“My favourite scent? Pure rose. Rose is my element”, says Sileno Cheloni. Hundreds of ingredients are given to be used for the design of his tailored olfactory compositions

MyStylery: Sileno, did you always know that you wanted to be a perfumer someday?
Sileno Chileno: No, it’s a long story. I always had a passion for perfumes and fragrances and I remember when I was young, I often visited my uncle who lived in the South of France and I bought things I couldn’t find in Italy. If I had to decide whether to buy a jacket or a perfume, I would have bought the perfume, because it was my way to distinguish myself. The smell was a very important part of my dressing.
MS: That’s interesting, I have never thought about a perfume being a piece of clothing.
SC: Absolutely. Even today I say to my clients that wearing a perfume is like wearing a suit. It’s the same. Of course it depends where you go and what you do, you wear the perfume in a certain way. Depending on the situation you will wear the same fragrance but with a different attitude. What I want to transmit to people is the experience, not just the smell.

Sileno Cheloni: Composer, creator, master perfumer. Like a conductor, he harmonizes olfactory notes like a musical score, translating them into a previously imagined olfactory form

MS: How did you become a perfumer then? Did you visit a special school?
SC: I first studied visual arts to become a photographer and a designer, always searching for spirituality. I learned about the Sufism philosophy, which is connected to the Hindu religion and the Islam, but the spiritual part of the Islam, not with any political aspect. And during my travels to the island of Cyprus I met a perfumer who was an inspiration. I bought many essences and oils and when I arrived at home I created my first scent in my laundry room. That used to be my first laboratory 20 years ago. And the process of composing a scent is a non material world. One composes on a different level. It’s something you don’t see.
MS: But you can see the liquid…
SC: Yes, of course you can see the liquid in the bottle, but it’s like going to a concert and recording the music you can listen to after the concert is over. But the emotion is gone. You can’t preserve the emotion. From the moment when I created my first scent, I felt that is going to be my job, I felt the passion inside, which was so strong that there was no alternative…

Creating perfume is emotion

MS: You had no other choice then…
SC: Yes. But I didn’t have any finances or business. The most difficult thing is finding the right raw materials. The perfume market is a huge industry and also a huge investment, because you need thousands of kilos of materials and in the beginning, I had no idea how to manage this part. Imagine, I presented my first collection in London at Harrod’s on the fifth floor, where you can find the most selective perfume brands in the world and the most expensive fragrances. And in this exclusive surrounding I provided my perfumes made of 50 different raw materials, produced in my laundry at home. And the most astonishing thing was that they wanted my creations. So Harrod’s became my first customer.
MS: How many bottles did you sell?
SC: About one hundred of each of my five perfumes. This is how it started. Then I realized that I needed support in order to get a better source for the raw materials and other conditions for the production, because it’s hard to get access to the market. One of my favourite ingredients, the May Rose of the area of Grass in Provence, I can’t even buy today. Although I met a guy years ago, who is the son of the biggest Italian perfumers, who is my best friend today. But the May Rose is exclusively produced for the company of Christian Dior.

Sileno Cheloni: He also developed the signature fragrance of Gucci a few years ago

MS: What is the most important requirement for your job – Is it a good nose?
SC: Of course the nose is important. But it’s more about creativity, ideas and passion.
MS: Have you ever read the book “The Parfum” by Patrick Süskind?
SC: Yes. And I liked it very much. It’s a little exaggerated but the sensation of the job is well described. You have to be involved with the smell. Even when I am on holiday, I am focussed on all the smells and influences. I keep all these information to use it at some point.

A good nose is important

MS: Are there any fragrances you don’t like at all?
SC: To be honest, I like all of them. Even the worst (laughs).
MS: Also Christian Dior’s “Poison”? I will never forget the American shopping malls in the 80s, with the heavy smell of “Poison” everywhere.
SC: If you like “Poison”, then you should wear it. But if you go to a restaurant or bar, where other people are eating and drinking, don’t bother them with such an intense scent. It’s not at all elegant, because it’s disturbing and leaves a bouquet five meters behind you. When visiting a bar or restaurant, you better wear your perfume on your skin. Not on your clothes. So people get to know about your perfume, when they come close to you.

“Better wear perfume on your skin. So people get to know about your perfume, when they come close to you.”

MS: Before you started your own brand in Florence, you were working for Gucci and other luxury brands. What was the main difference in your work?
SC: I still work for these companies and develop home fragrances and scented candles for example. This expands my creativity. Working for a big company means talking to many people, the marketing, the designer, the responsibilities, always focussing on the brand’s image. For example every Gucci store you enter there is a certain smell, which has to tell you something about the company. And I created that smell. On the other hand my brand is, where I can express myself and nobody can tell me, how.
MS: Every year there are hundreds of new fragrances floating the market – they come and they go. I wonder, why there are only a few becoming real classics.
SC: Everybody is copying each other. But each company launches one perfume, which is a little bit more different from the others. Normally this is the one, they sell less. But sometime – and we don’t know why – this perfume becomes very famous. And it gets so much commercial attention. Think about Davidoff or L’Hiver de Guerlain, it’s been there for twenty years. These perfumes were completely different compared to others on the market and the market was ready for something new. That is why oud – a strong oriental scent – is famous in the market, although it started first in a niche.

The master perfumer Sileno Cheloni and I after our interview: “A good perfumer must be a bit chemical but above all an artist and a visionary.”

