Filippo Sorcinelli

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History of the house

Filippo Sorcinelli came to perfumery from the world of sacred art. An Italian artist, designer and cathedral organist, he founded the atelier LAVS in 2001 to produce liturgical vestments for the Catholic Church, a clientele that has included Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. This double life, between the organ loft and the vestment workshop, shaped the imagination he would later pour into fragrance.

He began his perfume project under his own name in 2013, with the founding collection UNUM, inspired by Gothic architecture and the incense-filled spirit of the Vatican. The inaugural perfume, LAVS, released in 2014 and named after his vestment atelier, paired pepper, cardamom and jasmine with amber and tonka to evoke the sacred workshop. It remains the best known composition of the house.

From a first set of perfumes, UNUM grew into a much larger body of work, and Sorcinelli added further collections, notably Extrait de Musique, devoted to the organ, and Memento, presented at Esxence in 2024 and devoted to cathedral sacristies, extending his themes into new emotional and artistic territory. Across all of them he has kept the role of sole author, composing each perfume himself rather than briefing an external nose.

The house operates from Italy, with atelier activity centred in Santarcangelo di Romagna and a laboratory in Mondolfo, in the Marche region, alongside the continuing LAVS vestment work. Sorcinelli's parallel practice as a photographer, musician and designer remains inseparable from the perfumes, which he presents as part of a single artistic project.

Notable perfumes

The house catalogue spans several collections, all conceived and composed by Filippo Sorcinelli. The references below are anchors of the work, drawn from the official site and specialist coverage. Given the breadth of the catalogue, collection membership is indicated rather than an exhaustive list.

Olfactive signature

The house signature is inseparable from Sorcinelli's other arts. Trained as an organist and steeped in the world of cathedrals and liturgical vestments, he composes perfumes built on incense, resins, cold stone, candle wax and fog, atmospheres drawn from sacred architecture and music. The perfumes aim at emotion and image rather than at conventional pleasantness.

Across UNUM, Extrait de Musique and Memento, the work returns to the sacred and the Gothic: the hush of a great church, the smoke of incense, the chill of marble. Sorcinelli frames each perfume as a chapter in a larger artistic project that also includes his photography, music and design, which is why the house reads as the output of an artist rather than a fragrance brand.

Because he is the sole author of every formula, the catalogue carries a single, unmistakable voice even as it grows. The unifying thread is not a fixed accord but a sensibility: a fascination with the sacred and the architectural, translated into scent by someone who knows both the organ and the vestment atelier from the inside.

Perfume composed like sacred music, by an organist who knows the smell of incense and cold stone from the inside.

Key characteristics

The house today

Filippo Sorcinelli remains an independent, single-author house. Its founder still composes every perfume and runs it alongside the LAVS vestment atelier and his work as a musician, photographer and designer. The collections UNUM, Extrait de Musique and Memento continue to grow, all within the same sacred and architectural imagination.

Distribution runs through selective niche retailers internationally, and the house keeps a strong identity in the artistic, concept-driven corner of niche perfumery. For the niche audience, Sorcinelli is valued as one of the clearest examples of perfume conceived as fine art, where the maker's biography, from the organ loft to the Vatican workshop, is the source of the work.

Frequently asked questions

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