One thing Project Perfume has taught me is that scented candles are a bit old school when it comes to scenting your house; there’s a whole world out there of alternative ways to make your home smell divine. Middleagedad thinks burning scented candles is a bit like setting fire to twenty quid notes, sadly this post isn’t going to make him feel any better as the new love-of-my-scented-life is way more expensive, if a little more permanent.
The Italian design house Fornasetti does beautiful candles, this we know, and they come in decorative porcelain containers that reflect the brand’s art heritage, often updated with a witty modern twist that are a delight to use after the candle has finished. But it’s the divine ceramic room diffusers and incense collection that I’ve fallen for, which take home-scenting to a new level of fabuousness. The room diffusers are uber-lux, not only do they smell divine but the ceramic pots have a charming range of illustrations that are as scrumptious as the smells themselves. They aren’t cheap at around (ahem) £295.00 but when you get bored of them as room diffusers, you can always do a floral afro display of flowers, see above.
There are many different designs in the diffuser range, although Flora is my favourite. There is also a room scent spray at a slightly more reasonable £85.00, if you need a swifter aroma-upgrade anywhere, which sits in its own decorative ceramic pot. It’s a long way from a quick spritz round with a can of Glade…..
Since my trip to Japan I’ve been mildly obsessed with incense, as the Japanese are rather good at making it and I bought quite a bit of top-quality grade sticks when was there. If your memory of incense is restricted to student days and joss sticks, then you’re in for a nice surprise when you smell the Fornasetti incense (a comparative bargain at £45.00), also made in Japan and available with its own Scent Sphere, The smell is richer and more churchy than scented candles and a little more masculine. although it’s daft to genderize smell, but I notice my sons love the Japanese stuff (it is very effective at covering up the smell of youngestsons bedroom aromas).
The entire Fornasetti range can be found at Selfridges and online here. Watch out for the new designs coming in shortly.
