I met Luca when he was a young man working
in the perfumery. Back then, he had a babyface, the same babyface he has today,
while still being relatively young. When I met him, I was just a collector and
I worshipped perfumers, I saw them as heroes and he, with these
characteristics, was quite a surprise. Even from that perspective, I admired
his organoleptic abilities, his creativity in composing a beautiful perfume.

A few years later, he was the one
who challenged me to create a brand, which initiated this beloved project. If I
remember correctly, he said: "Why don't you create a niche perfume brand,
because nowadays there isn't any Portuguese brand?" My first reaction was
to joke, but after a while I shockingly replied: "I have my
conditions". Yes, I do have two conditions when working with my perfumers:
after giving them the brief for the perfume to be created (and sometimes,
suggesting some molecules), (i) they are free to do whatever they want, but (ii)
I can ask them to change whatever I wish until we reach a final agreement on
the formula.

He accepted these conditions and
another that I emphasised, which was for him to make me two perfumes. And
that's how Luca Maffei created the perfume MUDA, adopted by my wife, and also
Palafítico, that perfume of the uncommon, special salty and bold woods that
represent the iconic landscape and the well-known port of the Comporta region,
the Cais Palafítico.

In the process of creating
Palafítico and when I received the third or fourth version of the possible
scent, I asked for even more depth, more fat and density until one day he sent
me the final sample. When it arrived, the perfume was exactly what I had been
looking for. There was just one small drawback, this new and final version was
exactly twice as expensive as the previous one, and yet I accepted it
instantly.

Luca is the man in love with iris
roots, for its elegance (one day, he had a moment of glory when composing
Attesa). He is also the man who introduces pop-up blasts on some cold metallic
character with ambroxan (which it is a trend today in perfumery).

He went on and
won the A+OA awards twice in consecutive years, which no one else has done (not
even Bertrand, Andy, Mark...) but he's still that shy introvert (but, let me
tell you what I've heard, he sweeps all the girls off their feet with that
manner) who takes us to an elegant edge.

SHORT VERSION:

Luca is the man in love with iris
roots, for its elegance, and the man who introduces pop-up blasts on some cold
metallic character with ambroxan.

He won the A+OA awards twice in
consecutive years, but he's still that shy, introverted man with the timeless
boyish face.

The perfumer who once challenged our
founder to create the brand we have today, giving rise to the creation of MUDA
and Palafítico perfumes.