Bois 1920

History of the house

For the American niche market, Bois 1920 is essentially a Florence import distributed by Luckyscent and Twisted Lily. The house was founded in Florence (Italy) in 1920 by Massimo Martone, who ran a shirt-making business and composed perfumes for his Tuscan clientele. The brand stayed strictly local for eight decades. The American discovery of Bois 1920 dates to the early 2000s, when Enzo Martone relaunched the house for international niche distribution at the same moment Luckyscent (Los Angeles) and Aedes de Venustas (New York) were defining what Italian niche perfumery could look like outside Europe.

In the United States, 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 brand has been consistently stocked by Luckyscent (Los Angeles), Twisted Lily (Brooklyn), Indigo Perfumery (Cleveland) and MiN New York (Manhattan). The house does not operate a US flagship and runs all American distribution through select niche partners (source: Luckyscent).

The catalog organizes around three lines. Selezione holds the heritage releases Sandalo Nobile, Real Patchouly and 1920 Extreme, all positioned at the upper end of the niche price tier between 180 and 260 dollars per 100ml. Vento di Fiori covers the floral side. Come l'Amore works the powdery Italian register. The Florentine atelier still composes in house, without the celebrity perfumer billing common in Paris-based niche brands.

The American 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). Compared with the French niche cohort distributed by Bergdorf Goodman, Bois 1920 occupies a connoisseur slot rather than a department-store slot. The brand has been cited by Now Smell This, Fragrantica 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.

Olfactive signature

For the American nose, 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 American 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 American calling card. The composition strips the patchouli of the chocolate-vanilla accord that Angel (Mugler, 1992) cemented and Coco Mademoiselle (Chanel, 2001) extended. The American review press (Now Smell This, Bois de Jasmin) reads it as a return to old-school patchouli aged in burlap. Sandalo Nobile works the same logic on sandalwood, reconstructing the Mysore profile post-CITES with Australian sandalwood and New Caledonia sandalwood, never claiming pure Mysore. 1920 Extreme revisits the Italian woody chypre with bergamot and oakmoss.

Three signals make Bois 1920 recognizable for an American buyer:

• 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, Memo Paris).
• Connoisseur niche positioning, stocked by Luckyscent and Twisted Lily rather than Bergdorf Goodman or Saks Fifth Avenue, with American sample distribution running primarily through Surrender to Chance and Olfactif.

Key characteristics

Notable perfumes

The list below covers the Bois 1920 releases most stocked across US niche retailers between 2010 and 2026. Compositions are signed in-house and the brand does not typically credit individual perfumers, a common practice among family-run Italian houses. The pricing tier in the United States sits between 180 and 260 dollars per 100ml, placing the brand in the connoisseur niche slot below Xerjoff Casamorati but above Acqua di Parma Colonia.

Frequently asked questions

See also