MS: There are fragrances, some of them a hundered years old, which we wouldn’t use anymore.
SC: Yes, and many factors why an old perfume doesn’t work in today’s market. A beautiful car from the thirties is also difficult to drive today, there are spare parts, no advanced technology nor an AC. But lots of pollution.
MS: Do you remember how many fragrances you have created in your career as a perfumer?
SC: I don’t (laughs)…
MS: Is there a new trend or do you consider trends at all?
SC: What I like more is working on a smaller level and influence the new trend. This is much more interesting. Creating a trend doesn’t make you feel very happy. It can only happen when having several experts on your side, a very good business man next to you. You will be like a part of a perfect machine. I prefer having my own little place, where I can express myself and from there influencing the big brands instead of following. BvH

Contact:

silenocheloni.it

More interviews you can find here.

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The Linari residence in Hamburg’s district Groß Flottbek

When I turned into the calm side street in the chic Hamburg district Groß Flottbek I immediately knew: this must be the place! The minimalistic cube midst the so-called Hamburg coffee grinder (this is how the members of the Hanseatic League of the 1920s and 1930s called the red-brick villas with their quadratic ground plans) immediately catches ones attention. It’s therefore no wonder that Hamburger Rainer Diersche had to render diverse opinions of experts for the building license of his 520 square meters exceptional house. Diersche, qualified industrial engineer and product designer, did not only realise a multiple architectural highlight with this house, but also integrated the anthracite coloured new building into the stock development. But entrepreneur Rainer Diersche does not only have an eye for architecture: Diersche creates luxury room fragrances and perfumes with his label Linari

Entrepreneur and product designer Rainer Diersche in his study. Also from here there is a line of sight to the outside

A portrait of Diersche’s father by the Hamburg painter Erich Hartmann

MyStylery: It smells so lovely in here. What is it?
Rainer Diersche: This is the fragrance “Estate” from the LINARI-collection. We have an area-fragrancing: scents will be fed via the ventilation system and are created after my ideas of perfumers in Germany and Paris. I choose the scent depending on my mood. Without it nothing works.

The sofa in the livingroom is from B&B Italia, the upholstery fabrics for all pillows, chairs and bed heads from Kvadrat

MS: You learned banker, then studied economics. How do you get a fragrance entrepreneur?
RD: I was already affine after scents as a child. Later on I had a store at the Stilwerk and realised, how big the demand of design is. That brought me to the idea to create demanding fragrances with a good design. By the way our biggest foreign market is Japan. There, the ingredients are being strongly controlled, for example how scents operate on dog nose. I do especially attach importance to the packaging as well as the content. Although I sometimes get tears in my eyes when I’m thinking about the costs. (laughs)

The Danish clinker of the mantelpiece can also be found in the exterior façade. White leather chairs are from COR

MS: Regarding the planning of your house you were similar uncompromisingly.
RD: Yes, that’s right. The actual thought was to design the house as minimalistic and ecologically as possible. We use geothermal energy for the floor heating and power supply. Most important are good materials, their harmony and a consequent implementation. The clinker at the fireplace is the same that has been used for the external façade. Also the floor tile has been laid inside and outside, including a continuous alignment in the jointing.

The illuminated handrail of varnished oak leads to the first floor

The Bengal cats Gucci and Prada

MS: This sounds pretty perfectionist.
RD: I’m consequent. If I do something, I do it right.
MS: Is it actually always so tidy at yours?
RD: (laughs) Yes, its a little bit like in a museum. And it’s still comfortable. If you decide for a minimalistic construction, then a certain living-tidiness belongs to it.

For bed frame and head Rainer Diersche chose a felt fabric from Kvadrat

Next to the flat screen in the master bedroom, is a portrait of the Hamburg painter Erich Hartmann. It shows his wife

MS: In this area rules a structural provision made to safeguard existing standards, a so-called constituent Ensemble. Your modern way of construction probably didn’t only bring you new friends in the neighbourhood.
RD: At this place didn’t stand a coffee grinder like the other neighbour houses, instead there was a house that was not renovated. We had to knock it down. Our compromise was the dependence to the Bauhaus-style. Surely there’s also a lot of gossip. I’m proud of what I established. We evidently live in a community with envy. And that’s a petty. BvH

Varnished oak has been used for stairs, handrails and internal cupboards

Also the master bath is equipped with Ligurian slate

Rainer Diersche in the summer kitchen on the top floor of the house, where he also hosts guests on the adjacent terrace

The washbasins are made of Corean

Bengal cat Gucci enjoys the cooling stone tiles

The kitchen is from Strato, the work surfaces out of stainless steel and Nero Assoluto as well as Corean, bar stool “Lem” from La Palma

It seems logical that a real Hamburg need to have chairs with the name “Alster”. Table and chairs from Ligne Roset

The Biedermeier-commode from 1820 chose Diersche “to exclude the strength”. Silver chandelier and vase are from Christofle. “The vase is special, thereof only exist 20 pieces worldwide.”

Oil painting from Erich Hartmann, who belonged to the artists’ association “Hamburger Sezession” in the 1920s. Diersche inherited it from his father and complemented the collection with additional purchases

Ligurian slate has been used for the wine cellar

Rainer Diersche designed the sauna according to his specifications. It is illuminated by a colored light system

The whole living- and outdoor area has l m x l m limestone-tiles

The minimalistic cube emerged in collaboration with the Hamburg Dibelius architect. 520 square meters spread onto two floors plus cellar on a 957 square meters property

Contact:
www.linari.com

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