Filippo Sorcinelli: From Sacred-Vestment Maker to Perfume Artist, a Tailor of Souls

“I began with music. It was my first source of inspiration.”

— Filippo Sorcinelli

Contents

Basic Information
The Founder and the Origins of the Brand
The Brand’s Distinctive Approach
By the Way…

Basic Information

Year founded: 2014 (began operating as a perfume brand with the UNUM collection)
Founder: Filippo Sorcinelli
Official website: filipposorcinelli.com

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

The Boy from Mondolfo

Filippo Sorcinelli was born on July 1, 1975, in Mondolfo, a small town in Italy’s Marche region. His family came from a line of textile artisans and tailors, and the young Filippo was always surrounded by a world of cloth and thread. Yet what first stirred his soul was not fabric, but the thunder of the pipe organ.

“When I was five, I once fainted while listening to the sound of an organ.”

— Filippo Sorcinelli (from an interview with Nose Paris)

Years later, he described this formative experience: “When I went with my mother to clean the church, I smelled frankincense for the first time. I saw the sacred vestments in the sacristy and touched the organ. This was my background, my education, and the nourishment for my art and life.”

An Organist at Thirteen

When Filippo turned thirteen, he became organist at Fano Cathedral. He later served as organist at the cathedrals of Rimini and San Benedetto del Tronto too. While children his age were playing football, he reportedly asked someone to accompany him so that he could play the organ at the bishop’s liturgical celebrations. In a later interview, Sorcinelli recalled: “Becoming an organist at thirteen was not only an honor but a great responsibility, and it meant setting aside the normal activities of a child.”

Alongside this, he obtained his Maestro d’Arte qualification, marking completion of an art course, at the art school in Fano in 1992, and studied at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro until 1996. In 1997, a Pio Sodalizio dei Piceni scholarship took him to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, where he specialized in organ. His time in Rome was more than musical training. Observing Vatican liturgies at close quarters, he deeply internalized the beauty of sacred music and vestments.

From a young age, he also worked in contemporary artists’ studios, served as artistic director of numerous music festivals, and participated in international exhibitions and art installations, including at the Louvre. These multifaceted activities across painting, photography, and graphic design anticipated the philosophy of the brand he would later describe as “the product of an intermingling of different arts,” or contamination.

The Birth of LAVS: Becoming a Tailor of Sacred Vestments

Returning home from his studies in Rome, Filippo asked himself a question: “Well, what should I do now?” He had studied music, painted, drawn inspiration, and made his choices. With his mother’s words in his heart, “Whatever work you do, always aim for the best. You can always go down later,” he founded LAVS, Laboratorio Atelier Vesti Sacre, in 2001.

LAVS, whose name means “praise” in Latin, is an atelier handcrafting sacred vestments and liturgical objects for Catholic worship. Its origins lie in the family tailoring business he had known since childhood. Sorcinelli says: “LAVS was born from a deep immersion in two particular historical periods, the Romanesque and the Gothic. I wanted to translate the philosophical foundations of those styles into a contemporary form.”

LAVS’s exceptional quality eventually attracted attention in church circles, and one day a call came from the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. Thus, in 2007, Sorcinelli began creating vestments for Benedict XVI, making at least fifty for him. In 2013, he also made the vestments worn at Pope Francis’s first Mass. The media bestowed on him the title “the Pope’s tailor,” but he says he is “simply doing the job well.”

When the two popes died, each wore a white silk mitre made by Sorcinelli as his body lay in its coffin. In 2025, he also made sacred vestments for Pope Leo XIV. In 2021, he received the “Art and Liturgy Prize for Innovation in Sacred Vestments” from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute.

The Birth of UNUM: Toward “Olfactory Tailoring”

At the LAVS atelier, there was a custom of adding scent to the boxes containing finished sacred vestments, enriching the sensory experience of the recipient. This opened the door to perfume creation.

“This is where UNUM began: the desire to create a scent that could make our creations even more unique.”

— Filippo Sorcinelli (from an interview with Kafkaesque Blog)

Sorcinelli’s longtime partner, Marcello, whose surname is not publicly disclosed, had worked with him since LAVS’s earliest days, and together they founded UNUM as a formal company. In 2014, the first fragrance, LAVS, was released, inaugurating the UNUM collection.

UNUM means “one” in Latin. The name expresses the intention to “unite body and soul, transcend time, and create a harmonious symphony of scent.”

The Brand’s Distinctive Approach

Philosophy: “It Is All About Materials and Exploration”

Sorcinelli describes his motto as “It’s about the raw material and the research of materials.” For him, perfume is an intellectual and spiritual experience, not simply sensual pleasure.

