Laboratorio Olfattivo | An “Olfactory Laboratory” That Creates Fragrance Stories

“A journey, a raw material, an experience… These nurture my creativity and inspiration. Everything happens by chance, spontaneously. Creating perfume follows no particular rules.”

— Roberto Drago (co-founder / creative director)

Basic Information

Brand: Laboratorio Olfattivo
Meaning of the name: Italian for “olfactory laboratory”
Founded: 2009
Co-founders: Daniela Caon and Roberto Drago
Based in: Italy
Official website: https://www.laboratorioolfattivo.com/

Laboratorio Olfattivo gave form to Daniela Caon and Roberto Drago’s passion for artistic perfumery in 2009. Roberto serves as creative director, while Daniela, as co-founder, has been responsible for the brand image and product side. From imagining a fragrance to the colors and shapes that surround it, their work is connected.

The brand’s history cannot be contained within a single Italian city. Although sometimes introduced in association with Rome, Turin is where Roberto grew up and where the first directly operated store opened. The operating company Kaon Lab is located in nearby Avigliana. Rome, Turin, and beyond: seeing it as an Italian brand that grew through relationships with several places makes its journey easier to understand.

The Founders and the Brand’s Beginnings

Roberto, Who Grew Up in a Perfumery

For Roberto Drago, perfume was not an industry he chose later. His parents ran a perfumery in Turin during his childhood, and in his own words he grew up “always surrounded by perfume.” One of his earliest olfactory memories is the smell of skin mixed with talc when he rested his head on his grandmother’s arm. He also says that the almond-like smell of Coccoina glue used at school returns instantly when he smells coumarin (in Japanese).

“When I was a child, my parents ran a perfumery in Turin, so I was always surrounded by perfume.”

— Roberto Drago

He began his professional career in perfume as a salesperson in 1986, subsequently gaining experience at the Lancaster Group and elsewhere, and holding a management position at cosmetics company Orlane. In interviews, he recalls eleven years in sales and six years in management at large companies.

The time spent moving from the sales floor into management also informs his later perfume creation. Roberto has described two sides within himself: a “commercial soul” suited to distribution and a “creative soul” suited to making things. Laboratorio Olfattivo was not founded on romantic feelings about fragrance alone. It is a project in which someone who knew retail, distribution, consumers, and brand management from the inside connected practical experience to creation.

Daniela Caon as a Partner Along the Way

Co-founder Daniela Caon likewise did not come from outside the perfume industry. Roberto has revealed that after running a perfumery with her sister, she worked in fragrance and skincare sales. They became partners in both work and private life, complementing each other’s abilities.

According to Roberto, they share a passion for perfume and a vision of their work, and their daily discussions have led to results neither could have reached alone. Roberto develops the first idea for a new perfume, then refines how it can be realized in conversation with Daniela, giving concrete form to its name, colors, packaging, and other elements. In this way, the idea of a fragrance takes shape as it moves between them.

Daniela’s character is clearest in her work. There is little material tracing her birth year, birthplace, childhood, or detailed education, but a continuous thread runs from her perfumery through sales into brand creation. She is not simply “the founder’s wife,” but a co-founder who knows fragrance retail firsthand and is responsible for the brand’s image and product design.

2001: Establishing Kaon

Their first business was not their own perfume brand, but a distribution company. In 2001, an opportunity to represent the British brand Pecksniff’s in Italy prompted them to establish Kaon, a distributor specializing in niche fragrances. Roberto recalls that there were only about fifty stores selling niche perfume in Italy at the time.

At Kaon, they discovered overseas brands, introduced them to Italian retailers, and continuously observed reactions on the sales floor and among consumers. Those eight years effectively prepared the ground for their own brand. What was a temporary fashion, and what fragrance would endure? What prices, appearance, explanations, and distribution did independent perfume need? Before becoming makers, they learned the market as selectors and providers.

“We founded Kaon in 2001 as a distribution company specializing in niche perfume. In 2009, building on that project, we launched Laboratorio Olfattivo as our first own brand to give form to our passion.”

— Roberto Drago

2009: The Birth of the “Laboratory”

In 2009, the pair founded Laboratorio Olfattivo. Its name means “olfactory laboratory.” Yet it is not a “research institute” where a single exclusive in-house perfumer produces works in a unified style. It is a laboratory as a collaborative space: Roberto presents the initial story or idea, chooses a perfumer suited to it, and transforms it into a work through repeated dialogue.

