Written By | Fashion and Design Desk
Florence's Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, founded by Dominican friars in 1221, has hired the Italian design duo known for research-heavy work on materials
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FLORENCE
Imagine being handed the keys to a brand that is 805 years old. It once made perfume for a Medici queen and rose water against the plague, and its shops look like Gothic chapels. Most creative directors would feel pressure to make their mark. Formafantasma say they plan to do the opposite.
The Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, one of the oldest continuously operating pharmacies in the world, announced this week that Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, the design duo behind Formafantasma, are its new creative directors. The news was reported by Wallpaper* on Monday and Dezeen on Tuesday. It puts two of contemporary design's most closely watched thinkers in charge of one of Italy's most historic luxury names.
"Our intention is not to redefine Santa Maria Novella through a new image, but to build from what already exists, understanding what has allowed it to remain relevant since 1221 and how this can inform its present and future." (Formafantasma)
From monks' garden to Medici court
The Officina's history is long. It was founded in 1221 by Dominican friars in Florence. They grew medicinal herbs and made remedies, balms and ointments for the infirmary of the church of Santa Maria inter Vineas. Over the centuries it became a public pharmacy and an official supplier to the Medici court, and later a maker of cosmetics and fine fragrances.
Wallpaper* points to two of its most famous products. One was a rose-water disinfectant used against the plague. The other was Acqua della Regina, or "Queen's Water," made for Catherine de' Medici before she left Italy to become Queen of France. Wallpaper* calls it perhaps the first "signature scent." Today the Officina works mainly as a perfumery. It still sells fragrances such as Melograno (€135 for 100ml) and L'Iris and Quercia (€245 each), in apothecary-style packaging and in shops with neo-Gothic interiors.
Why Formafantasma?
Formafantasma are not typical luxury creative directors. They are not known for logos, rebrands or celebrity campaigns. Their reputation comes from long, detailed investigations into materials. Their "Cambio" exhibition at London's Serpentine Galleries examined the global impact of the timber industry. A later project looked at wool production and what Dezeen calls our "surprisingly symbiotic relationship with sheep." In July, the Serpentine named them its first-ever ecology advisors. Wallpaper* has previously named them designers of the year.
That approach is what the Officina wants. "The choice of Formafantasma rests on their multidisciplinary approach, which moves between product, space, research and exhibition with the same rigour, and on an attention to materials and sustainability that reflects values the Officina recognises as its own," the company said.
It describes the duo's role in careful terms. "Their role will be that of curators, attentive to the knowledge the Officina has safeguarded for eight centuries, made of ingredients, formulas and craft, and to the ways in which it can continue to evolve."
What they will actually do
In practice, Trimarchi and Farresin will concentrate first on the products. According to Dezeen, the plan is to uncover the "hidden histories" behind the Officina's formulas and use them to shape new launches. Their brief also covers packaging, communication, retail spaces and events, and they will work with the company's in-house team and outside specialists.
They present the job as a question of knowledge as much as appearance. "The Officina is not simply defined by its longevity, but by the accumulation and transmission of knowledge across generations, embedded in ingredients, formulations, techniques, objects and spaces," the pair said.
"Working with such an accumulation raises questions close to our own practice, particularly how it is preserved and transformed, how materials carry their own histories, and how an institution can advance without treating its past as static." (Formafantasma)
The bigger picture
The appointment reflects a wider change in how heritage brands work with designers. In fashion, creative directors are expected to make a splash, and every new season is judged on how different it looks from the last. Here a very old brand has chosen designers whose starting point is to leave its identity alone and study it more closely.
That matters because heritage brands carry a particular risk. Change too much, and you throw away the authenticity customers are paying for. Change too little, and you end up as a museum with a gift shop. Formafantasma's answer is to treat the Officina's archive of ingredients, techniques, bottles and rooms as research material, the same way they have treated timber and wool.
There is also a sustainability angle. An 800-year-old business built on botanical ingredients is, in some ways, a model for the slow, local, material-conscious production that designers now talk about constantly. Put designers who have spent years studying supply chains in charge of it, and the Officina could become a showcase for how a luxury product is made, not just how it looks.
What this means for you
Don't expect Santa Maria Novella's shelves to change overnight. Formafantasma's work is slow by nature, and the pair have said plainly that a new image is not the goal. The first signs are likely to be new products that tell their own stories more clearly, perhaps with more open information about ingredients and origins, and gradual changes to packaging and shops.
If you visit Florence, the historic shop on Via della Scala is still worth the trip. If you buy the Officina's fragrances elsewhere, look for launches with the pair's name on them over the next year or two.
The bottom line
Most rebrands begin by deciding what to throw away. Formafantasma are starting with the idea that an 800-year-old pharmacy already has what it needs, and that their job is to understand it properly before changing anything.
