Aromatic Sensations
ICONIC FRAGRANCE | Chiara Melani
A journey through the senses and creative design, fine craftsmanship and centuries-old trade with the Orient: this is The Merchant of Venice, the lagoon city’s high perfumery. Created in 2013, it includes a range of product lines inspired by Venetian traditions, created by the Vidal family.
It represents an invigorating journey through the history of perfumes and customs, expressed in a vast range of Eaux de Parfums and Eaux de Toilettes. It is a brand that was born as a cultural project, then evolved into a museum of perfumes, a synesthetic sensory experience in collaboration with the Teatro La Fenice, and two historic remodeled pharmacies in Venice: the Antica Farmacia in San Fantin and the renowned Speziera all’Ercole d’Oro in Santa Fosca.
“Light and aromatic sensations” found in a context of tradition, innovation, memory and contemporaneity; The Merchant of Venice brings life to ancient jewels, bearing today’s new fragrance ideas and collector’s items. Within this alchemist’s laboratory, there is a celebration of the balance between a unique space and the presentation of sophisticated fragrances. Special attention has been given to lighting choices, including LED lighting with projections and backlighting to highlight the exceptional wooden features and high aesthetic quality of the glass bottles in the Mercante.[/vc_column_text]
Venetian merchants imported raw materials, spices, stones, and essential oils from their exotic sea voyages to Mediterranean ports, organized in naval caravans called mude.
This is the inspiration for The Merchant of Venice’s entire line, and in particular olfactory pyramids of the Murano Collection, 6 scents – Flower Fusion, Byzantium Saffron, Noble Potion, Mandarin Carnival, Suave Petals, Asian Inspirations – in bottles inspired by the Murano Glass Masters’ ancient creations.
From artisan canework to ornate glass production, each bottle is specifically designed to convey beauty with a brightness that gives stylistic elegance to the highest ambition of the senses. Three new fragrances join the exclusive collection of six Extraits de Parfums, enriching innovative fragrance trends with the use of the finest and rarest materials.
These new proposals center around hints of the Orient, combining the elegance and preciousness of rose and orchid with refined woody notes. Exclusive Extraits de Parfums are bottled in elegant 30ml fialoide – traditional glass vials from historic pharmacies – infused with a high concentration of essential oils for exceptional long-lasting scents.
Each fialoide can elegantly fit in six different vases, which feature colors that evoke the many facets of a city as unique as Venice. It isn’t just an exquisite fragrance, but also an elegant and sophisticated complement to furnishings.
“Splendor made of pillars and frames, of tympanums, elaborate panels and spiral volutes, of symbolic figures and statues which so wonderfully intensify and beautify the large solid wood cabinets, and the mighty doors, smiling and assisted by the light reflections of beautiful vases all carefully aligned in perfect order, from the furnishings […] to the extensively painted mezzanine in the elegant configuration of its beams”. Carlo Pedrazzini (in “The Historic and Artistic Italian Pharmacy,” Milan, Edizioni Vittoria, 1934)
