Esxence 2025 Milan Masters of Dreams banner.
Esxence is more than a trade show; it is a confluence of ideas, a meeting point where perfumery evolves in real-time. While the exhibition floor is dedicated to the industry’s latest offerings, it is in the after-hours gatherings that many artistic perfumes emerge. Many are carefully orchestrated experiences, designed to challenge perception, engage the senses, and redefine what perfume can be.
This year, at Esxence 2025 Milan among the most thought-provoking events were Orto Parisi Risvelium, an intimate conversation with Prin Lomros, the Etat Libre d’Orange Nostos soirée, a meeting with Linda Pilkington at Ormonde Jayne, an espresso with Nathalie Feisthauer, and Thomas De Monaco’s Flowers for the Future presentation. Each encounter, in its own way, served as a meditation on perfumery’s past, present, and future.
Orto Parisi Risvelium
Esxence 2025 Milan After Dark Orto Parisi Risvelium: The Surrender to Experience
Alessandro Gualtieri has never been a perfumer in the traditional sense. His work, spanning Nasomatto and Orto Parisi, functions as olfactory provocation—less about individual ingredients and more about evoking primal, subconscious responses.
Risvelium, his latest unveiling, was not advertised as a launch but a rite of passage. There was no traditional invitation; entry required a personal perfume offering. No documentation, no digital interference—only direct experience.
At the venue, guests were greeted by a man in ceremonial dress, splashed with an unidentified liquid (was it fragrance or something else entirely?), then ushered into a world of sensory distortion. Dancers moved in fevered ritual; fire pits glowed blue and green; a massive glass cube stood at the center, containing an altar of objects representing Gualtieri’s personal journey. A hooded Gualtieri himself presided over the ritual.
When I handed over Guerlain’s Cuir Beluga, he embraced me and instructed me to let go: “Tonight, you will die and be born anew.” Smoke filled the air as I stepped into the cube and placed my perfume on the altar.
The evening was punctuated by tarot readings, mulled wine from a bubbling cauldron, and a lone singer performing a plaintive Italian melody in an otherwise sparse upper room. The fragrance itself, if it was present at all, remained unnamed. There was no flacon to take away, only the impression that we had somehow been initiated into something beyond conventional perfumery.
Esxence 2025 Milan After Dark: Prin Lomros: Contradictions as a Creative Foundation
Prin Lomros and Karl in discussion at the NH Collection Milano
From the excess of Orto Parisi to the deliberate balance of Prin Lomros, the next day provided a counterpoint. Meeting in the NH Collection hotel, I encountered a perfumer whose work is built on tension—urban versus natural, modern versus vintage, controlled versus unrestrained.
Lomros operates across three brands—Prin, Strangers Parfumerie, and Parfum Prissana—each distinct but rooted in his love of vintage chypres and unexpected contrasts. His work is as influenced by the structured compositions of mid-century perfumery as it is by his dual life between Bangkok and Berlin.
Among his standout fragrances is Concrete Forest, a scent capturing the tension between urban decay and encroaching nature—concrete dust and damp foliage, asphalt and moss. Gularb Matana, inspired by Thai traditions, takes rose, spices, and oud and arranges them in a way that feels more like an heirloom than a modern composition. Then, there is Fantôme de Nuit, a filmic study in smoky, woody sensuality.
Lomros’s appreciation for structure, combined with his willingness to disrupt it, is what makes his work compelling. In an era where niche perfumery is often defined by extremes, he finds innovation in moderation.
Esxence 2025 Milan After Dark Etat Libre d’Orange: Nostos and the Nature of Memory
Etat Libre d’Orange Nostos
That evening, Etat Libre d’Orange’s launch of Nostos (jwearescentient’s review here) brought together industry figures and artists for a more conceptual engagement with scent. The brand’s founder, Etienne de Swardt, (See Michelyn Camen’s Creative Directors in Perfumery Interview with him here) remains one of perfumery’s great iconoclasts, a presence as irreverent as his fragrances.
At the center of the evening was Nostos, composed by Jordi Fernández, a fragrance that investigates nostalgia not as sentimentality but as an active force—a bridge between past and present.
