Cy Zanini

CY s a striking masculine fragrance that incorporates spicy, aromatic and woody accords into a bold and fresh modern composition. The opening is buoyant and lush, with a burst of bergamot and lemon, soon followed by a heart full of clove and a pinch of pepper, combining refreshing and steamy warm depth. The base has rich and weighty woody accords of oak and cedar.
CY is a confident, versatile fragrance, wearable all day for many occasions; a good option for evening wear and cooler seasons. Its spicy-aromatic quality offers a uniqueness and distinctiveness to a fragrance without overwhelming the wearer, great for someone who enjoys a refined, but assertive scent.

An ode to cloves accompanied by balsamic scents. In the opening you can also perceive a nice floral mix, i also feel a slightly sweet note given by fermented raisins. The protagonist of the fragrance is the clove that is distinctly felt and is present throughout the evolution of the fragrance. It then sits on woody scents mixed very well with a slight sweet touch to accompany

Cy Twombly must have something about him that greatly appeals to perfumers. Only recently, I came across a fragrance by Phronema Perfumes that refers to Twombly’s cycle of paintings “The Coronation of Sesostris”: Coronation of Sesostris . Granted, Weston Adam’s fragrances are Artists‘ Scents anyway; as an artist working across disciplines, he often refers to specific works by other artists. But even apart from that, such a connection is by no means far-fetched: quite a few fragrance creations could certainly be described using the term abstract expressionism. And now “Cy” from Zanini. To me, this sounds very promising at first, since quite a few things have thrilled me here lately: From Ora dopo Ora through Daphne Meli to Fermo Pesca .

As soon as I open the sample vial, I strongly perceive clove. That is not a bad thing in itself, since I do like the note quite a lot. What worries me somewhat is its strong presence, which raises the question of whether the other notes will be able to hold their own against it. And indeed, after applying it to the skin, it takes a little while before I slowly begin to perceive something bright, resinous and slightly ethereal alongside the dominant clove on my wrist. This is very beautiful.

Rather by chance, I now smell the sample tube once more and am astonished that suddenly the clove, which had just been so immediately present, is no longer at the forefront at all, but that there is actually also a bright, almost ethereal resin. In disbelief, I take the sample and apply the fragrance anew to my other (the right) wrist - no dominant clove, but a resinous fragrance from the very beginning! I am confused.

That does not detract from the enjoyment. Whether it is a phenomenon of perceptual psychology or whether this really is a chameleon fragrance - on both the right and left, the fragrance develops very beautifully. While the clove is still dominant on the left, though becoming softer, it now also makes itself noticeable on the right, although it is still in no way dominant. Instead, it appears beautifully embedded in balsamic notes. Soon afterwards, as if out of nowhere, a fresh cypress note appears, of almost hyper-realistic clarity. This emergence of individual notes that briefly present themselves as soloists from within the fragrance structure, that flare up like comets only to disappear again just as quickly - this is a special quality in fragrances for me, one I have experienced only very rarely and which enchants me every time. To me, it attests on the one hand to the perfumer’s craftsmanship, and on the other to the quality of the natural ingredients.

Once again, Zanini’s creative approach is fascinating: as in other fragrances, homemade accords are used here too, such as an alcoholic extract from the joint fermentation of sultanas and long pepper (Piper retrofractum), as well as an extract of various varieties of carnation blossoms, obtained through enfleurage in mango butter (the fact that mango butter is listed as a fragrance note in the Parfumo database - in contrast to the manufacturer’s website - is of course misleading and is roughly equivalent to listing lard as a fragrance note in tuberose or jasmine fragrances obtained through enfleurage).

The almost citric bright resinous quality is probably attributable to Atlas cedar, pine and cypress; the ethereal radiance, in turn, also to the cedar and perhaps to the gentian used as well. This ethereal quality of the opening soon recedes on the right too, however; it remains spicy and balsamic and also becomes increasingly softer here. In the base, woods and balsamic notes predominate and gently ground the fragrance. At some point, there is another hint of incense and myrrh resin. Over time, the right and left sides increasingly draw closer together and settle into this base, yet the mystery of the opening’s erratically different character remains unsolved. The fragrance remains Janus-faced, difficult to grasp.

