Beyond Oud: The Artistic Vision of Ouder

Written by Kristina Kybartaite-Damule

In a perfume landscape often saturated with trends, Ouder stands apart – born not from formulas, but from lived experiences, memories, and artistic instinct.

Giuseppe Cafagna and Fabrizio Barbati / Photo provided by the brand

Ouder is an Italian perfume house founded by Fabrizio Barbati and Giuseppe Cafagna, the latter also being the creative mind behind its compositions. But Giuseppe resists the title of “perfumer.” As he says himself, “I'm not what you'd call a 'perfumer' or 'nose.' What I do at Ouder relies entirely on my professional and personal experiences.” And those experiences form a fascinating mosaic: an Italian childhood filled with olfactory memories, years immersed in fashion, design, and photography, and a creative path shaped as much by instinct as by study.

I first encountered Ouder last September at Pitti Fragranze in Florence. Something drew me instinctively to their booth – a quiet pull that defied my slight hesitation toward oud-based perfumes, hinted at by the brand’s very name. There, I met Fabrizio and Giuseppe, whose passion for their craft was obvious. Their words flowed with sincerity and artistic conviction, and their scents reflected the same — a mix of bold, challenging compositions alongside more accessible creations that surprised and captivated me.

Curious to dive deeper into the world they’ve built, I reached out to Giuseppe for a conversation. In the interview that follows, he shares the story of Ouder’s origins, its philosophical ties to alchemy and artistry, and the creative challenges and inspirations that continue to shape the brand’s evolution.

Can you tell a little about your background? What were you doing before getting into perfumery – or was it always your path? 

I always had a real obsession with fashion design. I spent my entire adolescence immersed in that creative world, where images, music, touch, and smell are completely intertwined. Immediately after high school I enrolled on a four-year illustration program. This allowed me to explore not only painting techniques, but also to delve into printmaking, photography—which I particularly love—and computer graphics. This educational background, combined with my innate curiosity, has allowed me over time to worked in various sectors, from interior decoration (which in a very unique way connected me to perfumes) to restoration and, above all, in communications.

I began exploring the world of winemaking when I chose to focus my work as a graphic designer on that field. Perhaps my sense of smell was sharpened by deepening my knowledge of wines, especially natural wines. Sandro Sangiorgi's "Porthos" school allowed me to step into the glass and be captivated by the entire world that wine represents and brings with it: the connection between man and the land, manual labor, and sublimation in an act that is metamorphosis, pure alchemy.

The aromas that certain wines exude, especially reds, have the power to move me. Perhaps they bring back memories and suggestions from my childhood, when I watched my maternal grandfather make "vino nero," produced exclusively with "Uva di Troia," a native red grape variety from Puglia.

Among the endless list of smells from my childhood, I can name the smell of our neighbor's stable, the scent of the "vino cotto" my mother prepared, the smell of the embers over which my maternal grandmother would sometimes "bucket" bread, which she would then season with fresh, strong, pungent olive oil. The smell of gasoline and mechanical grease that connects me to my father figure. And I absolutely cannot fail to mention the complex smell of the sea, which takes me back to adolescence and has always accompanied the most beautiful memories of my emotional life.

To this humus, in 2018 I added a "Botanical Perfumery Course," which gave me the opportunity to come into contact for the first time ever with the natural raw materials used in perfumery and to lay the foundation for a personal approach to perfumery.

In everything I have done and continue to do, I have been driven by passion, which is the gift I have received to explore myself and the Universe. I will forever be grateful to Life for this. Creativity for me is instinct.

Image by Darius Damulis

What was the spark that led you two to create Ouder? 

Going back to my initial premise, the idea of ​​creating a small perfume line was born at the end of 2017, the year in which I was working on a project to create a men's clothing line.

In the creative flow of that period, I began to imagine a related perfume line, and as often happens to me, I began to visualize the idea through the development of some graphic renderings. At that moment, I caught Fabrizio's attention, and he offered to collaborate on a perfumery project that would initially involve the Arab market.

Our travels to Oman and Qatar left a deep mark on our memories and hearts. The kindness of the people we met, the desert, the incense plants, the sea, the evenings spent sitting on the beach, our feet in the sand, chatting, drinking Karak Tea and smoking shisha.

I believe Frankincense was the real trigger for everything. It's a raw material widely used in Catholic churches. When burned, it instills a feeling of relaxation and elevation. Although oriental, it has a huge influence worldwide.

“Ouder Elysium” is the first fragrance we introduced to explore this raw material.

The Arab people's approach to perfume is all-encompassing, inimitable, and unique. The apparent uniformity seen in the white suits worn by men and the black suits worn by women conceals a richness and a desire for individual affirmation. A personal power asserted and affirmed seemingly through business success, but which is actually individual and cultural determination and affirmation. Black and white are the absence and presence of color; they contain everything. It is no coincidence that, combined with gold, they are our dominant colours.

Can you explain the name Ouder? 

The root of the word "OUDER" is "OUD," which, combined with the ending "ER," creates the same connection/association that exists between the words "LOVE" and "LOVER." Furthermore, we immediately noticed that, strangely enough, anagramming “OUDER” gives the French word “ODEUR”, “Nomen omen” the Latins would say.

