The Merchant of Venice Perfumes

About The Merchant of Venice

The Venetian tradition of perfumery can be traced back to the 10th century. Reputed as artistic, vibrant, and culturally refined, the city unsurprisingly led the way for the development of European perfumery. Fueled by a strong aristocratic presence, Venice embraced all the luxuries and indulgences that life has to offer.

In 2011, the Vidal family, who had already been associated with perfumery for more than a century by then, decided to create a cultural luxury brand that would honor Venice and its glorious heritage. Thus, The Merchant Of Venice was born. Nicola Pozzani, Creative Director, said in an interview that the brand was born from a very special partnership between Mavive and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia – the public body that owns the museums in Venice. The Vidal family invested a lot of passion and resources into the project.

The luxury fragrance house celebrates the ancient Art of Perfumery that originated in Venice and draws conceptually from the city’s trade relations with the Orient. The Mude, which refers to the interconnected maritime trade routes between Asia and Africa that went on to Europe, inspired the brand’s first collection and continues to be a major theme in all their following releases. Starting from Venice, the “Mude” touched many different harbors, which accommodated multiple such commercial routes. Precious raw materials, exotic spices, opulent textiles, and many other handcrafted goods were exchanged in these ports. Master craftsmen like the muschieri (perfumers) and the saponeri (soap makers) began innovating and came up with new production techniques for superior quality maintenance. They wanted to ensure that the fragrances and cosmetics being supplied to the Royal Courts of Europe were nothing less than extraordinary.

Today, The Merchant of Venice has a similar work ethic, and they strive for excellence in everything they do. Instead of focusing on luxury for the sake of luxury, the brand also takes into consideration sustainability and wellness. Housed in beautiful bottles inspired by the millenary art of Venetian glass, the elegant perfumes pay homage to Venice’s artistic glamour. Renowned perfumers reinterpret ancient European fragrance recipes to create prestigious and memorable concoctions that are situated at the confluence of history and culture. The Murano Collection and the Nobil Homo collections continue to be among their most popular, but they have also released several special collections over the years.