“Perfume, like music, is an artistic medium that needs no figurative references. Perfume is the art of the sense of smell.”

— Filippo Sorcinelli (from an interview with Nose Paris)

Each perfume is released in connection with a carefully developed philosophical, literary, or religious theme. Sources of inspiration range across Gothic architecture, Baroque painting, church music, photography, opera, and literature. Working with perfumers who wish to remain anonymous, Sorcinelli supplies the vision and the perfumer translates it into olfactory language. He himself says, “It is not the nose that matters, but what I can interpret through it.”

An Obsession with Black and Materials

A thoroughgoing commitment to black is deeply inscribed in UNUM’s identity.

“Black means separation from society while still being part of it. Black is underground life, rootlessness, a journey into the mysterious self. This is true nobility. If UNUM’s character remains black, it has a reason to exist.”

— Filippo Sorcinelli (from an interview with nero profumo)

UNUM bottles have a rectilinear form reminiscent of a black metal monolith, with metallic and golden textures. Each fragrance comes in a thick black cardboard box, said to suggest the opening of a new chapter in an ancient book.

The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio

Also noteworthy is Sorcinelli’s incorporation of the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio into packaging design. By embedding mathematical beauty in its proportions and structure, the perfume bottle itself becomes a work of sculptural art. A “thorough attention to detail and intellect” appears throughout the fragrance descriptions, demonstrating how Sorcinelli positions perfumery as “intellectual and theoretical exploration.”

The Wooden Boxes of Extrait de Musique

In the earlier Extrait de Musique collection, the bottles faithfully reproduced the shape of the stop knobs of Notre-Dame Cathedral’s Grand Organ, while the fully handmade wooden boxes evoked a pipe organ’s soundboard. Not only the perfume inside but the packaging itself is an inseparable part of the concept.

The Fragrance Lineup

Filippo Sorcinelli’s fragrances are organized into several collections. Here we introduce three representative ones, though other collections and standalone works also exist.

The UNUM Collection

This group of perfumes forms the brand’s core. Its development has been documented through the thirteenth creation, with further works added since. All fall within the highly concentrated extrait de parfum category, each distilling Sorcinelli’s personal, spiritual, and artistic experiences.

LAVS, the collection’s first fragrance, grew out of the sacred-vestment atelier. The scent accompanying boxes of finished vestments prompted their recipients to ask for it as a perfume in its own right. The handwork of making sacred garments and the memory of opening those boxes lie at the beginning of Sorcinelli’s perfumery.

The previous version combined black pepper, cardamom, and jasmine with elemi, labdanum, clove, and coriander, then opoponax, oakmoss, rosewood, amber, and tonka bean. It was presented as a majestic composition recalling frankincense, balsams, resins, and old leather.

In 2026, LAVS returned to its origins for the atelier’s twenty-fifth anniversary. The current anniversary version centres on incense resin, guaiac wood, opoponax, and oakwood, with caraway, Cardinal Incense, copal, white pepper, wool, and palo santo. The textile suggestion of wool and the layers of incense bring the work of making vestments back into focus.

Opus 1144 evokes Gothic architecture through the dedication of the choir of Saint-Denis Basilica outside Paris in 1144. Sorcinelli likens the Gothic to a vertical flower, an image of light rising out of the darkness of matter.

White musk, ambergris, leather, vanilla, and sandalwood meet cashmere wood, benzoin, orchid, and iris, with mandarin, lemon, jasmine, and elemi. Soft flowers and sweet resins are held within the composition.

Rosa Nigra is a tribute to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, taking the biblical phrase “Nigra sum, sed formosa” (“I am black, but beautiful”) as its starting point. It evokes Mary ascending to heaven in body and soul through the illusion of a rose, without rose itself in the composition.

Freesia, peach, and sandalwood are combined with artemisia and anise, supported by musk, cashmere wood, amber, and vanilla. The work conjures a rose through a combination of other scents.

In Ennui Noir, Sorcinelli approaches boredom as fertile fullness rather than emptiness. The fragrance is concerned with contemplating one’s existence when nothing happens, and rediscovering the self and its beauty through a fog of solitude. Its horizontal character evokes the enveloping warmth of a blanket and the experience of remaining in one place.

Patchouli, vetiver, and vanilla shape that stillness. Cedarwood and heliotrope are joined by lavender and myrtle, bringing together woody and root-like elements with sweetness and a soft, powdery character.

