Initio
Functional fragrances built for impact.
Initio Parfums Privés was founded in Paris in 2015 by Julien Sprecher with a thesis that fragrance should not merely smell beautiful — it should actively affect the person wearing it. Inspired by Patrick Süskind's novel Perfume and by ancient Egyptian ceremonial use of scent, Sprecher set out to investigate the intersection of perfumery and psychophysiology: the deliberate deployment of molecules such as musk, ambroxan, and hedione that operate at the border between scent and pheromone. The house works with world-class noses including Maurice Roucel and Alberto Morillas, giving each perfumer the latitude to pursue maximum emotional potency. Acquired by private equity firm Advent International alongside Parfums de Marly, Initio has grown into one of the most commercially significant ultra-niche houses, beloved for the sheer force of its compositions and the confidence of its positioning.
DNA over time
Each column is an era. Each colored band shows that family’s share of accord weight across every perfume the house released in that window. Bigger band = the house leaned harder on that family.
