Perris Monte Carlo: The Art of Perfumery Between Tradition and Innovation

“I first imagined Perris Monte Carlo while traveling. Looking back, I cannot say exactly where I was. Perhaps I was in the Middle East searching for rose essence. Or perhaps I was walking through the lavender fields of Provence. What really matters is the reason behind that first idea. The reason was simple: I realized that I had been privileged to experience the traditional world of perfumery, still very much alive today. I had been able to learn from great masters. And I did not want that wonderful tradition to disappear. With the humility of an artisan and the recklessness of a dreamer, Perris Monte Carlo was born.”
— Gian Luca Perris (Founder and Creative Director)​

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Essential Information

• Brand name: Perris Monte Carlo
• Founded: 2011​
• Founder: Gian Luca Perris​
• Based in: Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco
• Official website: https://perrismontecarlo.com
• Parent company: Perris Group, founded in Milan in 1981 by Michele Perris. It is now a global company operating in at least 50 countries.

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The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

A Passion for Fragrance Born in Rome

Gian Luca Perris was born in Rome, Italy. He studied economics and commerce at university, but rather than pursuing an academic career, he eventually entered the family business: the world of perfume.

There are four siblings in the Perris family: Gian Luca, the eldest, followed by Consuelo, Elisabetta, and the youngest, Gian Carlo. Their father, Michele Perris, founded the fragrance and beauty company Perris Group in Milan in 1981. Its initial business was the distribution of perfumes from the historic French house Houbigant.

Houbigant is a distinguished perfume house founded in Paris in 1775 by Jean-François Houbigant, known for supplying Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Michele initially worked with Houbigant as a consultant. When the last heir of the Houbigant family began selling the business in the 1980s for health reasons, the Perris family set out to safeguard the historic house.

Training in Grasse: Discovering the Spiritual Home of Perfume

Around the time Michele established his company in Milan, Gian Luca, then about 20, went to Grasse in southern France to study perfumery. Known as the “perfume capital of the world,” Grasse is a place where aromatic plants such as lavender, rose, jasmine, and tuberose have been cultivated for centuries. There, Gian Luca acquired techniques for extracting natural fragrance materials and the fundamentals of composition, absorbing the traditions of French perfumery firsthand.​

After becoming fully involved in the industry around 1989, Gian Luca eventually became Executive Vice President of Houbigant, overseeing international product presentations and fragrance creation.

“My father had been a consultant to Houbigant for a long time. When the company ran into financial difficulties in the 1990s, my family bought it.”
— Gian Luca Perris​

In 2005, the Perris family finally acquired full control of Houbigant. Gian Luca devoted himself to reviving the historic house, directing such projects as the re-creation of Fougère Royale, the first fougère perfume in history, originally introduced in 1882. With the assistance of the Osmothèque, the perfume archive in Versailles, perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux brought the original fragrance back to life for the modern age.

“After the recent crisis, people are calling for genuine quality and authenticity. Not simply combining ingredients, putting on an attractive label, and selling it at a high price. The quality embodied in the composition of Fougère Royale has real meaning in our times.”
— Gian Luca Perris (Forbes, 2010)​

The Birth of Perris Monte Carlo: “The Humility of an Artisan and the Recklessness of a Dreamer”

While working to rebuild Houbigant, Gian Luca arrived at a conviction: at a time when many perfume brands focused on marketing and branding, there was a need for a house that returned to “the fragrance itself.”​

“Sales are not so important. What matters is the journey we are taking: what we have learned along the way, and how much joy there is in creating these beautiful perfumes.”
— Gian Luca Perris (at an event in San Francisco)​

In 2011, Gian Luca launched his own brand, Perris Monte Carlo, based in Monte Carlo in the Principality of Monaco. The following year, in 2012, he moved to Monaco with his sisters Consuelo and Elisabetta, putting the brand fully into motion. The family members have clearly defined roles: Gian Luca serves as the perfumer, or nose, Consuelo as Marketing and PR Director, and Elisabetta as Creative Director.

The official website describes the brand as having been founded “at a point halfway between an old workshop safeguarding secrets passed down through generations and a research center open to innovation.” It was a project into which Gian Luca poured half a century of family experience: the traditions of Houbigant, his training in Grasse, and his travels to the Middle East and Madagascar in search of raw materials. In a sense, it was the culmination of a life in perfume.​

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The Brand’s Commitments

A Philosophy of Fragrance: “Raw Materials Take Center Stage”

At the heart of Perris Monte Carlo is a consistent commitment to making the finest natural raw materials the stars of its perfumes. Each creation selects a single natural fragrance material as its focus and is composed to reveal that ingredient’s beauty to the fullest.

Gian Luca travels the world in search of raw materials. On the island of Nosy Be in Madagascar, he visited one of the world’s largest ylang-ylang plantations, owned by Robertet, describing the fragrance supplier as the “Rolls-Royce of the finest raw materials.” In Taif, Saudi Arabia, he discovered a rose essential oil so extraordinary that he purchased the entire year’s production. These Taif roses are traded by counting individual blooms rather than by weight. Around 1,000 roses are needed to obtain one gram of essential oil, making it an exceptionally precious ingredient.

He takes an equally distinctive approach to bergamot from Calabria, Italy. Bergamot essential oil ordinarily appears in the fragrance pyramids of as many as 90% of perfumes, yet its high volatility means it rarely takes the leading role. Working with Capua, founded in 1880, Gian Luca adopted a traditional manual extraction method known as “sponge bergamot.” The fruit is cut in half and the pulp removed, after which the peel is pressed against a natural sea sponge to extract the oil. Annual production is limited to only around 20 kilograms.