And this is where the connection to the name becomes interesting. For just as I experience “Cy”, Zanini seems to have experienced Twombly.

When looking at the artist’s works, Filippo Zanini says on the fragrance’s page, he often had the feeling that they were just as difficult to grasp as the artist himself in the depictions found in articles and interviews. When he then read that Twombly was interested in both African art and archaic ancient Italian art, this gave him a new approach to his works, Zanini says. Is knowing about the perfumer’s engagement with the artist after whom the fragrance is named helpful in understanding “Cy”?

In the online presentation of “Cy”, Zanini very deliberately places a Twombly painting from the cycle “Blooming: A Scattering of Blossoms and Other Things” alongside the fragrance. It shows peony blossoms - expressive in glowing red against a white background. The paintings in the cycle are not simply, as one might initially think, a homage to the beauty of flowers, but at the same time an engagement with Japanese poetry and history. “Ah! The peonies for which Kusunoki laid aside his armor!” - this is how a haiku by the Edo-period poet Takarai Kikaku might be translated, its text having been directly incised into the paint of one of the paintings by Twombly, alongside other Japanese poems. Kusunoki was a samurai of the early 14th century: warlike, feared, strong - the peonies alone made him weak.

There is no peony in the fragrance, but the blossoms of the carnation come close enough in appearance to the Twombly subject that one can let it pass. Or does the connection lie rather in the contrasts? Or in Twombly’s raw manner of applying paint, which may correspond to an unpolished and expressive approach to composition in Zanini’s fragrance creations? Ultimately, there are certainly several possible readings, several levels on which parallels can be found, if one wishes to do so. And that is enough: the name, the reference to the artist, invites engagement. To smell closely on the one hand and look closely on the other - to engage intensively with the fragrance, just as with the paintings. It is then that one reaches the level on which the correspondence perhaps becomes most plausible. For me, this is the level of hidden layers of meaning: the poems are indeed present in Twombly’s paintings, incised into the paint and physically there, yet they are not recognizable at first glance. Only through closer engagement does another layer of the work reveal itself. Likewise, the different facets of “Cy” do not reveal themselves immediately, but only gradually and only when smelled with close attention.

Just as Twombly engaged with the art of the Japanese haiku poets and they influenced his own works, so his engagement with Cy Twombly’s art influenced Filippo Zanini’s work: not in a blatant way, but in the sense of an inspiration that leads to an independent new work in another medium. To a fragrance for which many a samurai would surely lay aside his armor.
And it was not only Cy Twombly’s art that opened an avenue into “Cy” for me, but Zanini’s fragrance did so in reverse as well.

