Nasomatto

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History of the house

Nasomatto was founded in 2007 in Amsterdam (Netherlands) by Italian perfumer Alessandro Gualtieri. The name is an Italian compound built from naso (nose) and matto (mad), and translates literally as mad nose. The wordmark frames the project from the outset as a provocation: a perfumery laboratory designed to stand outside the codes and briefs of the mainstream fragrance industry.

By the time he founded Nasomatto, Gualtieri had already accumulated a long industry career. He trained at Haarmann & Reimer, then composed fragrances for Versace, Helmut Lang and Diesel before breaking with the constraints of industrial briefs to develop a personal authorial vision.

The first Nasomatto series was released in 2008 and comprised Hindu Grass, Duro, Silver Musk, Narcotic Venus and Absinth. Every bottle followed the same brutalist format. The whole packaging is made in Italy. The line was conceived around extrait de parfum packaged in 30 ml editions, and shipped without any official note list.

In 2009, Nasomatto released Black Afgano, the cult composition signed alone by Gualtieri after six years of smoking, scenting, trying and creating. The house states that the perfume took six years to translate the sensation of top-shelf hashish into a wearable composition. Black Afgano became a durable reference of underground niche perfumery and pulled the international visibility of the house.

On May 28, 2026, Nasomatto released Micodelirio, a 30 ml extrait de parfum built around a mushroom accord, keeping to the concentrated format the house has favored since 2008. The slow release rhythm continues to set Nasomatto apart from group-owned niche brands.

Notable perfumes

The Nasomatto catalog gathers around a dozen principal compositions signed by Alessandro Gualtieri since the 2008 launch series, as sole perfumer. Thirteen major releases are listed below in chronological order.

Olfactory signature

Nasomatto writes a brutalist extrait signature, anchored in resinous, animalic and narcotic materials. Recurring building blocks include hashish, oud, incense, tobacco, musks, leather, ambergris and heavy resins. Compositions favor density and impact over transparency, and stand apart from the diffusive Ambroxan-driven aesthetic that defined a portion of contemporary niche perfumery in the late 2010s.

Every Nasomatto release is sold as extrait de parfum, in 30 ml flacons. The extreme concentration translates into a tenacious sillage and a contained projection, closer in behavior to traditional Middle Eastern attar practice than to mainstream Western eau de parfum.

A defining identity marker of the house is the deliberate refusal to publish official note lists. Gualtieri prefers to describe the intent, the inspiration or the emotional charge of a composition, and leaves each wearer to reconstruct the accord. This editorial choice cuts against the dominant practice of niche perfumery, where the top-heart-base pyramid structures product communication, and positions Nasomatto firmly within an author-driven artistic perfumery tradition.

"I like the feeling that I'm losing control and I'm not the only one making the choice. I want my perfumes to have an existence of their own, not being enslaved solely by the meanings I gave."Alessandro Gualtieri (The Nose), Nasomatto Press Presentation

Key characteristics

Frequently asked questions

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