At the beginning stood Alambar, Alkemi, Cozumel, and Daimiris. A 2010 introduction close to the time of launch reported that Nirmal followed these four. The Perfume Society, meanwhile, describes its early form as a “debut with five fragrances.” The brand’s product materials date Alambar and Cozumel to 2009 and Nirmal to 2010. A difference remains between counting four at the starting moment and five including the early expansion, but it is clear that the laboratory born in 2009 was welcoming another scent the following year.

The perfumer was not fixed to one person even in the early works. Enrico Buccella created Alambar, Marie Duchêne created Alkemi and Cozumel, and Pierre Guillaume created Daimiris. Different inspirations appeared side by side: amber, resins evoking ancient Egypt, the heat of a Mexican island, and iris with suede. True to the brand’s name, a structure in which multiple “noses” brought their own experiments was present from the start.

Beginning with a Story, Not the Market

At the brand’s center is the attitude of first having a story to tell. A new perfume emerges not from a “market need,” but from a “need to tell a story.” Memories, journeys, sensations that return to a particular moment, and fragments of passion are translated into ingredients, accords (in Japanese), coherent scent impressions assembled from several materials, and alcohol.

“A new perfume is born not from market needs or marketing research, but from a need to tell a story. Stories of memories, journeys, and sensations.”

— Laboratorio Olfattivo official brand statement

This does not mean “ignoring the market,” however. The two also run a distribution company and cite the balance of quality, price, and packaging among the brand’s strengths. In other words, while avoiding market pandering, they do not disregard the practical work of making a viable product. This tension between creation and commerce is precisely Laboratorio Olfattivo’s pragmatic individuality.

Encounters Become Collections

“Encounters” with perfumers recur throughout the brand’s history. Speaking about collaborations with Jean-Claude Ellena (in Japanese), Lucien Ferrero, Luca Maffei (in Japanese), Dominique Ropion, and others, Roberto has said that “life is shaped by encounters.”

The Masters’ Collection, begun in 2019, particularly symbolizes that idea. Ellena met Roberto at a perfume lecture to which Roberto had invited him. While interpreting into Italian on stage, Roberto reportedly added words of his own and asked questions following his curiosity. Ellena found the exchange interesting and later told him, “I would be honored to create something for your brand,” leading to their collaboration.

“Connections are built through exchange and sharing. […] I met Roberto at a lecture about perfume. He was smiling, his eyes were sincere, and we shared a passion for perfume.”

— Jean-Claude Ellena

Ferrero, meanwhile, criticizes perfume-industry marketing for taking creative freedom away from perfumers and producing uniformity. He says that, through conversations with Roberto and Daniela, they agreed on placing noble materials, originality, and human relationships at the center, and that after forty-five years of traditional perfume-making experience he embarked on a new adventure.

“A new perfume must be based on an innovative idea and reflect the originality of its inspiration and the purity of the materials used to express its spirit. We need to return people and human relationships to the center of our work.”

— Lucien Ferrero

These words reveal an approach that does not treat perfumers as anonymous contractors. Laboratorio Olfattivo clearly names perfumers on product pages, incorporating their travels, memories, and views of ingredients into the perfume’s story. Brand unity does not lie in “the same smell,” but in bringing the freedom of different authors into one world through Roberto’s editorial eye and Daniela’s visual and product design.

Stores and International Expansion

In December 2015, the brand opened its first directly operated store on Via Mazzini in Turin. It subsequently expanded to Via Giolitti in Turin, Rome, and Milan. The official website currently lists three stores, in Turin, Rome, and Milan.

Their “laboratory” spread from Italy to the world. The number of countries carrying it, once described as “at least forty countries,” became “at least fifty countries” in later brand materials. These figures also change according to the moment in the brand’s history they reflect. Its international reach has gradually expanded alongside its fragrances.

The Brand’s Commitments

Editing Perfumers’ Freedom

Roberto’s role is closer to that of an editor who forms a concept, chooses the appropriate perfumer, and guides a work to completion than to a perfumer who writes every formula himself. First, he develops an idea and determines the name, color, and packaging through discussions with Daniela. Next, he chooses a “nose” on the basis of talent and style, and formulation begins.

What he gives the perfumer is the scent’s initial inspiration. Beyond that, he leaves room for the person’s artistic ability to unfold freely. Neither everything is delegated without involvement nor the finished form specified in detail. Roberto’s proposal meets the perfumer’s sensibility, and the work changes through dialogue. It is a way of making that accommodates both direction and freedom.

