Tag: D’Otto

Scented Stories: Exploring D’OTTO’s Literature Collection

D’OTTO’s Literature Collection is a perfumed paeon to the house’s singular belief that fragrance, like art, can leave an indelible mark in our scent memories, as well as treasuring the words of the classics they’re inspired by. Think of the scents as a seamless interweaving of culture and olfaction, offering scents as bold as the heroines within, and the fearless authors who wrote these iconic novels.

From its inception, and as you can read all about in our page dedicated to the house, D’OTTO has pursued a vision beyond decorative perfumery. Known for breaking all constraints, the house draws on iconic art and the elemental power of creative rebellion to craft what can truly be called ‘liquid art’. The vessels they’re housed in are important objects in themselves – offered as physical manifestations of modern perfume rituals. And the scents within, a kind of coded, sensorial rebellion rewriting rules and experiences. D’OTTO’s namesake, the figure eight, stands as an infinite talisman for the house, looping and spiralling in perpetual motion, just as art and scent bypass the ordinary and can carry us into their own dimensions.

 

 

And the perfumer for the house? Co-Founder Paolo Terenzi: A third-generation Italian perfumer, Paolo is respected for his endless creativity, as well as being a professional musician and poet.

Now, D’OTTO is pivoting from visual art towards the written word in their perfumed inspirations – having previously paid homage to painters such as Jackson Pollock, Kandinsky, and Mondrian; this time the focus is the written word, and beyond that, the seismic impact of women who didn’t write merely to entertain, but to shift the understanding of women’s voices in literature – and in history.

Let’s explore the perfume beneath the pages…

 

 

Firstly, the D’OTTO fragrance 4×2 evokes Jane Eyre with remarkable fidelity: opening in a shimmer of lily of the valley and tuberose, (that last heady bloom noting this is no nod to innocence). The heart, thrumming with bourbon vanilla and myrrh, reflects Brontë’s quietly radical spirit, while the warmly resinous, glimmering amber-y heat of the base offers a final, lingering impression of rebellious yearning. It is the restrained power of passion written in scent, mirroring Jane’s insistence on forging her own story.

£245 for 100ml extrait de parfum harrods.com

 

 

8×1 meanwhile sweeps us to the wild Yorkshire moors of Wuthering Heights, distilling its storm-tossed intensity into perfume form. A tart, exhilarating onset of rhubarb (for which Yorkshire is famed), orange and lemon yields to a floral-woody heart, with chamomile and waxy magnolia stained by intense cassis. The finishing base is all drama, with cashmere, woodlands and musks conjuring unyielding love and a sense of looming thunder. It’s unapologetic, passionate and elementally evocative.

£295 for 100ml extrait de parfum harrods.com

 

 

Completing the trio is 1×8, an earlier D’OTTO creation, now firmly re-contextualised as part of this literary tapestry. Dedicated to Jane Austen’s Emma, 1×8 is a delicate play of airy brightness, an intelligent, romantic swirl that perfectly suits those moments of wit and social intrigue. Its balance of lightness and depth sits as comfortably on a crisp autumn afternoon as the novels themselves sit by our firesides.

£295.00 for 100ml extrait de parfum harrods.com

At The Perfume Society, we’re captivated by the prospect of pairing classic re-reads with these fragrances: imagining the world of each heroine not only through words, but on the skin. It becomes possible, for a moment, to sense both the author’s own pulse and, if you will, the novel’s ‘emotional weather’ in each waft we wear…

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Eau de Austen: Regency Perfumery & Modern Interpretations

What fragrance would Jane Austen have worn, we wonder? From delving in to the world of Regency perfumery in England, and exploring the historic houses proudly still thriving today, to exploring a contemporary niche house evoking one of Austen’s most famous heroines, we invite you join us in this fascinating slice of Regency scented reveries.

This year marks 250 years of Jane Austen’s birth, and the Jane Austen Society have a number of fabulous events planned to celebrate. But what perfumes might Jane and her contemporaries (and the characters in the novels) have picked up on a shopping trip in Regency London? You can click on the links to be whisked back in time to explore their brand pages, read their full scented stories and discover some of the original olfactive treats…

 

 

 

In spring 1799, an enterprising young man named James Atkinson set forth from the wilds of Cumberland for London. In his suit pocket were recipes for fine fragrances and toiletries he’d created himself. And next to him sat a generous amount of rose-scented bear grease balm. (Yes, really.) Even more extraordinarily, next to the balm sat a real, live bear who – so the tale goes – was utterly devoted to James. Mr. Atkinson opened a shop at 44 Gerrard Street, with Atkinsons being referred to as ‘that marvellous perfume shop with the most terrifying bear’. And James’s reputation was made… thankfully with rather more fragrant offerings. In 1800 launching a ‘fearlessly English’ eau de Cologne, which was strikingly different from the Italian-style Colognes: fresh, yes – but warm and spicy, too.

