Miguel Matos is a man of paradoxes. His image leaves no-one indifferent. He never goes unnoticed, and that also reflects in his perfumery.

With him, one might think, "what you see is what you get!" In this case, what is "what you see"? In him, it's that ultra muscular image, angular face, even more angular and prominent beard, the ultra-fit bear style from head to toe, with all that black look, in the lineage of the bears undergrounds. And we could stick to that cliché, a man of avant-garde electronic music, of underground clubs in London, where he goes on weekends just to hang out.

But that would conceal all the other part that he also: "is what you get." In his work as a perfumer, he is first and foremost a great connoisseur of perfumes, which is why his process has been a long one. His knowledge stems from the fact that, for years and years, he was and still is the editor of the Fragrantica portal. He has no idea how venerated, important, and also feared the editors of Fragrantica are. Miguel venerates some of the perfumers, I think more than anything, because he has a passion for this art of creation. He recognizes them, holds them in high esteem and is keen to get to know them and understand their work.  He is incredibly humble and sometimes even shy, which contrasts with his tough exterior image. He who is now a true star, the one who has won the Art and Olfaction Award twice. 

But there's a part of his perfumery that has a lot to do with his image: his perfumes are always difficult or very difficult, sometimes a bit strange, vintage, very green, very glossy. Definitely his trademark. Anyone who buys a Miguel Matos perfume knows what they're in for.  

When we created Bravo perfume, I think we put Miguel out of his comfort zone, and I kept asking him: - Miguel, I want something more complex, but more accessible to the whole public. Then a perfume arrived that was based around a green fig, with waxed woods (a bit of his trademark), but somehow, in the Bravo perfume, it's a "tamed Miguel Matos". Bravo is the perfume I used to say Miguel loves to hate. He couldn't hate it even if he weren't a fig lover because its creator, in his humility, knows that all his moments of creation are unique in his life.". A life that, at first glance, might seem extreme, but it's not. I often visit him in his laboratory in Almada, on the other side of the Rio Tejo, next to his home, and I notice that he leads a rather calm life.