Six hundred real roses, hanging from the ceiling and upside down, welcome me to Frédéric Malle’s boutique in downtown Milan. Welcomed by this upside-down, fiery-red garden and a light whiff of petals and stems, I enter what is the world of Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, which on this occasion has invited visual artist Pietro Terzini to dialogue with the world of the senses, in a limited edition series presented during Milan Design Week.
Peter, an artist who makes the written word his material, playing with symbols and meanings with that lightness that distinguishes him, has on this occasion reinvented the packaging of five historic fragrances of the Maison: Portrait of a Lady, Carnal Flower, Musc Ravageur, Promise and Contre-Jour. As he tells me, it was a four-handed creative process: driven by his curiosity, but at the same time held in balance by the already dense histories of each fragrance, each composed of rich imagery of distant notes and precious ingredients.
When I ask him about the creative process, he tells me that he has followed the same method with which he approaches his works, but letting the already so defined character of each perfume accompany him. For each, he was guided partly by the notes and dreams they evoke, and partly by his personal imagery, made up of love stories, elusive muses, disappointments and small battles. As in his works, the phrases are statements and questions at the same time: they say something about the fragrances, but also about us. They can be dedicated, given as gifts, become words to describe someone, or remain suspended as unspoken longings. Sighs, hopes, dreams. Somewhere between reality and fantasy this collaboration takes shape, simple in its bluntness so dreamy. The packaging echoes the color of each perfume: now black and thick as night, now bright green, then fiery red, yellow, or blue like the sky.
From phrases such as Some addictions have no way out to Sweet and Dangerous, his intervention appears as a natural extension of his work, applied, however, to already decanted stories. A true dialogue: partly driven by these fragrances, partly by his personal life. When I ask him about his relationship with the audience and with the installation in the space, he tells me that he was the one who insisted on these roses in reverse. He imagined flowers, a prime source of inspiration for the world of perfumery – a world that, he confides to me, he did not know in depth and for that very reason it was all the more valuable for him to explore. Flowers also become here a symbol of lightness, and the gesture of turning upside down what we experience every day, often without realizing it, becomes here the focus of something unexpectedly beautiful.
There is a subtle poetry to it all, simple in being so direct, almost literal, exactly like Terzini’s work. Each perfume, from the oriental story of Promise to the absolute rose of Portrait of a Lady, now a classic of contemporary perfumery, traverses different identities: five symbols, five possible characters among the many that make up the myriad of people who inhabit the world. When I ask Peter if he had felt attracted to one in particular, he responds with the essence of the project itself: namely, that of these 5 he is everything and none, and of all of them he therefore appreciates a fragment, to compose a summary of these 5 characters, in a hybrid identity that runs through them.
On the relationship with luxury, it tells me something precious, which seems to resonate in this small corner of the boutique, so fragrant and light: passion, beauty, the richness of nature and the world of the senses are perhaps the true luxury that we can indulge in today, regardless of price or cost.
Next to the question that runs through the project – What does unforgettable smell like? – it comes naturally to me to encapsulate its meaning in a phrase, borrowed from one of the five fragrances, Portrait of a Lady: iconic without trying. Because this dialogue is exactly that: iconic in its simplicity, straightforward and true, an encounter of creativity that combines beauty, senses, word and symbol, entering naturally into everyday life, belonging to all of us, five personalities among the infinite variations that make us up.
For those who would like to visit the boutique, the project is also accompanied by exclusive gifts made by the artist: a dedicated red tote bag, available with purchase, and an art print offered to visitors in three limited drop by reservation, all on Thursday, April 23 from 5 to 8 p.m., with Pietro Terzini present to sign the prints live; Friday, April 24 from 5 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, April 25 from 3 to 6 p.m.
[📷 Courtesy of Frédéric Malle]