 

 

 

Yardley, too, has a proud (and VERY long) perfumed heritage, and happens to be named Yardley for the similarly feisty woman The firm has its formal roots in 1770, when the soap and perfumery firm known to us as Yardley London was established by the father of a man called William Cleaver. It got its so-familiar ‘Yardley’ name after a young woman called Hermia Yardley (daughter of the wealthy and ambitious businessman William Yardley), married William Cleaver – heir to his father’s soap and perfumery business. Young William persuaded Coutts Banking House to loan the business the sum of £20,000 (astonishing for those times), with his father-in-law as guarantor. When he couldn’t repay the loan, Hermia persuaded her father pay up – and thus, because of Hermia’s determinism and belief, Yardley came to be Yardley…

 

There’s some interesting snippets of information about Regency perfumery in the always-fascinating janeausten.co.uk, and they mention one of the U.K’s most famous (and still-thriving) perfumeries…

 

 

Floris. It’s an extraordinary chapter in British perfumery – even if its founder, Juan Famenias Floris, happens to have been Spanish by birth, travelling to London to seek his fortune. Step inside the shop at 89 Jermyn Street, then, and you are truly stepping into fragrance history. This is a house first founded in 1730, which is still operating out of its original premises, run by members of that same family. Many literary luminaries have graced the shop’s infamous customer ledger [Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein and wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, wrote from abroad asking a friend to send in her next care package ‘two hairbrushes and a small toothbrush,’ from the store.] And in 1820 – the very end of the Regency era – Floris received its first of 16 Royal Warrants.

Meanwhile, modern perfume houses are very much infused with the spirit of literary inspirations – a subject we have often referred back to, and will certainly cover again, such is the extent of literature’s olfactory influence.

 

 

We were particularly thrilled when the always-creative house of D’OTTO sought scented inspiration in none other than Jane Austen as part of their Harrods-exclusive Literary Collection. [For reviews of the latest two Brontë fragrances by D’Otto, do see our soon-to-be-launched Summer edition of The Scented Letter magazine, and make sure you’re signed up to get your free digital copy as soon as it’s published!]

As D’OTTO explain:

‘The 1×8 Extrait de Parfum draws its inspiration from Jane Austen’s “Emma,” and her iconic quote,“Why did we wait for anything? Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!”

1×8 encapsulates the elegance, grace, and intelligence of Emma, the novel’s leading lady. Its lively notes recall the energy and vitality of youth combined with the romance and torment of a young woman as she grows up and her feelings mature.

A drop of this creation offers up lighthearted joy and the desire to discover the world. It is a testament to the irrepressible desire to experience every emotion intensely, with determination, passion, and self-confidence. 1×8 captures the essence of a daring soul, one that does not allow itself to be tamed by life’s challenges…’

Currently £206.50 harrods.com

So, which perfume might you plump for – to join in the costume parties, balls, games and literary gatherings celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary? (Or, of course, simply to wear when re-reading one of her still-sparkling novels) Might you be tempted by the modern evocation, or also want to explore the historic houses? In the spirit of Emma (and Austen herself), we say: dare to ‘seize the pleasure’ of several!

Written by Suzy Nightingale

 

 

The art-inspired scents of D’Otto (and how to get samples!)

Art and fragrance are so closely entwined – and here at The Perfume Society, we have long held that fine fragrance creation truly is an art form. We were thrilled when the Italian niche house of D’Otto launched in 2022, with their ‘liquid art’ concept blurring these boundaries even further – each exquisite fragrance forming its inspiration directly from a major modern artwork. D’Otto explains…

 

‘Visual artists express themselves through shape and colour, free from rigid boundaries and expectations. Musical artists express themselves through chord progressions and note expressions. Perfumers transmit emotional messages by composing fragrances with olfactory notes and accords. These approaches in both art and perfumery are inextricably linked – forms of communication and powerful sources of human emotion that speak to our inner child, bringing memories to the forefront of our minds in an instant.’

 

 

Little wonder this collection is so artistically conceived and beautifully realised, being the brainchild of talented third-generation Italian perfumer, Paolo Terenzi. An ‘unconventional storyteller and musician with a professional background including a degree in law and philosophy, studies in chemistry and physics and a lifelong passion for poetry; Paolo can trace his artistic inclinations back through his family’s bloodline, to 15th Century Rimini and ‘the nobleman Gabriele Terenzi, lover of art and alchemy, who died around 1450.

We love the way each scent is described, referencing the material the artist who inspired the fragrance worked with, the colours they used and even the types of brushstroke or their signature style. This is a much more visceral way of understanding a fragrance’s character, and how it might translate to being worn on our skin, than simply listing ingredients (many of which we might not have had the opportunity to smell in isolation or be familiar with).

Thrillingly, you can try samples of D’Otto to experience the fragrant artistry for yourself, in two of The Perfume Society’s Discovery Boxes…

 

For the Launches To Love Discovery Box  – £23 / £19 for VIP members – we chose D’Otto 1+7. 

FAMILY: FOUGERE
TOP NOTES: grapefruit, bergamot, lemon, petitgrain
HEART NOTES: orange blossom, sage, lavender, thyme
BASE NOTES: sandalwood, vetiver, musk, ambergris, oud

“Opening with luminous transparency, 1+7 is at first smooth and bright. An explosive and uplifting citrus bouquet of Calabrian bergamot, Sorrento lemon and Sicilian grapefruit, represents the canvas and flecks of white paint used in Number 31 by Jackson Pollock.”

 

 

And in the Scintillating Scents Discovery Box – £33 / £29 for VIPs – you’ll receive one of either D’Otto 2+6, 3+5, 5+3, or 6+2.

Read and dream at the evocative descriptions of each fragrance – and discover the fascinating full story behind the brand – on our page dedicated to the house of D’Otto.

In the meantime, while you wait for your samples to arrive, we wonder which iconic artistic works YOU think should be translated into a fragrance. What notes would they contain and what style of perfumery would best express that artist’s work? When asking people to close their eyes and imagine a fragrance in a more abstract form, we often encourage people to think of colours, artistic materials and brushstrokes – how wonderful, then, that D’Otto uses this artistic springboard for the creation of their own scents. We can’t wait to see (and smell!) the next in their collection…

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale