of the juice itself comes first, but it's also interesting to know what inspired you.

Paolo: Of course, there is always the story behind every perfume. So, Kirkè - it's an image of the south of Italy, not far from Rome, where there is a beautiful place, a natural park that is called Circe. It's very famous because in the past, during the Roman period, a witch named Circe was said to live there, attracting sailors. It was she who attracted also Ulysses. This lady was famous for transforming all men in pigs. And as I said, this perfume is also very ironic - it depicts a fatal lady, so it's sexy, and also you can feel the landscape of a summer night close to the sea, there is an evident marine effect, the feeling of a sea breeze in Kirke. At the same time, you can feel the warm sand. I'm sure that if you close your eyes and sniff Kirke, you can imagine a night at the sea-shore.

View from Cape Circe

For Al Contrario, which means Opposite side, the story is as follows - I always used to talk about my journeys and my stays far away from my home; this time I'm coming back home. I wanted to create this particular feeling when you are happy and sad at the same time. Sad - because you have left some place you enjoyed, but happy since you are coming home with confidence and something new in your soul. So, your mood is harmonized with a new experience and at the same time you have eyes again for your countryside, the roof of your house, the trees around it. And you feel at home, you feel love in you. That's why Al Contrario is gourmand, because it feels warm. When I would come back from my journeys, my grandmother would be cooking an apple cake, so, this is the feeling of the fireplace, the feeling of my home.

And Orion is something very special for me, because - you know that the Luna collection scents are related to my childhood, when Tiziana and I went on journeys with our grandfather  - and this particular one is very important to me as I love sailing, thanks to my father, who told me a lot about the sea, about how to sail, about boats. We would stay on the boat of my father and sail to Ancona, not far away from my home town, and there is a very nice mountain named Conero, surrounded with fruity trees and flowers descending to the sea, and there is a bay where we would moor our boat and look at the stars. Those nights, our grandfather spoke about Orion, the very famous constellation. And there was a  breeze coming from the mountain, because at night the temperature of the sea differs from the temperature of the ground and it creates a breeze that blows from the shore. This breeze brings the scents of nature around you - you feel the scent of fruit gardens and it's fantastic.

Evgeniya: I know that with Al Contrario there is another interesting fact...

Paolo: Yes, with columns. It's some kind of an apothropaic sign of our collection. You know we have now five 'columns' in the building of our brand and this one 's made like an upside down bottle, which is not coincidental. In Roman architecture, there was a tradition in building temples and houses to put all the columns in the right position and one was put upside down.

Evgeniya: Thank you Paolo! And finally what about these new candles?

Paolo: These candles with gold finishing are dedicated to the Luna Collection - they repeat the scents of its fragrances. They have also gold plated cups , which looks really nice.

Evgeniya: Thank you so much for this conversation, Paolo, and good luck!