Relax with artisanal parfumeur Familia Familia
Close your eyes, take a deep breath and imagine your favourite country escape. For Claudia Ranieri and actor Alessandro Roja, the duo behind Familia-Familia, it’s the Tuscan countryside, the inspiration behind their bespoke scent Enjoy The Weekend.
Enjoy the Weekend is the moment when you disconnect from everything and head out of the city. A bouquet of bergamot, lavender, jasmine, fig, rose and cut grass, the fragrance conjures up invigorating rush of freedom you feel when you know you have your weekend at your finger tips and all you have to do is choose where you want to go.
Family in a fragrance
Ranieri and Roja love memories and they love how scents can transport you across time and around the world. Before creating Familia Familia, Ranieri, a former PR executive and Roja, film and television actor, were cozy couple with a mutual passion for artisanal perfumes – in particular, perfumes that they could share with each other. Realising that they wanted to share their passion with their family, an invested collection of friends, loved ones and kindred spirits, Ranieri and Roja created Familia Familia. In fact, the concept of creating one’s family through who you love and share wonderful experiences is the main note of Familia Familia – and Ranieri and Roja underlined in the name.
“We want everyone to be able to wear these fragrances, and we didn’t want to leave anyone in the family out”, describes Ranieri. Teaming with olfactory phenom Luca Maffei, Familia Familia has a line up four unisex fragrances – Enjoy the Weekend, Deal, Wake Me Up and Family in Love, with the latter two in no-alcohol version for “baby” fragrances – again, fundamental to the Familia Familia mentality. Everyone fits in, everyone is part of the family.
Each scent was inspired by emotions and moments of everyday life, and Familia Famila captured the essence of these memories – like eating fragoline di bosco (wild strawberries) at a picnic – by sourcing almost entirely in Italy. “We love Italy, and try to use only [homegrown] products when we can”, explains Ranieri, acknowledging that certain elements, like musk, must be sourced outside of Italy.
Handcrafting a scent
From the choice of aromi (scents) to the artisanal packaging, Familia Familia is an almost entirely Italian in production, concept and vibe. Photographer Guido Taroni (Milan) captured the personality of each scent in images, and illustrator Davide Cambria (Messina, Sicily) translated Familia Familia into beautiful drawings. The red wooden toppers on the baby perfumes are handcrafted in Emilia Romagna and made to resemble a children’s toy. All packaging is produced in Lazio, and Ranieri and Roja live in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood.
When asked about Familia Familia’s logo (an infinity symbol with two central dots almost like eyes), Ranieri coyly replies “it’s about the fluidity of the fragrances, and the infinity symbols comes from a ninna nanna (bedtime song) I sing to our children.” It’s all in the family.
