The Art Perfumery Event.
The 13th edition of Esxence – The Art Perfumery Event, the international event dedicated to artistic perfumery, confirmed Milan as the leading city of the art perfumery business and hub of new trends.
Huge success for this edition: record attendance of 10,300 visitors from all over the world, large participation of fragrance lovers, a carefully selected roster of 298 brands (of which 95 Italian) and a rich calendar of events and conferences open to the public.
The event took place from March 30 to April 2 and opened under the attendance of Maurizio Forte, Director of the Made in Italy Promotion Coordination Office of the ICE – Italian Trade Agency, and Barbara Mazzali, Councillor for Tourism, Territorial Marketing and Fashion. Esxence presented the finest fragrances to industry insiders, buyers, retailers, distributors and enthusiasts who gather in Milan every year in the name of the most authentic and sophisticated olfactory culture.
Some trends highlighted at Esxence:
- New fragrances are talking to the soul; some have the word “soul” in the naming or suggest this concept by including revitalizing or relaxing notes (mood enhancing) in the formula
- About olfactory notes, the link with music is emerging, as if seeking a synaesthesia between smell and hear, also involving eyesight with bottles and naming that refer to songs or musical genres.
- Many brands have designed new, more sustainability-conscious packaging
- There is an emerging trend to rediscover the classic and traditional notes and explore new plant-based ones; what is good for us, is good for the planet.
There was also great interest in the third edition of Experience Lab, the first Italian event dedicated to niche beauty, which hosted a line-up of the most innovative brands within the Italian and international scene.
FACTS & FIGURES OF THE THIRTEEN EDITION OF ESXENCE
- 10,300 visitors, including industry professionals, buyers, beauty and fragrance lovers
- 298 brands, divided into 98 Main Brands and 200 Spotlight Brands
- 30 countries of origin of the brands (including some new entries: Singapore, Ukraine, Romania, Croatia)
- 11,000 sq. metres of exhibition space
- 70% foreign exhibitors
- 67% industry insiders
- 26 conferences and workshops included in the Esxence events calendar, open to the public of enthusiasts and industry insiders, featuring some of the world’s most influential voices.
“Every year, thanks to the careful research and selection carried out by the Technical Committee – made up of nine experts from five different continents, we offer our visitors only the best of the artistic perfumery,” says Maurizio Cavezzali, co-founder of Esxence and CEO of Equipe Exibit. “Esxence is the world’s reference event: the most important players in the industry meet here, trends are decided here, emerging brands do their debut here. Edition after edition we always aim to renew ourselves.”
“This edition has confirmed very clearly what a fundamental role Esxence has played in recent years at the international level,” says Silvio Levi, co-founder of Esxence and Director of the Essencional Study Center, which curated and coordinated, together with Equipe Exibit, the presentations and lectures part. “I am very pleased that the 13th edition of Esxence validated the extreme verve of the sector at the international level. There was a clear appreciation of our role as important players in the beauty supply chain; our workshops were well attended and covered topics of extreme relevance, not only from a business point of view but also – and above all – on the front of knowledge, creativity and better understanding of the value of olfactory communication.”
The ICE – Italian Trade Agency‘s commitment to the development of the internationalization of Esxence and Italian artistic perfumery companies is growing: 22 foreign industry insiders from Angola, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, India, Mexico, Turkey and USA were in attendance thanks to their support.
On a worldwide level, the share of artistic perfumery on the global beauty market is still less than 2%, but its incidence on the alcohol-based perfumery is steadily increasing, touching points that average around 10% in many countries.
In the Italian market, which certainly has the longest specific activity in the sector, it has reached important levels. In Italy in 2022 the turnover volume of artistic perfumery is estimated at more than €310 million euro, corresponding to 2.7% of the Italian beauty business on the domestic market, more than the 14.2% of turnover of the perfumery channel and just over 30% of fragrance sales.
Niche perfumery is in the midst of a rapid transformation, so radical that it is even affecting how it is called: the preference today, in fact, it to describe it as “artistic and research” perfumery.
Once again, the thirteen edition of Esxence was able to count on several high-level partnerships, such as Osmothèque, Mouillettes & Co., Accademia del Profumo and Art & Olfaction Awards.
A special thanks to Italian Trade Agency – ITA for its support in the internalisation process and to Business France, the French national agency supporting the international development of French economy for its consistent assistance over the years.
With the patronage of: Region of Lombardy, Municipality of Milan
With the support of: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italian Trade Agency – ITA
Sponsors: CFF Creative Flavour Fragrances, Les Parfumables
Partner: Business France
Strategic Partner: Essencional
The Essencional Study Centre was founded by Silvio Levi in 2019 for the purpose of contributing to research and development in the sector of Artistic Perfumery and as the natural evolution of the workshops held at Esxence. In 2019, the Study Centre published “Whispers about Artistic Perfumery”, a study of the online perception of Artistic Perfumery.
Essencional launched its own website www.essencional.com in 2020, to publish original content such as interviews with brands, noses and other leading figures and in-depth articles exploring issues of artistic perfumery. Essencional is assisted by an advisory board of Italian and international professionals.
Since 2019, Essencional has partnered with Esxence in defining the agenda of events taking place during the exhibition.
Technical supplier: Art Coffee
