Quick answers
History of the house
Bois 1920 was founded in Florence (Italy) in 1920 by Guido Galardi under the original name Bottega Italiana Spigo, whose acronym Bo.I.S. later gave the brand its current name. The business went dormant around 1925 and stayed silent for eight decades. The relaunch dates to 2005, when Enzo Galardi, grandson of the founder, reactivated the maison under the name Bois 1920 at the same moment Aedes de Venustas (New York) was defining what Italian niche perfumery could look like outside Europe.
The brand is positioned as the Florentine alternative to the heavier Italian niche houses. Where Xerjoff (Turin) and Tiziana Terenzi (Cagli) lean Middle-Eastern with oud, rose and resin, Bois 1920 stays sober and woody.
The Florentine atelier still composes in house, without the celebrity perfumer billing common in Paris-based niche brands.
Critical reception has framed Bois 1920 inside the broader Italian niche wave of the 2000s and 2010s, alongside Acqua di Parma (Parma, 1916), Carthusia (Capri, 1948) and Lorenzo Villoresi (Florence, 1990). The brand has been cited by Now Smell This and CaFleureBon as a reference for understanding what an Italian niche house can sound like when it stays out of the Middle-Eastern luxury template.
Today the house splits its own catalog into several lines, I Classici, I Trasparenti, Le Voluttuose, Prestige, Oro and Elite, which function as catalog groupings rather than distinct editorial collections.
Notable perfumes
The list below covers notable Bois 1920 releases. Compositions are signed in-house and the brand does not typically credit individual perfumers, a common practice among family-run Italian houses.
| Year | Perfume | Accord | Signature note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Real Patchouly | Amber woody | Aged patchouli |
| 2007 | 1920 Extreme | Woody chypre | Bergamot and oakmoss |
| 2011 | Come l'Amore | Powdery floral | Italian iris |
| 2011 | Classic 1920 | Woody fougere | Cedar and lavender |
| 2015 | Vento di Fiori | Solar floral | Italian tuberose |
Olfactory signature
The Bois 1920 signature reads as quiet Italian wood. The house does not stack layers, does not push sweet caramel patchouli (the dominant trend in mass-market patchoulis from 2015 onward) and does not lean into the Middle-Eastern oud-rose template that defines Xerjoff. The result is a body of work that sits closer to Le Labo Santal 33 (New York, 2011) on the sober end than to Tom Ford Oud Wood on the luxury end, while staying strictly Italian in its sourcing logic.
Real Patchouly is the brand's calling card. The composition strips the patchouli of the chocolate-vanilla accord that Angel (Mugler, 1992) cemented and Coco Mademoiselle (Chanel, 2001) extended. It reads as a return to old-school patchouli aged in burlap. 1920 Extreme revisits the Italian woody chypre with bergamot and oakmoss.
Two signals make Bois 1920 recognizable:
- Sober Italian woods, opposite of the Tom Ford private blend layering and the Maison Francis Kurkdjian sweetness.
- Florentine identity, a Tuscan reference point that distances the brand from both the Paris niche template and the Middle-Eastern luxury Italian houses (Xerjoff).