Heritage
A house, in its own words
The story of ALTAIA begins with two people whose lives were shaped by Argentina before diverging into the wider world of fragrance. Marina Sersale and Sebastián Álvarez Murena brought their shared cultural memory to bear when establishing the house, choosing a name that functions as both acronym and confession. A Long Time Ago In Argentina is not merely a title but an orientation, a way of understanding scent as a vessel for personal and collective recollection. The founders drew on their connections to the landscapes, ingredients, and emotional textures of their homeland, translating these into olfactory form. While the exact year of founding requires qualification as it is not independently documented, the brand's first releases appeared around 2015, with compositions such as By Any Other Name and Don't Cry For Me establishing the house's narrative approach to fragrance. Subsequent years brought steady expansion, with Ombú arriving in 2016, Purple Land in 2018, and Atacama in 2021, each adding new dimensions to the ALTAIA universe. The house maintains distribution through specialist retailers including Les Senteurs in the UK and POP stores, positioning itself within the selective world of niche perfumery rather than mainstream channels. The connection to Eauditalie, the founders' Italian fragrance house, suggests a parallel exploration of Mediterranean and South American sensory traditions as complementary creative territories.
ALTAIA approaches perfumery as an act of translation rather than invention. The founders believe scent can carry the weight of places and moments with an immediacy that language struggles to match. Their natural formulations reflect a philosophy that prioritizes authenticity over convenience, using raw materials that arrive in the composition with their own character intact rather than being processed into abstraction. The brand describes its products as alive, textured, and deeply intimate, language that points toward an intention to create fragrances which shift and breathe on the skin rather than remaining static. Each release begins with a story, a name, or a fragment of landscape that demands to be made tangible. The creative process moves from narrative to material, seeking ingredients that can carry the emotional register of the original inspiration. This approach rejects the idea of fragrance as purely aesthetic object, positioning it instead as a medium for memory and connection. The house maintains a deliberate pace of development, releasing new compositions when a story demands telling rather than adhering to industry calendars or seasonal schedules.