Symphonie-Passion pays tribute to the twentieth-century French organist Marcel Dupré. Its title recalls the organ work he improvised in America in 1921 and later committed to a score. The perfume’s direct starting point was the smell Sorcinelli experienced while playing an organ in Rouen, an instrument Dupré himself had played many times.

Lemon and peony are combined with Cashmeran, vetiver, sandalwood, musk, and cedar. Sorcinelli’s recollection of the journey includes a church, a spiral staircase leading to the bell tower, and the impression of wood and dust rising with the music. The woody composition connects the title of a musical work with a performer’s own memory of being beside the instrument.

Reliqvia takes its subject from the Church of the Cross in Senigallia, built in 1608, where Sorcinelli serves as organist and artistic director. It holds relics associated with the Passion, walls of gilded carved wood, and Federico Barocci’s Entombment of Christ, painted in 1582. The name, meaning what remains, turns towards the memories that objects continue to convey over time.

Incense, patchouli, guaiac wood, sandalwood, and cashmere wood form the framework, with elemi, pine, lentisk, clove, tobacco leaf, and smoky notes. Orange, blackcurrant, and orange blossom are also present. Images of accumulated incense and peat-like layers evoke not only the splendour of the gilded decoration but the time preserved behind it.

né il giorno né l’ora is UNUM’s twelfth creation. Its name, “neither the day nor the hour,” comes from the parable of the Ten Virgins awaiting the bridegroom. The biblical distinction between those prepared and unprepared for an unknown arrival leads into fear, freedom, and the attraction of what cannot be controlled. A silver bottle is enclosed in a black velvet bag and shrink-wrap, opened with the metal scissors supplied in the box, making the act of opening part of an encounter with the unknown.

Lemon, bergamot, cardamom, galbanum, cedar, and lily of the valley are combined with marine notes, jasmine, rose, and iris, supported by sandalwood, tonka bean, amber, and musk.

chiudi gli occhi e poi vedi, meaning “close your eyes and then see,” is UNUM’s thirteenth creation. It draws on coulrophobia, the fear of clowns, and Pennywise from Stephen King’s IT. Makeup intended to amuse conceals true feelings, turning an apparently friendly face into something unsettling. That ambiguity extends the exploration of fear begun with but not today in 2018 and continued in né il giorno né l’ora.

Lemon, bergamot, and lavender are combined with strawberry, then artemisia, petitgrain, clary sage, and patchouli. Vetiver, cedarwood, sandalwood, amber, and oud provide support. Fruit, herbs, and woods bring a complexity that extends beyond the sweet impression of strawberry.

The Extrait de Musique Collection

Renamed from SAUF, this collection began as an ambitious attempt to translate the stops, or registers, of Notre-Dame Cathedral’s Grand Organ into scent through synesthesia. Sorcinelli associated the name SAUF with the French ideas of exception and salvation.

The former lineup comprises six fragrances named after organ stops: Plein Jeu III-V, Voix Humaine 8, Violon Basse 16, Unda Maris 8, Trompette 8, and Contre Bombarde 32. Unda Maris means “waves of the sea” in Latin and takes its subject from the undulating sound of two pipes tuned slightly apart. The earlier bottles were shaped like organ-stop knobs and housed in wooden boxes.

ORGAN #1–#7, introduced in 2026, shifted the focus to memories of visiting churches and the time spent there. Sorcinelli explains that memory reaches the heart immediately. Without specialist knowledge of an organ’s construction, a person can approach the fragrances through a Saturday spent in church with his mother or a scene of prayer sustained by music.

The size changed from the earlier 50 ml to 100 ml, and the new packaging incorporated a record, recalling Sorcinelli’s first experience of hearing an organ on an LP. Seven improvisations corresponding to the fragrances were also recorded on a 33 rpm disc, expressing personal church memories through both perfume and music.

ORGAN #1 depicts a small chapel decorated with gladioli. Its starting point is the memory of following his mother to church on a Saturday afternoon and watching her arrange the flowers. Orange blossom and tuberose are layered with suede, saffron, ebony, and cypriol. Elemi, bergamot, and smoky accents add green and earthy suggestions of the chapel’s dampness beneath the brightness of the flowers.

ORGAN #4 centres on polishing reliquaries before a ceremony. A cloth restores the shine of silver and gold, reaching into carved grooves that reflect candlelight. Brass-like and latex-like notes, amberwood, oakwood, peony, and iris build that metallic impression and its faint sweetness. Mandarin, cardamom, and black pepper add warm woody resonance to the cool metal.

ORGAN #7 depicts organ music and bells sounding together at the end of a funeral Mass for a newborn. Sorcinelli considers music’s role in supporting grieving people and carrying prayer from the church into the town. Oakmoss, musk, and myrrh meet powder and coconut-milk notes, lending softness to the scene of farewell.

