Pigmentarium

Brand Portrait: Mystikum

Noble fragrances from the “golden city” of Prague

Prague is a hotspot of European culture. The city located in the heart of the Czech Republic gave birth to numerous great artistic personalities: famous composers such as Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák worked and composed in Prague, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke was born here, as well as the writer Franz Kafka.

Throughout its history, the city of Prague has repeatedly been at the center of world-changing events: from the imperial seat under Charles IV to the “Prague Defenestration” to the “Prague Spring”. And the Czech cultural metropolis – not by chance also known as the “City of a Hundred Towers” – also has a variety of architectural sights to offer: the world-famous Prague Castle, for example. The Powder Tower. St. Vitus Cathedral. Or the picturesque Charles Bridge, which spans the river to which Bedřich Smetana once dedicated one of the six symphonic poems of his “My Fatherland” cycle: the Vltava.

No doubt: Anyone looking for beauty will find it in the “golden city” of Prague. Considering so many cultural treasures, it is quite surprising that Prague seems to be underrepresented when it comes to perfumery. But where art and culture thrive, the noble craft of perfumery traditionally also finds fertile ground. And this soil is exactly what the Prague fragrance manufacturer Pigmentarium has been cultivating since 2018.

Founded by the creative visionary Tomáš Ric, the haute perfumery forge regards fragrance as an “original artistic expression”, as a “perfect illustration of the inner world, which outwardly shows only as much as we wish to reveal.“

The Prague perfume house's decidedly artistic approach was already evident in its debut work Ad Libitum. To this day, the noble chypre fragrance is the guideline for all other perfume compositions by Pigmentarium, in which a secret world of stories and dreams is hidden:

„Every single Pigmentarium perfume is an olfactory transcription of our dreams and thoughts. Without trying to reflect trends. Created to underline the character of its wearer.“

Only the finest essences and ingredients find their way into the Pigmentarium perfumes, which enter into a unique liaison with the skin. A compound that develops its own, individual scent effect on each wearer, which is particularly enhanced by the musk used in the compositions.

The artistic approach and influence of the Pigmentarium fragrances are unmistakable. They are particularly influenced by artists and their ideas and provide space for a creative dialogue:

„Our early work was strongly influenced by an admiration of the work of big personas who artistically defined the world of the first half of the twentieth century. Particularly, architects and designers whose work was ahead of their time and is still relevant today (…) The first scents are inscribed with admiration for the authors of Czech and international modernism. That is where our journey started.“

This exciting journey focuses on Czech craftsmanship and sustainability, ethical production conditions and local manufacturing in small, family-run companies. This also applies to the perfumes themselves, which are specially produced in Prague laboratories. A small exception to this are the incense sticks from Pigmentarium: These are made in distant Sri Lanka - by a small family business and using the methods of traditional craftsmanship.

But from Sri Lanka back to Prague: What actually makes Prague the ideal workshop that is able to spawn such creative gems as the Pigmentarium fragrances? The makers of Pigmentarium describe the special charm of the “golden city” on the Vltava river as follows:

„It is small and intimate and large at the same time. It feels as if several worlds and times merged. It is artistic and liberal. It is the birthplace of world innovations and home to ancient stories. Prague resembles a book.“
A large book to which Pigmentarium added another exciting chapter...