Eau de Parfum as a Medium

Eau de parfum concentration is chosen for the central fragrance ranges. The brand explains that it is the ideal expressive format for fully experiencing the formulas and quality of the materials. Fragrance is positioned not simply as decoration, but as an “emotional experience” emerging through the sense of smell.

Not everything is eau de parfum, however. Viaggio in Italia is “Parfum Cologne,” combining cologne’s brightness with the presence of a perfume. The Extreme Collection is offered as “Parfum Intense.” Concentration designations are used according to each collection’s expressive intention.

A Minimal Exterior

The regular-line bottles are straight-lined and easy to handle, while the outer boxes are designed to be simple and elegant. Packaging is deliberately minimal because the brand wants the quality of “what truly matters, the scent” to be felt before the glamour of the exterior.

White-oriented collections use white boxes with black ribbons, while black-oriented collections use black to express elegance, luxury, and mystery. The Masters’ Collection and others also use colored cases and gold plaques to distinguish themselves from the regular line. Some works credit Daniela for packaging, and her work is alive outside the fragrance itself too.

Materials and Manufacturing

The path to a perfume continues from selecting materials and constructing a formula through manufacture, bottling, and packaging. After production, maceration (in Japanese), a maturation stage that lets fragrance materials and alcohol come together, precedes filtration and bottling. Final packaging is done by hand in the company’s own laboratory. Care is given to the stages through which one idea becomes a perfume that can be held.

Natural essential oils and absolutes are not the only supports for these scents. Fragrance molecules such as Ambroxan, Ambrocenide, and Lilybelle also play individual roles in the works. Rather than grouping them under “all natural,” it is easier to understand them as contemporary perfumes using both naturals and synthetics for the desired expression. Finishing products in an in-house laboratory is also a different matter from undertaking every manufacturing stage entirely within the company.

The brand’s phrase “the finest ingredients” expresses an attitude toward materials. It does not, by itself, disclose the farms of origin, quantities sourced, proportions of naturals, or formula concentrations. Rather than replacing a quality statement with figures or conditions common to every work, it is worth attending to the materials and labor that shape each scent.

The Fragrance Lineup

The perfumes are currently divided into Classic Collection Bianca, Classic Collection Nera, Classic Collection in Fiore, Extreme Collection, Fioriture, Masters’ Collection, and Viaggio in Italia. The white and black ranges have also used the names “Laboratorio in Bianco” and “Laboratorio in Nero.” White Collection, however, is a category on the home-fragrance side. While following the changes in names, let us look at the expression each perfume range takes on.

The Core White-Oriented Line

This is the brand’s foundational line, begun in 2009. Its product materials list Alambar, Cozumel, Nirmal, Esvedra, Noblige, Rosamunda, Salina, Patchouliful, Need_U, and Miss_U. Unrestricted by a particular material or genre, the collection shows the brand’s experimental spirit across amber, tobacco, iris, vetiver, rose, the seashore, patchouli, and skin musk.

The following works offer particularly clear entry points.

Alambar: A warm amber layering bergamot, cocoa, cinnamon, and vanilla. A 2009 work by Enrico Buccella.
Cozumel: It depicts the memory of a Mexican island through basil, clary sage, tobacco, incense, and tonka bean. A Marie Duchêne work that moves between warmth and coolness.
Salina: Sea salt, pine needles, hot sand, myrtle, and sea spray create a multisensory depiction of Salina off Sicily. It has sunlight and salinity, distinct from a simple marine scent.
Need_U: A fragrance about being completed on the skin rather than on paper. Lemon, pink pepper, Hedione, Ambroxan, and white musk narrow the distance between perfume and skin.

Laboratorio in Fiore

A line taking one flower as its subject and depicting its many facets in contemporary compositions. It includes magnolia-centered Decou-Vert, lotus-centered Nūn, white-lily MyLO, and linden-blossom Tilio Mirabilis. Its characteristic approach is not only to portray the flower realistically, but to create the air around it through leaves, water, light, spices, woods, and musk.

The Black-Oriented Line

This line uses black as a symbol of elegance, luxury, and mystery, emphasizing complex formulas and rare, costly materials. It includes Kashnoir, Nerotic, Vanhera, Sacreste, Nerosa, Tonkade, ExpLOud, and Nektar.

