CABIRIA
CABIRIA
Giovanni Pastrone, 1914
Cabiria is considered the greatest Italian silent movie epic and was the first film to be screened at the White House.
The story unfolds during the Punic Wars in the third century BC. Little Cabiria (Lidia Quaranta) is kidnaped by Phoenician pirates and taken to Carthage to be sacrificed. She is saved by a Roman patrician, Fulvius Axilla, and his slave, who deliver her to Queen Sophonisba. When Carthage is conquered by the Romans, Cabiria returns home with Fulvius, with whom she has meanwhile fallen in love, a love that is mutual.
The fragrances inspired by CABIRIA
“Contrasts play the starring roles in creative inspiration: a dramatic story where love interacts with survival, with a destiny of flames and sacrifice. The fragrance describes a romantic, dreamy Sophonisba before the drama in which she is to star. Inebriating touches of iris and jasmine are overpowered by a cloud of mystic incense and narcotic spiced tones, received in an apparently reassuring base of embracing woody nuances and accents of mysterious myrrh.”
Véronique Nyberg
BIOGRAPHY
Senior perfumier and Vice-President of Fine Fragrance Creation, Véronique is a modern alchemist with a doctorate in organic chemistry. Her style of creation is a unique combination of intense emotions and scientific discipline. Every one of her ideas is a perfect bend of opposites: a subtle balance between emotional and rational, intuitive and tangible, chemistry and magic, instinct and knowledge.
“To capture the rich suggestions conjured up by this film in a perfume, I chose the iconic ingredients of the trading routes of the period, such as incense, roses and sandalwood. I also wanted to remember that perfume played a religious role in antiquity, by working on an accord of Kyphi, a mysterious Egyptian formula used during ceremonies. Spices, balsams, extract of Egyptian papyrus, vanilla and honey contribute to this creation’s seductive charm.”
Pierre-Constantin Guéros
BIOGRAPHY
Pierre-Constantin’s earliest olfactory memories date back to a childhood spent in his fashion designer father’s workshop. The wonderful furs and different types of leather became sources of inspiration for his rich, textured fragrances. He started working as a perfumier after training at the ISIPCA and joined the Symrise family in 2012, first in Dubai, then in Paris. The Middle East made a profound impact on his approach to perfumes.