The earlier six fragrances and the seven ORGAN works are explored in the Extrait de Musique article.

For Sorcinelli, SAUF brought music and perfume particularly close. Both can be discussed through ideas of pitch, organ, and harmony, and both are intangible and fleeting, yet remain in memory.

The Atmosphere d’Emotion Collection

Atmosphere d’Emotion turns fog, rain, and wind into distinct fragrances: damp earth by a river, rain-soaked streets in Milan, and breath moving over the sea. Three Nebbia fog fragrances and three Pioggia rain fragrances are joined by four wind works, making ten in the current collection. Fog and rain address sight, memory, and the distance between bodies; the wind fragrances draw on Old Testament scenes in Genesis, Exodus, Job, and 1 Kings.

The fog trilogy comprises Nebbia Spessa, Nebbia Densa, and Nebbia Fitta; the rain trilogy, Pioggia Forte, Pioggia Moderata, and Pioggia Debole. The wind fragrances are Vento forte, Vento impetuoso, Ruah, and Brezza leggera. Two examples from each group follow.

Nebbia Fitta begins with iron, stone, and damp, rusted structures beside a river. In a place where fog obscures the view, a hand reaches out, eyes close, and attention turns to the surrounding silence. Amber, patchouli, precious woods, and a wet-earth accord support that scene. As visual clues diminish, the touch of damp objects and the ground underfoot come into focus.

Nebbia Spessa is set on an unseen sea. It explores drifting between fear and pleasure, with even the boundaries of the self becoming uncertain. Distant, muffled sounds and a sensation of suspension belong to the scene. Marine lichen, aquatic notes, and a dew accord form its composition.

Pioggia Moderata, meaning moderate rain, evokes memories of walking through Milan and the nostalgia of feelings returning on wet streets. Bergamot, iris, and marine notes meet myrtle and nutmeg, with jasmine, clove, precious woods, and an earthy accord. Musk, thyme, tonka bean, labdanum, patchouli, and sandalwood are also included. Flowers and water, spices, earth, and wood depict the city in rain.

Pioggia Forte depicts two bodies that have shared a sudden downpour and desires embracing across the water. Gardenia and rose meet geranium, jasmine, cyclamen, and marine notes, with benzoin, amber, and precious woods among the further layers. Flowers and marine notes convey an intimacy connected by water.

Ruah begins with the opening of Genesis, where the spirit of God moves over the waters. Its Hebrew name brings together wind, breath, and spirit, while the scent translates an image of lemon light illuminating the sea. Lemon, bergamot, and sea-breeze notes meet Calone, helichrysum, and elemi, with patchouli, Ambrocenide, and cedar. Citrus light, sea, wood, and resin accompany a scene of creation in which breath reaches what is lifeless.

Brezza leggera takes up the gentle breeze that follows fire in 1 Kings. Through the scene of the prophet Elijah covering his face, it evokes a presence that accompanies and guides rather than loud noise or destruction. Pine, bergamot, and breeze notes are combined with Mediterranean helichrysum, artemisia, myrrh, musk, and labdanum. Conifers, herbs, and resins accompany the quiet breath after fire.

By the Way…

Sorcinelli says he once fainted while listening to the sound of an organ, at the age of five. This would become a formative experience in his development as an organist.

Sorcinelli has two earliest olfactory memories. “One is the scent of grains of frankincense that I crushed as a choirboy. The second is the scent of cut wood drifting from my father’s workshop, next to the room where I practiced the piano.” His life was already filled with scent long before he launched a perfume brand.

In his youth, Sorcinelli was acquainted with Mario Giacomelli, the internationally renowned Italian photographer (1925–2000). He helped print Giacomelli’s posters in a screen-printing workshop in Mondolfo, only around twelve kilometers from Senigallia, and met the photographer in his printing workshop in Senigallia. This experience later bore fruit as the perfume io non ho mani che mi accarezzino il volto, “I have no hands to caress my face.”

In 2015, Sorcinelli released the album Francophilie, performing and recording works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Pierre Cochereau, Charles-Marie Widor, and others.

Sorcinelli is Catholic and known for being openly gay. Fusing sacred liturgical art with his own personal philosophy of life, he has a distinctive presence as “someone who simultaneously lives the beauty of the church and the freedom of the contemporary world.”

In December 2024, a Catholic arts association awarded him the title “Segno di Speranza nell’Arte,” or “Sign of Hope in Art,” in anticipation of the Jubilee Holy Year.

References