About You
Tell us who you are?
My name is Tomi and I’m the the nose behind the creations and visual design of Sortilege Olfactive Arts. Besides that I’m a guitarist, brewer, travel writer, and a few other things that sound equally weird when put together in a same sentence 🙂
How did you get into the perfume industry?
I made my first creation at the age of nine, spraying all of my mother’s perfumes into an empty bottle as her birthday present. Note that this was the 80s and that the mixture is probably still in the drydown phase:)
Actual entry into perfumery came 2 decades later on one of my trips to Asia. Months after returning home, I thought how good it would be to be able to bottle my experiences and memories through olfactive expression. So began a long journey into study and trials.. after 5 years, Barbara came with two feet on the ground and a professional backup in lab work, and made it possible to put out a brand.
What was the first perfume you ever purchased?
What is your favourite meal?
I adore food so much that this always seems like the hardest question ever asked. Risotto with scampi or crunchy pork or pad thai or sourdough focaccia with olive oil and hard cheese…you get it?
Where is your favourite place?
Adriatic sea or Southeast Asia
Do you have an interesting party trick or any hidden talents?
I can swim in a frozen lake and help you define a subspecies of cobras, if the need arises.
Apart from that as I mentioned I brew beer for many years and play the guitar in a heavy metal band SEPTICA for even more years.
Who would play you in a film of your life?
Marty McFly
About your brand
Describe your brand in one sentence.
SORTILÈGE Olfactive Arts is an indie artisan perfume house based in Croatia, created by Barbara and Tomi as an extension and expression of our love for travel and exploring life in all its forms.
Where does the name of your brand come from?
It comes from a french word that means magic spell since that’s how Barbara and me view and approach the olfactive art forms in general.
Who are your perfumes for?
At first they were made just to soothe my own constant urge to paint a picture and tell a story. Then Barbara, the CEO of the brand decided that we should really make it available for the general public.
Since we started we noticed that people who liked our work follow a certain pattern. They are mostly urban, well read people who appreciate nature and art and love fine details in life.
Tell us about your latest perfume.
It is the second fragrance in our MORIKO saga and bears the name SIELULINTU. It was created in the far north of Europe, when one night, at -26, we were looking for a way to a cabin in the Finnish forest.
SIELULINTU (soul-bird) follows and protects people when they are most vulnerable; when they come and go from this world and when they dream.
Behind the entire MORIKO collection is a story about the main protagonist who is searching for himself and the feeling he had as a child without the worries of the adult world. He began his journey into his own core with his first step on the meadow at the very edge of the forest, and that step was embodied by MELODIES OF JUNE..
The second part tells the story when he fell asleep at the edge of the forest before continuing the journey, and the bird SIELULINTU came to help with directions for the continuation of the journey, as well as to protect him.
In a dream, they travel together to the cold north, through snow, ice and frost, and SIELULINTU is made of everything opposite. The burning warmth of red orange, the natural sweetness of beeswax and honey, the dryness of hay, the soothing natural vanilla with powdery iris, the purity of musk and the firm base of cedar wood that maintains thebalance. A mother’s hug. Protection and peace.
If someone wanted to try your fragrances, which one would you recommend they try first and why?
Since they are connected through a story, one should try both to get the picture and join us on our journey.
What challenges do you want to overcome for your brand?
Lack of exposure and a financial ability to release our work more frequently.
If someone had told me at the time, how much time, effort, money and energy it would take to realize it, I probably would have given up that same afternoon. And during the process, we said at least five times: “Come on, there’s no point in trying this in Croatia!” Then some things come together, so you say: come on, come on, maybe there is still hope.
But bit by bit, you realize you’ve come to a certain point, so you say: I can’t stop now. Let’s not forget the good old Croatian “jal” ( form of jealousy) , which anyone who dares to try anything must count on. Here, healthy positive ambition is rarely forgiven 🙂
What is unique about your brand?
Maybe the fact that our releases follow a 5 part story similar to hero quest in a fantasy literature. and that we don’t approach the art of perfume making like a typical indie brand, who sometimes end up like an honest albeit raw trial. We prefer to round the seams and move away from being too visceral or literal.
Find out more about Sortilege Olfactive Arts on their website.