Santa Maria Novella has announced that Giovanna Paoloni will take the reins from Gian Luca Perris, who has been at the helm of the heritage Florentine apothecary since 2020. Perris, who hails from a family of perfumers, pushed forward the fragrance offering for Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica, bringing what is arguably the oldest beauty brand in the world – founded by Franciscan monks in 1221 – into the 21st century.
‘It is important to create innovations, while still keeping in mind the roots that allowed this company to last until now,’ Perris told Wallpaper’s Mary Cleary when she interviewed him in 2023. ‘The monks were great innovators – they were researching new ingredients, making new formulas, working with the Medici family to invest in chemistry and in pharmaceuticals; so we need to keep that in mind, but we also need to go back from time to time and reboot things from the archive.’
