Interview with Michele Marin, independent and proudly Italian perfumer among the most intriguing in the niche perfumery scene.

A truly extraordinary sensitivity, a demanding background, great resolve and an unwavering love for perfume and raw materials: these are the traits that define this highly talented character

 Q-Who is Michele Marin?

A blend of chords, molecules and essential oils 🙂

 Q-How did you discover your interest in perfumes?

Since I was a teenager, it was always a passion of mine to use perfumes. I used to go with my best friend to his aunt and uncle’s shop to try the various Nino Cerruti and Guerlain perfumes from the 70s and 80s. The discovery of Jardin de Bagatelle, which my friend’s sister wore, was dazzling.

From there, through my theatre experiences, the fascination with perfume remained ever-present, until becoming a passion as I discovered Artisan Parfumeur and Dptyque in the 1990s.

Q-What difficulties did you have to face in being able to work in the niche perfumery environment, having not had the good fortune, like others, of being born in a family already established in the field?

Many hurdles. Education in the first place, after doing the Cinquième Sens courses in Paris, I proceeded as an autodidact and then, thanks to a perfumer, I deepened on what was lacking. I smell the perfumes of my ideal masters such as Duchaufour, Ellena, Roucel and Roudnitska, Ropion and Giacobetti and many others.  There is certainly no lack of desire to learn and to discover more from the history of perfume.

Passion and cultivated creativeness are the important and consistent foundations of a path built with one’s own hands. It sounds like a cliché but it was and is indeed so.

 Q-What is your artistic background?

Theatre and cinema have shaped my taste, and inspired my creativity.

But I certainly learned aesthetics and beauty from my mother, who was an accomplished village seamstress. Then after my university and theatre studies at DAMS in Bologna, working as assistant director to Maestro Franco Zeffirelli, for a couple of operas, I enhanced my emotions by associating them with stage smells, theatrical make-up and perfumes worn by stars, and even with fabrics aged in costume warehouses.

Q-What are your most important educational and work experiences?

The fragrance trilogy for Castello di Ama was certainly a work of great creativity that, together with the person of Lorenza Sebasti CEO of the prestigious winery, represented a moment of great olfactory creativity.

Q-What are some of the brands Michele Marin has collaborated with?

I have made fragrances for several brands

Roy Roger’s , FDO , Venezia1920, Soul Couture and Amina Mundi and Castello di Ama. 

 Q – Michele, congratulations on your very recent nomination for the Art and Olfaction Award.

What are your feelings on this important step?

I feel great joy and gratitude for this major recognition. I did not think I would make it among the 10 finalists in the Independents category, which is really a great surprise given that all the perfumes are sniffed ‘blind’ and in total anonymity.

ExtraVirgo’s Anima Café is destined to make an impression.

Q-What are your favourite creations?

They’re all important to me; I wouldn’t know how to choose, and in any case I let perfume lovers do the selecting. I usually remain very attached to the last one made and right now it is Amytis for Anima Mundi.

Q-What are Michele Marin’s latest successes in the field of perfumery?

 Amytis by Amina Mundi, Else by Francesca dell’Oro, and the trilogy for ExtraVirgo Animal Café, Sacred Tobaco and Cacao Ritual.

 Q-How did your collaboration with Emilia Chinigò, creator of the Niche and Co. brands, come about?

Emilia and I have known each other for many years and have followed each other in our fragrance evolutions. Collaborating with her was a deep chemistry. Amitys was born from this beauty that unites us.

D-AMYTIS, ANIMA MUNDI’s latest fragrance: how did your olfactory inspiration come about?

I wanted to create a fragrance that was green and rich in floral and aquatic nuances. A walk of Amytis, the queen of Babylon, inside the hanging gardens.

This perfume is the realisation of this vision of this walk.

Q-Michele, do you have a favourite raw material?

 No. I am still experimenting so much that each new work surprises me. I do love floral accords but I also love resins and woods so much. The iris was important as my first work with Iris Mater by Castello di Ama, but also working on hanging gardens with the Amytis fragrance by Anima Mundi has inspired me a lot and I am passionate about finding floral and aquatic accords that are new to me.

D-Do you have a future in mind for your Infragranti Parfumeur brand?

 Maybe. I am currently listening.