Conversations stretched across disciplines. Olivia Bransbourg spoke of perfumery as an interdisciplinary art, while Nathalie Feisthauer offered insights into the deliberate construction of transgressive fragrances. François Hénin, of Jovoy Paris, discussed the cyclical nature of perfumery, and Sabine and Gabriel of Plume Impression reflected on storytelling through scent.
Etat Libre d’Orange has never been a brand that relies on convention, and Nostos continues its tradition of questioning how perfume functions as memory, narrative, and personal mythology.
Esxence 2025 Milan After Dark Linda Pilkington: The Precision of Ormonde Jayne
Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne with Danu Seith-Fyr and Karl.
Returning to the Melia Milano Suite, I met with Linda Pilkington, whose presence is markedly serene—a reflection of her precise, controlled approach to perfumery.
I was struck by one of her latest Ormonde Jayne releases, Montabaco Aruba. Grapefruit and lime open the fragrance with brightness, giving way to a smooth blend of suede, tea, and tobacco. It is not a perfume that announces itself loudly, but rather one that unfolds with quiet certainty.
Joined by fellow colleague Danu Seith-Fyr, our conversation turned to longevity in niche perfumery—how brands must navigate changing consumer expectations while maintaining their artistic integrity. Pilkington’s work stands as an example of aesthetic consistency in a shifting landscape.
Esxence 2025 Milan After Dark Nathalie Feisthauer: Crafting the Unorthodox
Nathalie Feisthauer in Milan
Over an espresso at the Melia Hotel Milano Café, I spoke with Nathalie Feisthauer (Lab-Scent), whose trajectory in perfumery is unique. Trained at Roure (now Givaudan) in Grasse, she has shaped everything from large-scale commercial perfumes to some of the most transgressive niche scents.
Her Putain des Palaces for Etat Libre d’Orange remains one of the most unapologetically carnal violet and leather compositions, a scent that challenges as much as it seduces. More recently, she has been working with Milano Fragranze on Neon Lights, a tuberose with strawberry, continuing her commitment to complex, evocative perfumery outside the constraints of mass-market formulas.
Feisthauer’s career proves that independent perfumers can not only survive but thrive, bringing radical olfactory ideas into spaces where they might once have been dismissed.
Esxence 2025 Milan After Dark: Thomas De Monaco: The Future as Experimentation
Thomas De Monaco at the NH Collection in Milano.
The final event I attended at Esxence was Thomas De Monaco’s Flowers for the Future presentation at NH Collection Milano.
De Monaco is a Creative Director and a brand founder who collaborates with emerging perfumers to bring his visions to life. His fragrances have already gained a reputation for their texture, depth, and uniqueness.
At this event, he unveiled three upcoming releases, with Jade Amor standing out as my personal favorite. However, it was the chance to experience Ultima Storia in its entirety that made the evening particularly striking.
Thomas De Monaco Ultima Storia by Karl
Ultima Storia is built around black lemon, iris, leather, smoky woods, and spice, creating a composition that feels both historical and futuristic. It will be my summer 2025 scent, not because it is seasonal in the traditional sense, but because its structural complexity invites long-term exploration.
De Monaco’s team was welcoming yet precise, the evening intimate yet cerebral, reinforcing the idea that perfume is increasingly being recognized as a conceptual art form.
Beyond Esxence 2025 Milan: The Future of Perfumery
Reflecting on these encounters, a pattern emerges. Whether through ritual, contrast, transgression, precision, or experimentation, the most compelling figures in perfumery today are those who challenge the static definitions of niche fragrance.
Esxence 2025 Milan was more than a showcase for new releases—it was s a forum where the philosophy of perfume is actively debated. And if these evenings were any indication, the future of fragrance will belong to those who refuse to be bound by convention.
Karl Topham, Senior Editor.
Please read my Part 1 Esxence 2025 Milan Report
Olya Bar’s Esxence report here. Also Ida Meister’s Esxence Report here. Danu’s and Ermano’s reports coming soon.
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