“Clove, full blast, from the bottle and on the skin!”, “no, spicy, yes, but not very clove-like”, “actually, lots of clove, pepper and something resinous”. This is how three people describe the same fragrance. It is always revealing to experience how the same fragrance develops simultaneously on different skin, and how differently we put our perceptions into words. Several times now, the three of us - BeJot (B), Mairuwa (M) and I - have arranged to do a parallel test online, since unfortunately we live too far apart to meet in person regularly. This time, it is “Cy” by Zanini. And so once again we are sitting in front of our screens, our noses at the spray or dabbed spot.
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While M and I largely agree at first that clove dominates here, B does not find it particularly clove-like, especially in comparison with NOAM’s “Kayu Kretek”, which was too strongly clove-like for her. We describe our impressions in greater detail: To me, there is a strong clove note, along with pepper and something lightly resinous. M also describes perceiving something light and ethereal, so that the very prominent clove is not there on its own. For me, especially at the beginning, it is a very heady fragrance, which gradually becomes warmer and rounder during the first 15 minutes and gains more body. M describes it as becoming somewhat sweeter and softer over time. For B, on the other hand, the resinous aspect now comes more clearly to the fore. The clove only peeks in from the side for her; it could also be nutmeg. She perceives the resinous aspect more strongly than the spicy one, while the fragrance has a cheerful lightness for her.
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Now we all smell the bottle containing the decant once again. The result could hardly be more different: M and I now detect no clove at all from the bottle compared with the skin; it smells more fresh-resinous (M) or resinous-terpenic-solvent-like (to me). We have no explanation for this: On M’s and my skin, it is becoming increasingly balsamic, spicy clove on a balsamic bed. And right at the sample, the fragrance is green-resinous. They really are two different fragrances. B, on the other hand, perceives hardly any difference between the sample and the application on skin; the resinous aspect is present in both for her, while the clove is still not dominant.
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Twenty minutes later, we all apply the fragrance once more to the other hand. And - surprise for M and me! This is a phenomenon! This time too, there is no clove, but rather light resin, fresh cedarwood, thuja-like. What is going on? What is the fragrance doing to us? Or to our perception? M describes an impression of naturalistic resin, “as if you were smelling the tree itself”! We have so far encountered this kind of sudden ability to pick out individual notes so clearly from the multitude of notes in a fragrance only with a few fragrances. An interesting perceptual phenomenon: Out of nowhere, a note appears with crystalline clarity. By now, B has checked which notes are listed: Atlas cedar is included, and clove, of course. Cypress and Atlas cedar both have the slightly citrusy quality that we perceive here. After 25 minutes, the two applications on my skin begin to resemble each other; the second is increasingly becoming like the first. With M, the second application remains dominated by the light resinous aspects for longer.
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Now we look together at the Zanini homepage and discuss the sentence by Cy Twombly quoted there: “I am concerned with the primitive, ritual and fetish elements as well as the symmetrical plastic order (which is fundamental to both primitive and classical concepts and thus connects the two).” Filippo Zanini describes here how he had difficulty grasping Cy Twombly’s works, even though they had often moved him deeply, until he became aware of Cy’s deep appreciation for African art with its colorful beadwork, as well as his fascination with the art of the ancient Italic tribes, whom he imagined as his neighbors from the terrace of his house in Bassano in Teverina. These original geometries began to mingle in his mind with Cy’s paintings, and suddenly a new understanding and a sense of clarity emerged.
The same thing happened to us with the fragrance: Our perception was initially called into question, until we could no longer say which of our impressions were attributable to the fragrance itself and which to our perception. Filippo initially found Cy Twombly’s paintings difficult to grasp, then engaged with African and ancient Italic art and thereby found a connection to the paintings. And now we are thinking about Zanini’s fragrance - do we gain a better understanding of the fragrance when we know the background to Cy Twombly? That remains speculative. And a fragrance should also work and be wearable without extensive knowledge of art history.
But: The art historian Richard Shiff described Twombly’s artistic concern as “activating deactivated feelings”, as activating sensations that are deactivated in everyday life, or as energy encoded in the artworks, nourished by the memory of something that has disappeared. Perhaps a successful fragrance does exactly this: it activates and makes accessible perceptions that remain buried in the course of normal everyday life. Even if it does leave us a little confused.
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To regain some firm ground beneath our perceptual feet, we read the information about the ingredients listed on the homepage. Gentian is also mentioned, as is raisin. Gentian contributes to this clear, light, heady impression. The raisin is the balsamic aspect (white raisins alcoholically extracted together with Balinese long pepper). A carnation enfleurage in mango butter is also included. Mango butter consists of mango kernel oil, so it is actually misleading to list it as a separate fragrance note. I also recognize gurjun balsam in my balsamic-resinous impression. “Woodland®” is also listed - what is that? According to Filippo Zanini, only natural raw materials are used. We make a note to ask.
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After an hour, M’s first application becomes very subdued (we already know this), while the second application resembles the first, with the balsamic underlayer. The light resinous aspect has receded. My first application is still quite present (although it was sprayed rather than dabbed). I perceive the base as balsamic incense sticks (it could be cabreuva), which I like very much, dry-powdery-spicy-balsamic.
B mainly identifies the myrrh used as the counterpart to the sweet-balsamic aspect, not truly bitter, but heading a little in that direction. And M’s impression continues to change, so that the clove can now only be sensed. After 1.5 hours, he detects a hint of frankincense for the first time.
B says: “Told you so.”