The Man Who Dressed the Pope and Then Made Perfume

Key Takeaways

• Filippo Sorcinelli is an Italian musician, sacred vestment designer and perfumer whose life and work are united by a single impulse: to make something that transmits emotion and gives beauty, regardless of the medium.
• He founded LAVS, the L'Atelier Vesti Sacre, in 2001, and within a few years was designing robes for Pope Benedict XVI and the vestments worn by Pope Francis at the Mass marking the beginning of his pontificate in 2013.
• UNUM, launched in 2014, is described as olfactory tailoring: fragrance conceived with the same devotion Sorcinelli brings to sacred cloth.
• UNUM fragrances sit between sacred architecture and personal memory. There is weight to them and a silence: the kind that exists in old churches before the organ begins.
• These are not fragrances you wear to be noticed. They are fragrances you wear because you notice them.

There are perfumers with interesting backstories, and then there is Filippo Sorcinelli, whose life reads less like a biography and more like a libretto. Musician. Sacred vestment designer. Papal tailor. And eventually, perfumer. Not because the path was planned that way, but because for Sorcinelli everything has always been an extension of the same impulse: to make something that transmits emotion and gives beauty, regardless of the medium.

The Organ, the Atelier and the Pope

Sorcinelli started with music. The organ specifically, which he describes as the only instrument capable of entering the depths of the human soul. It is his first love and his constant companion, the thing that underpins everything else he has made. In 2001 he founded LAVS, the L'Atelier Vesti Sacre, a studio dedicated to the design and creation of sacred vestments and liturgical accessories. Within a few years LAVS had become one of the most respected ateliers of its kind in Italy and beyond, working in close collaboration with the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. Sorcinelli designed robes for Pope Benedict XVI and was responsible for the vestments worn by Pope Francis at the Mass marking the beginning of his pontificate in 2013. This is not a footnote in his story. It is the foundation.

When Olfactory Tailoring Was Born

In 2014, in direct homage to the LAVS Atelier, Sorcinelli launched the first fragrance of his UNUM collection. The concept was olfactory tailoring: fragrance as a bespoke, crafted and intentional thing rather than a commercial product. Something made with the same devotion he brought to sacred cloth. The collection that followed drew from the full breadth of his obsessions: Gothic art, photography, the organ, the fog. Each fragrance is a contamination of influences rather than a single idea, which is exactly what makes them so difficult to place and so impossible to forget.

What UNUM Actually Smells Like

UNUM fragrances sit in a category that is genuinely difficult to name. Not conventional niche and not mainstream luxury. They exist somewhere between sacred architecture and personal memory, between candlelit stone and open sky. There is a weight to them and a silence: the kind that exists in old churches before the organ begins. If you are looking for something familiar and easy to explain, UNUM will likely disorient you. If you are looking for something that feels like it was made for no one and somehow completely for you, it is worth every moment of that disorientation.

Who Wears Filippo Sorcinelli

The person drawn to UNUM tends to be someone who has been wearing fragrance for a long time and has arrived at the point where most things feel insufficient. Someone who wants a scent that does not announce itself so much as reveal itself slowly, over hours, close to the skin. These are not fragrances you wear to be noticed. They are fragrances you wear because you notice them.

Filippo Sorcinelli UNUM is available in store at Chapel Street, Prahran and South Melbourne Market, and online at connectionparfumerie.com.au.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Filippo Sorcinelli?

Filippo Sorcinelli is an Italian artist, musician, sacred vestment designer and perfumer. He founded the LAVS Atelier in 2001 and launched his UNUM fragrance collection in 2014.

What is UNUM?

UNUM is Filippo Sorcinelli's fragrance collection, described as olfactory tailoring. Each scent draws from his personal obsessions including Gothic art, music, photography and sacred ritual.

What does Filippo Sorcinelli perfume smell like?

UNUM fragrances are atmospheric, weighty and deeply personal. They tend toward the sacred and the meditative, with influences drawn from Gothic architecture, liturgical ritual and the fog.

Where can I buy Filippo Sorcinelli in Australia?

Filippo Sorcinelli UNUM is available in Australia at Connection Parfumerie, in store at Chapel Street, Prahran and South Melbourne Market, and online at connectionparfumerie.com.au.