The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Francesca Bianchi trained in Amsterdam after leaving Italy, establishing her laboratory in the city where Renaissance manuscripts and Islamic geometric art frequently intersect in museum collections. Encounters represents her continued exploration of cultural collision, building on her debut Etruscan Water in 2019 where her narrative-driven approach first became evident. The fragrance emerged from her fascination with moments when different traditions clash productively, producing something unexpected rather than merely blended.
Bianchi's approach to notes involves selecting materials that carry cultural weight, not merely functional odor profiles. The blackcurrant and coriander opening references tart, aromatic traditions found across European and Middle Eastern perfumery. The orris root and rose heart draws from classical perfumery's most revered materials, while the oud and castoreum drydown acknowledges the deep animalic and resinous traditions that ground luxury compositions. This deliberate layering of cultural references reflects her interest in contaminations, where each note brings its own history into dialogue with others.
The evolution
The opening with blackcurrant and coriander establishes immediate tension, a tart-fresh collision that shocks the senses before the citrus oils provide temporary sweetness. As the heart develops, orris root emerges as the bridging element, connecting the fruity opening to the floral heart where rose and angelica introduce botanical richness. Cinnamon adds warmth that prepares the wearer for the deep drydown, where cedarwood and sandalwood create a woody foundation and oud provides the dark, resinous character that defines the composition's final statement. Castoreum and ambergris add layers of animalic and marine complexity that reward extended wearing.
Cultural impact
Encounters arrived in 2023 as part of a growing conversation in niche perfumery about cultural hybridity and what happens when disparate traditions inform a single creation. The fragrance occupies a specific position in the Francesca Bianchi catalog, it's among the most animalic and confrontational compositions she's released, pushing against the more mineral and aquatic directions of earlier work. Wearers describe it as a statement piece, the kind of fragrance that invites questions. The pairing of iris with oud has drawn comparisons to other art-forward compositions in the niche market, though Bianchi's execution emphasizes the dirty, voluptuous quality of the iris rather than treating it as a polite powder note.