Bottles and Packaging: Gold and Moucharabieh

The most striking feature of Perris Monte Carlo’s bottles is their extensive use of gold detailing. The Gold Collection gleams gold all over, while the Black Collection sets a gold logo against a black background. From the caps and labels to the typography, gold expresses the brand’s luxurious character.

The brand logo combines four instances of the letter “P,” the initial of Perris, said to symbolize the four siblings. The idea came from their father, Michele, and the design was created by Elisabetta.​

Another distinctive motif is the Arabic-style lattice pattern known as moucharabieh. Inspired by Gian Luca’s travels in Arabia, it draws on the openwork screens installed over windows in Middle Eastern homes to prevent people from looking in. A closer look reveals that the geometric design is formed by mathematically repeating the logo’s “P,” with a structure similar to that of Arabian zellige geometric tilework.​

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The Fragrance Lineup

Perris Monte Carlo is organized into five clearly defined collections, each with its own theme.

Gold Collection: A Tribute to the Middle East

The brand’s first collection, introduced with its debut in 2012. Inspired by numerous journeys to the Middle East, its four fragrances reinterpret traditional perfume culture with a contemporary international sensibility. Oud, musk, patchouli, and ambergris, among the most important materials in the history of perfumery, each take the leading role in one creation.

• Musk Extrême — An exploration of musk’s powdery, sensual facets
• Essence de Patchouli — An exquisite balance of patchouli and rose
• Ambre Gris — A meeting of luscious ambergris and spices
• Bois d’Oud — The wild character of oud enveloped in vanilla and spices

Black Collection: Exceptional Ingredients Discovered Around the World

A collection dedicated to the “most important natural raw materials” Gian Luca has encountered around the world. While the Gold Collection focuses on the Middle East as a region, the Black Collection delves into the materials themselves, regardless of origin. Many of its creations were developed in collaboration with perfumers Luca Maffei and Jacques Flori.

Its ten fragrances include Rose de Taïf, centered on the roses of Taif (2014; a finalist in the 2016 Art and Olfaction Awards); Ylang Ylang Nosy Be, featuring ylang-ylang from Madagascar (2015); Oud Imperial, built around natural oud (2014); and Vetiver Java, focusing on vetiver from Java (2021).

Italy Collection: A Celebration of Southern Italian Citrus

Introduced in 2018, this collection explores citrus fruits from southwestern Italy. A joint creation by Gian Luca and Luca Maffei, it relies on innovative extraction technologies developed by Capua, a citrus essential oil specialist since 1880. Capua has developed cold-fractionation technology, using low-temperature fractionation down to −20°C, that allows the removal of furocoumarins, which are photosensitizing molecules, and phthalates, while extracting delicate aromatic components without damaging them through heat.

• Bergamotto di Calabria — Bergamot in the leading role, using the sponge bergamot described above
• Mandarino di Sicilia — The sunshine of Sicilian mandarin
• Cedro di Diamante — Diamante citron from Calabria
• Arancia di Sicilia (2019) — Sicilian orange

Les Parfums de Grasse: Memories of Home Woven by the Master Ellena

Introduced in 2019, this collection is dedicated to the perfumery heritage of Grasse. It was conceived following UNESCO’s 2018 inscription of the skills related to perfume in the Pays de Grasse on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

“There were several candidates in Grasse who could have played the leading role in this project. But for me, Jean-Claude Ellena is the most iconic perfumer of our time and stands above all the rest. There is no doubt that he was born artistically in Grasse.”
— Gian Luca Perris​

True to those words, the creations were entrusted to the Grasse-born master Jean-Claude Ellena (in Japanese). Ellena became an apprentice at the essential oil manufacturer Chiris at the age of 16 and joined the first intake at Givaudan’s perfumery school in 1968. He is also known for his many years as the in-house perfumer at Hermès.​

“My devotion to jasmine goes back to my childhood in Grasse. As a small child, I would pick its porcelain-white flowers at dawn, intoxicated by their soft, green, airy scent.”
— Jean-Claude Ellena​

The collection consists of four creations.​

• Jasmin de Pays — A pure soliflore, or single-flower composition, of jasmine from Grasse
• Rose de Mai — An homage to the May rose, Rosa centifolia
• Mimosa Tanneron — The luminosity and powderiness of mimosa from the Tanneron region
• Lavande Romaine — The aroma of Roman lavender

Extraits de Parfum: The Ultimate Concentration

A collection that reinterprets signature Black Collection fragrances at higher concentrations. Reducing the alcohol content and increasing the proportion of fragrance materials reveals delicate nuances that can remain hidden in a conventional eau de parfum. Extrait versions include Oud Imperial, Rose de Taïf, Patchouli Nosy Be, and Ylang Ylang Nosy Be.

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Incidentally…

• Gian Luca is also an accomplished sailor. He competes in the team discipline of match racing and received the UBS Match Race Award as a helmsman in 2007. The trophy was presented to him by Prince Albert II of Monaco. He says he inherited his love of sailing from his father, Michele.​
• Perris Group’s activities extend beyond perfume. In addition to fragrance brands such as Houbigant and Alyssa Ashley, it owns the skincare brand Perris Swiss Laboratory and even 3Dconnexion, a global leader in 3D navigation technology.
• Since 2020, Gian Luca has also served as CEO of the historic Florentine house Santa Maria Novella. Appointed at the invitation of the Italian investment holding company Italmobiliare, he has been working to revitalize a business founded in 1221, an “800-year-old startup.” He also led the development of the house’s first eau de parfum, L’Iris.​​

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