Fornasetti Ventures Into World of Perfumes
The Fornasetti family oeuvre, which has historically been told in dreamlike faces, butterflies and celestial motifs, has been translated into scents by Italian perfumer Paolo Terenzi.
MILAN — Fornasetti, the Milanese design and decorative arts house, has ventured into the world of perfumes, the company said Thursday. With the debut of its extraits de parfum line, Fornasetti launched three different fragrances, a sensory introduction into its “dreamlike universe.”
“The extrait de parfum is the sublimation of this vision, an evocation of a memory, an image, capturing a moment to be remembered in the future by wearing a perfume,” the firm said in a statement.
The creation of the extraits de parfum is part of a broader project unveiled by Fornasetti in 2022, when it stepped into the world of home fragrances. Milanese artist Barnaba Fornasetti, the son of the late Piero Fornasetti, runs the furnitureto-decor firm his father started in the 1940s and is credited with propelling it into modern times, expanding the product offering, geographic reach and through a variety of collaborations.coal color), merlot red and ecru.
For this launch, he turned to the nose Paolo Terenzi, a collaboration that resulted in three distinct scents: Immaginazione (imagination), a woody, musky fragrance; Frutto Proibito (forbidden fruit), a floral bouquet mix, and Giardino Segreto (secret garden), distinguished by its fresh, green notes.
Terenzi co-helms Cereria Terenzi Evelino, a San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy-based, family-run company with deep roots in the olfactory world. Fornasetti explained that all of these scents were created using high-quality natural extracts sourced from sustainable suppliers, a network of small growers around the world who were carefully selected for the excellence of their harvests of flowers, fruits, spices, woods and resins.
Famed beauty and opera singer Lina Cavalieri, who rose to fame at the turn of the 20th century, is depicted on the perfume packaging, as well as the octagonal shaped bottle crafted with a magnifying glass effect and topped with a marbled resin cap.
The Fornasetti extrait de parfum collection is available from the Fornasetti stores in Milan, on its website, at
Harrods in London, as well as through a hand-picked network of distributors. A 100 ml bottle is currently priced online at 480 euros.