Though he may be grouped with the Florentine leather workers at Scuola del Cuoio and other traditional craftsmen of the city—chandelier makers, cobblers and silversmiths—perfumer Lorenzo Villoresi is not a typical artisan. His award-winning olfaction and meticulous techniques are behind his niche fragrance collection and allow him to create personalized scents for private clients.

“It is a different kind of craftsmanship, though it’s still very much artisanal,” says Villoresi in his atelier, a small workshop with a grand view of the River Arno. “The perfumer works with very few instruments—a piece of paper and a pen, a very precise scale, a glass beaker, and a stick—slowly adding extracts drop by drop.”

Villoresi draws from a palette of nearly 1,500 extracts to create his scents and often writes poetry about his creations. Clients ask Villoresi to infuse notes of cherished places into their tailor-made fragrances: A nostalgic Irishman living in America requested a hint of alfalfa, a wild grass from his homeland; another client, the smell of a stable from his family’s country home.

Blending citrus and woody notes, Villoresi creates a heady combination that evokes the blue sea and fragrant lemon trees of Italy’s Amalfi coast—the gentle essence of a memory.