The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Colonia had no interest in being changed, and Clym Evernden had no interest in changing it. In 2018, Acqua di Parma invited the British artist to wrap the iconic cylindrical bottle and its yellow hatbox in his illustration. The juice inside stayed exactly as the house's perfumers had composed it: bright Sicilian citrus opening into rosemary and lavender, with a thread of damask rose, settling into a warm bed of vetiver, sandalwood, and patchouli. The Artist Edition was conceived as a collector's object. A piece of wearable art you happen to spray. Limited to 180 ml, meant to be looked at on a shelf as much as worn. The collaboration asked nothing of the formula. It simply gave the bottle a new skin, while letting the scent keep its composure.
What makes Colonia remarkable is what was deliberately left out. The composition balances bright citrus oils against a herbal-spicy heart and a woody base that's warm without being sticky. Three citrus notes lift the top, clean and almost crystalline, before the rosemary and lavender arrive to add structure without weight. Evernden's collaboration inherits that discipline. The artwork is illustrative and modern, but the formula inside it is old-school restraint at its most exact. Years of refinement, bottled, then handed to an artist who understood enough not to touch it.
The evolution
The first ten minutes are all bright citrus. The opening is sharp and almost tart, the kind that makes you check your wrist to confirm it. Then it softens. Rosemary and lavender arrive, joined by the faintest thread of damask rose, and the whole thing shifts from cologne to something with a pulse. By the thirty-minute mark, the vetiver and sandalwood have taken over the floor, warm and a little creamy, the rose still ghosting underneath. The patchouli grounds it, but never heavy, never dirty. The fragrance settles into a soft woody close as the hours pass, the top notes fading gracefully while the base notes linger on warm skin. On fabric the next morning, it's still there, quieter but unmistakable. The evolution is almost architectural. Each phase hands off cleanly to the next, no muddle, no confusion, no ask-the-bottle-what-it-is moment.
Cultural impact
Colonia Artist Edition by Clym Evernden marks a curious intersection between fine fragrance and contemporary illustration, turning an Italian classic into a living canvas. The artist responds with imagery rooted in gardens, light, and the quiet rituals of summer, wrapping the iconic cylindrical bottle in a visual language that feels both rooted and modern. His bottles become small portraits rather than packaging, inviting wearers to see the cologne as part of a wider artistic conversation about nature, memory, and craft.
