A Taste of Esxence;
Fleur de Café
April 23, 2012
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and/or guest contributors and do not necessarily state or reflect those of The Perfume Magazine LLC, Raphaella Brescia Barkley or Mark David Boberick.
All content included on this site, such as text, graphics, logos, icons, videos and images is the property of The Perfume Magazine, LLC. or its content suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws. The compilation of all content on this site is the exclusive property of The Perfume Magazine, LLC. and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws.
The Perfume Magazine.com is solely owned and operated by Raphaella Barkley Raphaella Barkley; Editor, Founder and Owner of The Perfume Magazine LLC.
The Perfume Magazine Forums, The Perfume Magazine.com, The Perfume Magazine FaceBook,The Perfume Magazine Twitter, and Sniffapalooza Magazine.com, as well as all The Perfume Magazine Social Media, is also solely owned and operated by Raphaella Barkley and The Perfume Magazine LLC.
THE PERFUME MAGAZINE LOGO & BANNER
Perfume Magazine Brand Consultant: Tim Girvin
Our logo was created by GIRVIN | Strategic Branding, based in Seattle, NYC, and Tokyo. This is a specially built font that their design team created exclusively for Perfume Magazine. It is a custom cutting, redrawn and founded on a type design originated in 1798 by Giambattista Bodoni, drawn from the archives of Firmin Didot, an exemplar of luxurious design principles for hundreds of years. GIRVIN's team built the "fume" trail, as well as composited the arrangement of the bottles as part of the branding strategy.
The Perfume Magazine Banner was designed exclusively by GIRVIN and is the property of The Perfume Magazine, LLC.
All images appearing in the banner are registered trademarks of their respected company and are used with permission.
Creed Bottle image in The Perfume Magazine Banner is a registered trademark of Creed and used with permission.
Fracas Bottle image in The Perfume Magazine Banner is a registered trademark of Robert Piquet and used with permission.
The logo and banner are property of The Perfume Magazine, LLC. and are protected by U.S.and international copyright laws.
© Copyright. 2012. All Rights Reserved. The Perfume Magazine LLC 2011
By Raphaella Barkley
Co-Founder, creator and artist of A Dozen Roses, Sandy Cataldo, signing bottles
We asked some of our new friends at Esxence-The Scent of Excellence how they fared at the recent sold out event in Milan, Italy. Join us for a quick peek inside Esxence and some of the perfume companies that were represented in Milan Italy.
We spoke with Charlotte Robert of Fleur de Café who is the first company to produce products with the essence of coffee flowers. Fleur de Café is based in Costa Rica and Charlotte was generous enough to share this amazing perfume with me.
Tell us about your unique and beautiful fragrance, Fleur de Café.
Fleur de Café is the first – and the only – perfume to use the essence of the coffee flower. That fragrance is so rich and powerful that I could not resist creating a perfume with it. I am not a master perfumer but I looked for one in order to realize my passion. It was a great adventure as it had never been done before. Also we managed to find a method to pick up the flowers without damaging the coffee beans, which thus can grow normally.
What has the experience at the Esxence event in Milan meant to you and your company?
It was our first fair altogether and our first appearance in Europe. It meant a lot of work before the fair and it means a lot of work after the fair. For a first step in the European market, there was no need to be shy, on the contrary. We received a lot of very good advice from other exhibitors. And I am grateful to them as I am grateful to the staff of Esxence for their so valuable support.
If this was your first visit to Esxence, was it successful and did you attract the type of clients you had hoped for?
I would have liked to meet more distributors. I am not sure if it is the fair, which did not attract so many of these professionals or if I did not talk to the right people. For us there is still a lot of work to do to get to the right ones. On the other hand I would like to say that coming from Costa Rica, a country known for its nature and landscape but not for the numerous essences of tropical forest plants, we were taken very seriously and that makes us think that the doors will open for us.
I personally found it very exciting to see so many highly artistic niche perfumery brands that have emerged out of Europe and the global market. How does it feel to be a part of this venture?
First it is always an extremely great satisfaction to see that others appreciate the result of your work. To begin with we were very proud to be admitted at Esxence. Second, after having worked far away from the big producing markets for 10 years, it was fantastic to see so many people – artists – dedicated to their art with passion. Honestly I did not know there could be so many and it was like a big family.
I also found the attendees to be very passionate about fragrance at the event. Was it everything you expected it to be?
Yes indeed everybody was passionate and it was fantastic to see the care given to all details, not only the fragrance itself but the bottle, the lid, the packaging, the creativity behind it. We are working on a solid perfume; there was one at Esxence in a golden ball sculpted by Swarovski, to hang at a necklace, imagine! I hope Esxence will be able to keep this spirit in the coming years.
What were your favorite parts of the four-day event?
Conferences, where I learned a lot of things and met the greatest professionals.
Where are your products sold for our European readers and any hopes of being able to purchasing them in America?
Esxence was our first step in the European market. Up to now we are sold in very few coffee roasters shops or coffee museums! We have not started work on the American market but we shall keep you informed when we have good news.
Coming soom...more on Fleur de Café