Why did you decided to work around Oud? What role does Oud itself play in shaping your brand identity?

For us, Oud is both symbol and muse. It is the raw material for our discovery of a new world that has maintained its power to fascinate us and evoke strong, even conflicting, emotions over time.

For us, Oud symbolically represents the dark side, the defense against external attack, the sublime response to trauma. Through fire, it burns, consumes, transcends. In this alchemical process of transmutation, catharsis manifests. The Phoenix, the universal archetype of death and rebirth, purifies and regenerates itself.

For the Arab people, Oud thus becomes the wood of rituals, both personal and collective. It is the symbolic element that connects humanity to the divine, matter to spirit.

Image from the brand’s website

What gap in the fragrance world did you want to fill when you launched the brand?

When we started, we began with the idea of ​​creating a line of perfumes inspired by Oud but with a different interpretation. We wanted to offer an Oud that would appeal to a Western audience, breaking down the barrier of mistrust that often surrounds this raw material. A few years have passed since then, and much has changed in the world of perfumery, which is now increasingly expanding. Many olfactory proposals now focus on Oud, both commercially and in niche perfumery, but our goal has remained the same. We are aware that we are only at the beginning of this journey. "OUDER AURA Arabic Oud" is a new starting point for us and today it is the perfume that best represents OUDER in its essence.

Do you see Ouder more as a personal artistic project or as a global brand in the making?

It is absolutely a “personal artistic project” with which we would like to become known globally, maintaining a niche production and a direct relationship with our retailers and buyers.

What was the hardest challenge in launching Ouder?

The initial challenge was finding the right partners to bring our idea of ​​perfume to life—for us, an invisible dress, sharing an intimate space.

This incredible journey has connected us with wonderful people to whom we will always be grateful and whom we thank.

Right now, the greatest challenge is to stand out and be noticed in a constantly expanding and evolving world.

How do you avoid falling into trends while keeping your creations relevant?

I observe what's happening in the world of perfumery. I explore, I smell, I'm fascinated by the ability of some of the most established brands to express themselves, but in my creative process I remain focused on the raw materials, I let myself be guided only by their suggestions and by my instincts. I listen to the vibration that each ingredient or raw material emanates and seek its reverberation with those around it; it's a tuning fork that sends out waves. I follow the creative flow of the moment, without forcing it, and this can take a long time before I achieve a result I'm satisfied with.

You just introduced two new perfumes – can you tell more about them?

The word that unites my two latest creations is "challenge."

Both were built around a main element: Oud in the first case and Patchouli in the second. I played with contrasts; they are both very rich, especially in natural ingredients, which is why they can initially seem "strange," unsettling, and in some cases disorienting.

"OUDER AURA Arabic Oud" was born from the idea of ​​creating a perfume with Oud that would also appeal to a Western audience, without distorting it, but fully respecting the raw material, attempting to accentuate its animalic and seductive nature.

The scent of suede, the phenolic notes, and the strength of Oud are wrapped in a buttery, lactonic cocoon, yet rich in flowers and exotic fruits.

“OUDER PATCHOULI JUTEUX”, on the other hand, is an open challenge to Patchouli.

Its powerful and penetrating scent can sometimes bother me. The basic idea was to create a scent rich in Patchouli, yet "tamed," not immediately recognizable. Nor were the other protagonists of the composition immediately recognizable—namely, bergamot, mandarin, and licorice, combined with sweet floral notes and a hint of ginger.

Toward the end, while creating the fragrance, I "accidentally" stumbled upon an image that immediately captured our hearts: "The Farewell of Telemachus and Eurachis," painted by Jacques-Louis David in 1818. The work draws inspiration from the French novel Les Aventures de Télémaque by Fénelon, written in the late 17th century, and refers to a particular moment in the story: Telemachus's encounter with a nymph named Eurachis.

The romantic image of the two lovers and the entire scenic composition interacted perfectly with the olfactory notes of the perfume I was creating. They also clearly represent our idea of ​​perfume as a non-invasive element, sharing an intimate space.

For this reason, we decided to use it as a "manifesto" to present our perfumes for the first time in Italy during the latest edition of Pitti Fragranze. For us, it was the perfect backdrop to introduce our new image. We took inspiration from neoclassical architectural forms to try and create a "new classic" bottle.

Image by Darius Damulis

Where do you see Ouder Parfums in ten years?

We hope to be featured on the shelves of a few select stores around the world, as a brand that has earned credibility thanks to the quality and expressive value of its fragrances. We also hope to open at least one OUDER store, creating a personalized space designed to welcome those who love our perfumes or to best represent them for those who wish to discover them.

If you could collaborate with any artist, musician, or designer outside perfumery, who would it be?

It would undoubtedly be Romeo Castellucci of the "Societas Raffaello Sanzio”.

We've seen some of their performances, following them in Rome, Naples, Barcelona, ​​and Paris, and we've always been struck by the scenic construction of their "theatrical machine," by the expressive power of their content, and by the powerful emotional impact they provoke, disorienting and often disturbing. But what they leave is a mark that touches the unconscious and carves the soul of the spectator. Symbolic language, cryptic, at times indecipherable, difficult to categorize, yet powerful, evocative, and incisive. Carnality and Spirituality, God and Man.

Thank you for your time.