Mona Di Orio

Mona di Orio was a Dutch-registered perfume house founded in 2004 by French perfumer Mona di Orio (1969–2011) and designer Jeroen Oude Sogtoen. Di Orio trained under master perfumer Edmond Roudnitska, one of the great figures of twentieth-century French perfumery, and that lineage showed in her work: unhurried structures, classical materials handled with unusual restraint, and a characteristic refusal to resolve tensions too quickly. The first three releases — Lux, Carnation, and Nuit Noire — established the house's voice immediately. Following Mona di Orio's death during surgery in 2011 at age 42, Oude Sogtoen continued the brand with perfumer Fredrik Dalman, maintaining the house's emphasis on depth and restraint while expanding the catalog. The champagne cork closures — repurposed muselets from the house of Jacquesson — remained a signature detail, a reminder that opening a bottle should feel like an occasion. The house closed permanently in late 2024. Its catalog represents one of the more sustained and coherent bodies of work in early-2000s niche perfumery, and many fragrances continue to circulate on the secondary market.