Italian perfumer Lorenzo Villoresi has won this year’s Prix François Coty, a prize given to “artistes parfumeurs” in recognition of their achievements in the field…
New perfume: Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut
Lorenzo Villoresi will launch Alamut, his latest perfume for women, in early June; expect to see it in the US by July. The fragrance is described as the “rich, opulent and velvety flowers of a Thousand and One Nights, dreams of secret gardens in the moonlight of the fresh Oriental nights”.
The top notes include osmanthus, rose, jasmin, rosewood and exotic flowers…
Fragrance review: Lorenzo Villoresi Musk
Of all the Villoresi fragrances, Musk is by far my favorite. Perhaps the least astringent, and one of the easier to wear fragrances, Musk by Lorenzo Villoresi has notes of galbanum, flowers, cardamom, geranium, rose, musk, amber, sandalwood, rosewood and oakmoss.
Musk begins with nearly all of its key players present — I can immediately detect the floral notes juxtaposed against a warm woody base, highlighted by the sandalwood and musk, and sweetened by a touch of amber. What sets this scent apart from other musk fragrances is the following: 1) I don’t get that hairspray effect as I do with many other musk scents, 2) this is not an animalic musk — no fecal, cumin or civet notes, and 3) the floral notes (especially the rose) create a rather bright and soft top bouquet that is quite unusual in a musk composition…
Fragrance of the day: Lorenzo Villoresi Dilmun
Dilmun is one of the fragrances in Lorenzo Villoresi’s ready-made line. It was released in 2000. The name refers to an ancient city that is thought to have been located on what are now the islands of Bahrain. Dilmun was known in Sumerian lore as a place where death and disease did not exist and all men lived in peace; the legends surrounding Dilmun are said to have influenced the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden. The fragrance notes are citrus, rose, jasmine, orange blossom, green leaves, neroli, petitgrain, laurel, opoponax, incense, floral extracts, elemi, vanilla, cedarwood and sandalwood.
Dilmun opens on bright, sweet citrus and orange blossom tinged with green…
Lorenzo Villoresi ~ an interview
Florentine perfumer Lorenzo Villoresi came to the fragrance business in a rather round-about way. After studying psychology at the University of Florence, he spent a year in New York before returning to Italy to complete degrees in philosophy and religion. Subsequent travels in North Africa and the Middle East sparked an interest in spices and other fragrant materials, and eventually he was asked to create fragrances for friends, and then scented candles for Fendi.
He officially launched his own business in 1990, and continues to create custom perfumes in addition to his ready-made line. His next fragrance release will be Alamut, an oriental scent that should launch in February or March of next year.
I understand that you have a degree in philosophy, and I am wondering what career you would have pursued if you had not become a perfumer?
Theoretically I would have become a kind of Academic, a researcher in Ancient Philosophy or perhaps I would have moved rather towards the Ancient past: Sumerian or Acadian culture, Semitics, Ancient Minor Asian Thought or even Anthropology…