04 Apr Esxence 2017 closes with more than 7,000 visitors Artistic Perfumery conquers Milan… and the world
Milan, 28 March 2017 – The doors of the Garden of Eden have closed on the ninth edition of Esxence – The Scent of Excellence, the international Artistic Perfumery Event that has spent the last four days bringing the excellence of this amazing world to Milan, as one edition after another attracts increasing numbers of active visitors – parent houses, distributors, retailers, buyers and consumers – in the sector. The event’s visitor numbers decreed its success – nearly 7,500 professionals and enthusiasts from all over the world – and confirmed it as a leader in the field, a factor that is all the more significant if we consider that the Salon is a pure, representative showcase of perfumery stories, the kind that generates curiosity and involvement, while forging interest in combining future business deals. The activity of promoting olfactory culture, a mission intrinsic to Esxence, was once again made possible by an excellent array of exhibitors – no less than 212 selected brands of artistic perfumery and niche cosmetics – and an agenda of events available free of charge and open to an enthusiastic public of proven fidelity that increases with every annual edition, encouraged by word of mouth recommendations and the sheer passion that this community is capable of inspiring.
ESXENCE 2017: THE EVENT’S VITAL STATISTICS
– 212 brands exhibited (+3% over 2016), classified as 79 Main Brands, 113 Spotlights, and 20 cosmetics brands showing in the third edition of Esxkin – The Excellence of Beauty, the section devoted to excellence in international skincare;
– more than 6,000 m2 of exhibition space;
– exhibiting brands coming from 16 countries (Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, the United States, the Principality of Monaco, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Croatia, Qatar, Ireland, Turkey and Saudi Arabia), with more than 70% of exhibitors coming from abroad (and over 30% from France);
– 7,410 (+5%) visitors, both business operatives and enthusiasts, from all over the world;
– business visitors accounting for no less than 73% of total visitor numbers, and a rate of 78% of all professional visitors coming from abroad;
– 19 conferences and meetings organised in the events calendar, tailored both for enthusiasts and for those with a professional interest, featuring input from international experts, authors of important publications and journal articles, researchers and scholars, who analysed specific aspects of the sector, but also evolutions, trends and innovations, without forgetting their history, creativity and permutations and combinations in the world. Complete recordings and the proceedings of all the conferences are already available from the section devoted to them on the website and on the Event’s channels.
“Esxence is the event that breaks out of the mould: ever since its first edition, it has contributed to nourishing and catering for a rapidly and constantly growing market, offering an unparalleled opportunity that combines business and contents, economic data and cultural studies relative to the Artistic Perfumery sector”, comments Maurizio Cavezzali, co-founder of Esxence and President of Equipe International, which has been organising the Fair since 2009. “Ours is a world of activists who return to this event, year after year, on the one hand to introduce themselves to the business market and, on the other, to get an incomparable overview of the state of the art.”
“Esxence is the only event taking place anywhere in the world today with the ability to represent research and development of projects in Artistic Perfumery, whose success is possible because of its increasing co-operation with the key players”, states Silvio Levi, co-founder of the event and President of its Technical Committee. “Our aim is to nourish this sector with new ideas and new fragrances, making space for the ones that will be celebrated as masterpieces in ten years’ time.”
THE CONCEPT
In the very heart of Milan’s most modern skyline, the Artistic Perfumery Fair welcomed the public to an evocative corner of earthly paradise: the Garden of Eden, the purest dimension of creativity and of the expression of imagination, with the potential to reawaken senses that can only perceive the most harmonious and refined of fragrances when they are here. Artistic Perfumery is the key to enter this perfect world and Esxence is the appointment that once again this year enabled professionals and enthusiasts to access it, as the custodian of this ethereal art, so free and kaleidoscopic. The concept was inspired by the number marking this edition, the celestial and quintessentially angelic number nine, which stands for perfection and eternity, the number three multiplied by itself. Nine is also the number of creativity and of creative force: the number of months for a new child’s life to come to fruition. And a life that is perfect in all its dimensions is eminently well represented by the Garden of Eden.
