Puredistance Master Perfumes can now be purchased on Cyprus exclusively at Dora Theophilou, the oldest and most prestigious perfumery on the island. Customers can sample the Master Perfume Collection in the privacy of a specially for Puredistance designed lounge; our first ‘store in a store’. Following the Puredistance philosophy that trying out a perfume ideally should take place in a peaceful setting, the Theophilou family – owners of Dora Theophilou Haute Parfumerie – created a quiet and elegant space where customers can relax and enjoy the world of Puredistance Master Perfumes. They adopted the same principles as we did when we designed the Puredistance Perfume Lounge in Vienna: to give the customer time, care and trust.

Last week we visited Bologna, Milano and Florence; three fascinating cities. We started in Bologna to meet Giovanni Padovan and Lia Lo Brutto from Antica Profumeria al Sacro Cuore a Bologna. Not only one of the most famous perfumeries in Italy, but also one of the friendliest! Lia told us that in all her life she only fell in love twice with a perfume, the second time with Puredistance I Perfume. She called it ‘a coup de foudre’.

Soon Puredistance will be available in most major cities in Italy, but as always in a very small number of carefully selected stores and in only one store per city. Puredistance is one of the few, and perhaps the only perfume house that can guarantee true exclusivity. Where we look for a maximum of 10 stores in the whole of Italy, other ‘exclusive’ niche brands can be found in 50, 100 or even more perfumeries in Italy.

It took 5 years to develop Puredistance from an idea into a reality. Then it took 3 years to find some quality perfumeries in Europe that offer the kind of personal care and enthusiasm our brand needs. And all this time we were selling only ONE scent: Puredistance 1 Perfume. And we never did any form of paid advertising. The message is clear. We move carefully – step by step.

To quote Bill Bryson from his fascinating book – a short history of nearly everything – “There is one extremely pertinent quality about life on Earth: it goes extinct. Quite regularly. For all the trouble they take to assemble and preserve themselves, species crumple and die remarkably routinely. And the more complex they get, the more quickly they appear to go extinct. Which is perhaps one reason why so much of life isn’t terribly ambitious.”

We feel the same can be true for building a business. Which doesn’t mean we are not ambitious. But our ambition is focused on keeping it simple – and beautiful. Staying small and personal. Getting the product right and find perfumeries that love our products and can tell our story. For us it is not about how much we sell. It is about the quality of the interaction with the right people. It is about making a small amount of people who really appreciate our Perfumes happy and not try to please the whole world. Keeping things small and beautiful is our way of fighting extinction!

Sometimes people think the 17.5 ml Puredistance 1 Perfume Spray is only sold in combination with the Puredistance Crystal Column. Actually 17.5 ml Puredistance Master Perfumes can also be purchased separately from the Crystal Column.

The idea is to have an elegant perfume spray that can be easily put in a handbag or suitcase, but also fits in a beautiful and rare jewel – the Puredistance Crystal Perfume Column – that can be be purchased as a highly exclusive accessory. It makes the ultimate gift and is suited for those (gift) occasions where one wishes the memory of the gift will last a lifetime. Marriage being a perfect example.

Puredistance is listed in Quintessentially Perfume; a luxurious hard-back book chronicling the development and world of perfume. Perfume lovers will love the beautifully illustrated and in-depth interviews from perfume creators; eloquent articles from perfume writers and experts, as well as a showcase chapter paying tribute to 40 world class perfume brands. The book was compiled by perfume expert, Nathalie Grainger, and Roja Dove acted as creative director. The book features profiles on a range of brands, interviews with perfumers and general perfume articles, with contributions from Chandler Burr, Josephine Fairley and more.

Not so long ago Ulrike Knöll from Aus Liebe zum Duft wrote about Puredistance 1 Perfume: “The colour of the perfume alone is suggestive of cashmere or silk – reflects the character of the wearer. Reserved and precious – “understated elegance”, the essence of Puredistance”. So visiting Istanbul and reading about Esra Bezek, the owner of Cashmere in Love, I had to see her! In a very noisy city of more than 15 million people I was so happy to find a company that shared our idea of quiet elegance and quality. We met and I really loved the simple but stylish design of her collection. She designs everything herself and uses the highest quality cashmere and silk.

Quoting from Esra’s website: “Cashmere is soft, comfortable, and special. It is the epitome of luxury, leaving the wearer to think of nothing but the sweetest pleasures known to mankind. It becomes a second skin and wearing cashmere is a personal affair. The garments are simple, beautiful, elegant, reachable and personal. Each garment is produced and presented with love.” So many similarities with the Puredistance philosophy!

This weekend the Puredistance team participated in a fragrance exhibition in Düsseldorf. Reactions on Puredistance 1 Perfume were in line with the reviews we got from perfume critics: ‘understated elegance’ was a phrase mentioned more than once.

With pleasure our team explained the visitors the special ‘magic’ of Puredistance 1; unlike most perfumes Puredistance 1 changes after 1-2 hours into a subtle, sensuous skin scent that is close to the wearer. As the maker of the perfume – Annie Buzantian – puts it: “When I leave a room my fragrance should leave with me’.

As we welcome a new decade and look back, it is clear that the fragrance industry has seen some major changes. One of them is a trend towards niche perfumes. More and more small, independent fragrance companies try to find a place at the (over)crowded fragrance market. Puredistance is one of these companies. Back in 2002 the idea for Puredistance was born and 5 years later the introduction of Puredistance 1 Perfume was a fact.

At that time – early 2007 – we did not yet know our timing was far from ideal…. shortly after we had introduced Puredistance to the world, one of the worst economic crisises ever hit that same world! Luxury was hit hard. Long established brands suffered. Fortunately Puredistance has not only survived the past two years, but what is more, we did well. We enjoyed fantastic feedback from our customers and nearly all leading luxury stores and perfumeries in Europe welcomed us and found a nice place for our products. Thanks to them – and all those customers that were not afraid to try out something new – we are looking to the future with great confidence.