If you were a poet or journalist, how would you describe yourself in short? Who is Emilia Chinigo?

Emilia is a dreamer, a creative, very determined. A woman who still believes in values, posture and the power of dreams. A person who wants to experience in person.

Can you please describe, who is also a part of the brand? Who are Giorgio and Stefania?

Giorgio Biella is my business partner: I’m the creative part and he’s the commercial part. Giorgio is an international entrepreneur who fall in love with niche perfume’s world. Stefania Vacca is the co-creator of the concept Onyrico: she was a musician and fashion stylist, and we are very friends.

When I was reading about you, I saw that you spent a lot of time on a sailboat. How that happened? What did you learn from that experience?

I spent more than 3 years sailing with my boat, Pasiphile. Three years in which I was in total contact with nature and nature elements. I faced storms, strong winds, I measured myself with the forces of nature. All of this made me more respectful towards life.

How was your life looking before starting the perfume adventure?

Before this adventure, however, I was a curious and restless person: Italy was not enough for me and above all the world I knew seemed too small to me and to encompass all my dreams.

What are your passions, what do you love to do beside perfumes?

I love to read, draw, study. I love Western but especially Middle Eastern philosophy: I find incredible wisdom and disconcerting topicality in ancient writings. I went to research texts by a Persian perfumer, Farid Attar, a Sufi: an inestimable wealth. Not to mention our very Italian Pliny the Elder, who has left us an immeasurable value of writings on any subject, including perfumes and raw materials.

What’s your first olfactive memory?

I remember that I was 4 years old, I was in Sicily where I spent the summer. An aunt brought me to a market: it was in that situation that I “discovered” to have a nose! The perfumes came to me and I was enraptured: flowers, spices, fruit, vegetables, aromatic plants … a real olfactory journey!

What was the crucial moment which decided that you’re going into perfume business and founding Onyrico? How that happened?

It was after a series of trips. I returned to Italy and went to Assisi. I have been catapulted into the past and all the works I saw seemed to shine. Shortly thereafter I went to see an exhibition by Leonardo da Vinci: it was at that moment that I “felt” how much art, how much culture, how much creativity contains the history of Italy. And I started to imagine the perfumes that could represent these past ages. Stefania and I immediately started creating fragrances.

It’s very difficult to make a perfume brand today because the market is crowded, therefore many would say that you are brave. Did you have any help, any market research or you just did what you love?

I did what I love. I could not have done anything else. Onyrico means “world of dreams”, and perfumes are the realization of a dream.

What is the hardest part when making a perfume brand, the concept or the production?

For me the most difficult part is production. Creating is the part I love most and I do perfno when I sleep! I consider production not less important, but for me … a little more “boring”.

What do you think, which message Onyrico wants to transmit to the public?

If a simple drop of perfume has the surprising power of being able to transport us into the imaginary world, the detail of a fresco, the vein of a carved statue, a few lines of a book can accomplish the great wonder of eternating with symbols, colors and words, the precious treasure of knowing that every culture transmits, from time to time, without losing its value.
ONYRICO arises from the meeting of these extraordinary magic.
Perfume as a cure for the soul and a stimulus for timeless emotions. This is the goal of ONYRICO,

How did it come to the collaboration with Luca Maffei, who is becoming very famous?

I met Luca Maffei, and after 5 minutes I immediately realized that he would be the right person to help me create such special fragrances. I believe that nothing is a chance in life: our meeting was really karmic. He is a very talented nose.

What the role of the three of you when creating the perfume?

Stefania and I know the raw materials and we already had in mind how they should have been. Luca Maffei and Maurizio Cerizza helped us to realize them: it was a formidable team work.

How are you caps being made?

the caps are handmade by a master sculptor, one by one. We have a different type of marble for each fragrance and each has a sgnificato dedicated to the scent that encloses.

Do you think that packaging is as important as the perfume itself? How much time did you dedicate to Onyrico packaging?

Packaging is very important. The attention to detail is essential for me because it gives value to the product. The label, however, is very simple: this because the cap and the scent already had the right importance.

Is Ingenium something that even da Vinci would like in your opinion?

The scent is really too personal. I think that Leonardo could appreciate the fact of having inserted all the olfactory families inside this perfume, as he would like to continuously change it on the skin … a real enigma.

When Onyrico perfumes were made, did you do some research so you could try to capture the real scent of the time, or are the inspirations subjective emotions from you and the team?

Someone is just an inspiration, someone else is the result of extensive studies of the time: in any case, in creating them, we have long studied all the characters and the era in which they lived, to immerse ourselves in the sensations of the time.

From your line, which perfume do you consider as the most elegant one, and which as the most unique?

I consider the most “artistic” and particular Red Boheme, because it was a real challenge to try to represent the olfactory memory of a “place” in a perfume for the person. It is certainly also the most elegant, because it is discreet and represents a soiree to a “La Boheme” Opera Première at the Scala Theater in Milan.

Why do you connect fig leaf with Michelangelo and mystical flower with Dante?

Michelangelo was born in a country of Italy, Caprese Michelangelo in Tuscany, famous because a variety of fig tree called fig “dwarf” grows spontaneous: we imagined the little Michelangelo who grew up breathing these scents. In addition, in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the scene of the “temptation of Eve to Adam” that he painted, few know that the fruit of sin was a fig and not an apple as everyone thinks. The fig tree has always been the symbol of “knowledge”, and Michelangelo knew it well.

The mystical flower of Dante, however, comes from his Poem, The Divine Comedy. La Candida Rosa is the place where souls reside in the Paradise built by Dante, the place where there is a single Universal Law: that of Love.

Is there a perfumer you’re dreaming to work with?

I have some famous perfumer with whom I would like to work: Bertrand Douchfour is certainly one of them.

How do you see Onyrico in 6-8 years?

I see Onyrico constantly evolving: like the human being. I believe that the emotions of the beautiful things of the past help us to live our present well and help us to create a wonderful future.