If you look up the word "foundation" in the dictionary, you will find several synonyms: beginning, support, starting point. All of them perfectly describe the emotional relationship we have with our fragrance producer and raw material supplier, Accords & Parfums in Cabris. They are our support in everything we do as a perfumery company and largely the foundation on which everything works.

Domaine is our ode to them. How to convey this through scent? To do this, we need to look back. Go back to the times when a certain man decided to build his olfactory paradise.

Art & Parfums, as the company was originally called, created by the legendary perfumer Edmond Roudnitska, opened its doors in 1946. High in the mountains above Grasse, he built Domaine Sainte Blanche, an enchanted garden overlooking Cannes and the Lérins Islands. A fragrant playground for all interested in the art of perfumery.

It was here that Mona spent 15 years of her life as a student of Edmond and where Fredrik honed his skills as a junior perfumer. Edmond's catalog of groundbreaking scents speaks for itself, but there is one that is particularly close to our hearts. Diorissimo by Dior!

Diorissimo was created in a more romantic era of perfumery. New olfactory molecules and breakthrough scientific discoveries allowed perfumers to use scents that were previously impossible to recreate. The rules of what a scent could be were constantly changing.

Lily of the valley is a mute flower - it does not yield enough oil to be used, making its scent particularly difficult to replicate accurately. Edmond, however, took on the challenge and created a classic. Lily of the valley flowers, which were his inspiration, still grow in Domaine Sainte Blanche.

Working on replicating the scent of mute flowers has its pros and cons. It requires the perfumer to blend synthetics and natural ingredients, hiding certain aspects and exposing others. Fortunately, it also gives the perfumer the opportunity to freely interpret the scent.

Edmond's version is almost hyper-realistic, while Fredrik's creation for Domaine has a warmer floral effect, inspired by a memory of a particularly sunny, spring morning on the way to work at Accords & Parfums.

If you have read the story of Sainte Blanche that accompanied our Alinea collection, you know that reaching Accords & Parfums from the village of Cabris is quite a hike. After a long hike uphill, you reach a small, back gate that leads directly to the gardens. It was after one of these climbs that Fredrik first saw the famous patch of lilies of the valley. Whether it was the weather, the abundance of flowers, or the fact that they were blooming, the intensity and power of their scent simply seemed overwhelming to him. Like the very essence of nature awakening from its winter sleep.

Domaine is a scent where the past meets the present. It is an ode to what was, but also a celebration of what the future will bring. A story told by one of nature's true miracles, the lily of the valley.

Fragrance Notes

Lily of the valley Soliflore

About the brand Mona di Orio

"One of the most important features of the compositions I create is light. I love playing with scents, just like a painter plays with light and shadow. The top notes are bright and full of radiance, the heart notes are full of reflections, and the base notes are embedded in darkness." - that's how Mona di Orio talked about her philosophy of creating perfumery masterpieces. Her work and thinking about scents were undoubtedly influenced by her classical education, erudition, and over fifteen years of experience with one of the greatest authorities in perfumery, Edmund Roudnitski.

These are scents that cannot be forgotten, let alone imitated or replaced. They are unique, multi-threaded, and full of depth. They show humility towards the raw material and the sense of smell, true passion, and something incredibly rare and difficult to name - perhaps that's why they are so moving.

Mona di Orio passed away suddenly in 2011. Her work is continued by Jeroen Oude Sogtoen.