FRANCESCA BIANCHI

"After I graduated in History of Art in Florence, my passion for perfume making started, by a book on natural perfumery and a handful of essential oils. At the time, I was also into Alchemy, though it took me a while to understand the connection with perfume making. Since then, I've been studying and experimenting. I have resided in many cities - Florence, Berlin, Luxembourg, Amsterdam - while working in art book publishing. 

My perfumes are conceived and fully handcrafted by me from initial spark to final bottling and packing in my laboratory in Amsterdam. I take care not only of creation but also of producing the concentrate, filtering it, and packing each perfume by hand. The constant search for quality material is not just crucial for the achievement of the perfume, but is an ever-lasting passion to which I am compelled to surrender. 

Actual circumstances, states of mind and intuitions fraught with a troubling, sensorial, emotional or spiritual meaning are the source of my inspiration. These are my epiphanies. I am not interested in merely copying their smell, but in conjuring them up and at the same time, expressing the emotional thrill I experience during these epiphanic occurrences.

The creation of a perfume is a very long and complex process, and it takes me a hermit life to devise a formula which I then blend, holding my breath at every drop I add as in a sacred ritual. At those ecstatic and silent moments, I feel like an alchemist which through a transformation gives  birth to something new, which is not the simple addition of different materials. " - Francesca Bianchi