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE FIRST FRAGRANCE MANIFESTO
A Special Guest at this 9th edition was the master perfumier Christophe Laudamiel, considered the sector’s enfant terrible, who chose Esxence to launch his Fragrance Manifesto. The pamphlet Liberté, Égalité, Fragrancité was the topic of a talk show, where Christophe illustrated the aim of this important, revolutionary document: to inspire people, motivate them and encourage them to embrace the Manifesto, taking it into their everyday lives, promoting it as an opportunity of education in olfactory culture, learning to sniff and smell, creating fragrances and knowing how to appreciate and examine them, emphasising the context of craftsmanship that enables this sector to flourish. In addition, a panel of professionals from different backgrounds – fashion, food and art – discussed three focal issues to give some definitive answers to some common uncertainties: recognition of the master perfumier’s artistic talent on a par with that of a musician or a sculptor; the levels of environmental sustainability and the state of the art with respect to local cultures and economic systems that perfumery can boast, unlike other commercial sectors considered to be more highly evolved; the false perception of a market that is considered to be saturated because of the lack of skills and complete understandings that would enable consumers to find their way around the extensive range on offer internationally and choose on the basis of criteria of quality and of excellence.
FINALISTS OF THE 4TH EDITION OF THE ART AND OLFACTION AWARDS ANNOUNCED
Once again this year, the International Artistic Perfumery Event was chosen as the official stage for announcing the finalists of the fourth edition of the Art and Olfaction Awards, the prestigious prize for independent creators of Artistic Perfumery based in Los Angeles. The winners of the famous “Golden Pear” in each category will be announced on 6 May, during the award presentation ceremony due to be held in the Silent Green Kulturquartier in Berlin.
For the Artisan category:
Baraonda by Nasomatto, the Netherlands – nose: Alessandro Gualtieri; Bruise Violet by Sixteen92, United States – nose: Claire Baxter; Ceremony by Mirus Fine Fragrance, United States – nose: Neal Peters; Fatih Sultan Mehmed by Fort & Manlé Parfum, Australia – nose: Rasei Fort Limestone by Thorn & Bloom, United States – nose: Jennifer Botto; Liquorice Vetiver by SP Parfums, Germany – nose: Sven Pritzkoleit; Mélodie de l’Amour by Parfums Dusita, France – nose: Pissara Umavijani;
Onycha by DHS Perfumes, United States – nose: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz; Rosuerrier by Pryn Parfum, Thailand – nose: Prim Lomros; Saffron by Aether Arts Perfume, United States – nose: Amber Jobin;
Vanilla and the Sea by Phoenix Botanicals, United States – nose: Irina Adam.
For the Independent category:
Absolue D’Osmanthe by Perris Monte Carlo, Monaco – nose: Gian Luca Perris and Jean Michel Santorini; Altruist by J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin, Germany – nose: Lutz Herrmann and Véronique Nyberg; Anti any by Atelier PMP, Germany – nose: Stefanie Mayr, Daniel Plettenberg with Mark Buxton, David Chieze; Belle de Jour by Eris Parfums, United States/France – nose: Barbara Herman with Antoine Lie; Civet by Zoologist, Canada – nose: Victor Wong with Shelley Waddington; Close Up by Olfactive Studio, France – nose: Céline Verleure with Annick Mennardo; Fanthom V by BeauFort London, United Kingdom – nose: Leo Crabtree with Julie Marlowe; Lankaran Forest by Maria Candida Gentile Maitre Parfumeur, Italy – nose: Maria Candida Gentile; Team Maître Chausseur by Extrait d’Atelier, Italy – nose: Chiara Ronzani, Perfumier Not Disclosed; Romanza by Masque Milano, Italy – nose: Alessandro Brun + Riccardo Tedeschi with Cristiano Canali; Stones by Atelier de Geste, United States – nose: Beau Rhee with Irina Nesa.
For the Sadakichi Award, dedicated to experimental projects with essences:
The Feelies: Multisensory Storytelling, United Kingdom – Grace Boyle with Nadjib Achaibou; Is This Mankind, Belgium – Peter de Cupere with various perfumiers; Osmodrama Berlin /Smeller 2.0, Germany – Wolfgang Georgsdorf with various perfumiers; Paradise Paradoxe, Switzerland – Elodie Pong with an anonymous perfumier, Smell of Data, Netherlands – Leanne Wijsma and Froukje Tan with ScentAir.
NATIONAL PERFUME DAY
Esxence – The Scent of Excellence took part in the first edition of the National Perfume Day, established by the Academy of Perfume, on the day of the spring equinox, 21 March. Esxence promoted the #MemorieProfumate competition, for all four days of the event showing the ten winning photographs chosen by the public that best capture the emotions, memories and magic that perfume is capable of triggering. In addition, on Sunday, the Academy of Perfume also described the initiative in the framework of the meeting entitled “#MemorieProfumate – The story of the National Perfume Day as told by people’s images and emotions”.