Here, sweetness, resins, smoke, oud, and leather appear with light and shade. Vanhera, for example, surrounds Madagascan vanilla absolute with pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, sandalwood, and amber-like materials to create “a dark vanilla that is not merely sweet.” Sacreste developed an incense trial encountered in the course of another concept Roberto had nurtured for eight years, and was completed with Luca Maffei.

Masters’ Collection

Begun in 2019, this collection foregrounds the authorship of renowned perfumers. It consists of five works: Vetyverso and Tantrico by Lucien Ferrero, Baliflora and Tuberosis by Jean-Claude Ellena, and the later addition Vanagloria by Dominique Ropion (in Japanese).

Ellena’s Tuberosis arose from a memory of the last tuberose remaining in a garden before winter. With a relatively restrained set of materials, Indian carnation, tuberose absolute, coriander, spices, and musk, it depicts the flower as a “whisper” rather than a loud voice.

In Vanagloria, Ropion takes vanilla’s many facets as his subject, layering saffron, tonka bean, and incense over Bourbon vanilla obtained through low-temperature carbon-dioxide extraction. True to the Masters name, this is a line for reading perfumers’ thinking and techniques rather than a unified brand scent.

Viaggio in Italia

A series of Parfum Cologne by Jean-Claude Ellena whose name means “journey to Italy.” Beginning with Mandarino in summer 2020, it expanded to Limone, Bergamotto, Arancia Rossa, and Pompelmo. It pays homage to the Italy Ellena loves and its legendary citrus materials; the brand describes the works as “portraits of Italian happiness” and “fragrances like sunshine in winter.”

It does more than realistically reproduce a single citrus. Bergamotto, for example, combines Calabrian bergamot with bitter orange, cardamom, and white musk, balancing bright peel with longevity as a perfume.

Extreme Collection

A Parfum Intense line comprising Amberbomb and Oud in White. It uses materials with strong longevity and diffusion, and gives packaging an even more refined finish. This collection puts scent intensity and texture further forward than the regular line.

Fioriture

In 2026, the flower-themed Fioriture appeared as a new chapter with Ellena. Its three works, In_Carnation, Jasminade, and Rose me Twice, address carnation, jasmine, and rose respectively. After depicting Mediterranean citrus in Viaggio in Italia, Ellena turns his gaze toward garden flowers in this collection.

Jasminade translates a flower’s changes through a day into composition: from a green, airy aspect in the morning, through an expression reminiscent of orange blossom as time passes, to a warm, animalic depth at night. This new work clearly shows the brand’s attempt to make perfume not merely from “the scent of a flower,” but from time, air, and memory too.

Incidentally…

Roberto repeatedly cites “coherence,” or consistency, as a word that has supported the brand’s growth. He says it took about ten years for Kaon to gain recognition in the market and about ten years for Laboratorio Olfattivo to feel the results of its work, placing passion, continuity, and consistency, rather than short-term attention, at the foundation of the business.

The particular favorites Roberto has named within the brand are Need_U, Vanhera, Salina, Mandarino, and Tantrico. His selection was nevertheless prefaced by “I love all Laboratorio Olfattivo fragrances.”

What makes Laboratorio Olfattivo interesting is not stamping the same signature on every work, but maintaining a brand while leaving room for different perfumers’ signatures to remain legible. When trying its fragrances, following “who” made them, “from which memories or materials,” and “within which collection’s logic,” rather than choosing by notes alone, should bring this “laboratory” into sharper focus.

The Pair’s Journey and the Expansion of Fragrance

Roberto’s accounts reveal a childhood spent in a perfumery and a path through sales, management, and creation. By comparison, Daniela’s own words and detailed background remain less clearly outlined in many respects. Nor are the company’s capital, their individual ownership shares, or annual sales of each fragrance fully visible. For formula concentrations, proportions of natural materials, and sourcing too, the whole brand cannot be reduced to a single figure or condition beyond what is said for individual works. Even so, the people involved and the fragrances they sought to create remain alive in their journey and their work.

Some accounts place four fragrances at the beginning, others five. Rome and Turin both appear as locations associated with the brand, while figures describing its worldwide reach have changed over time. It is a journey that does not fit neatly into one chronology, but the two people who traveled it remain the same. Beginning with a small laboratory, they have gradually expanded their fragrance world while welcoming the individualities of different perfumers.

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