Ex Nihilo was founded in Paris in 2013 by three friends: Sylvie Loday, Olivier Royère and Benoît Verdier. Loday, an astronautics graduate of MIT and a former NASA employee, leads strategy and innovation, Royère the business, Verdier the creative side. The Latin name means “from nothing” and stands for a contemporary French house inspired by the avant-garde. Its first scent, in 2013, was Fleur Narcotique.

Ex Nihilo does not work with a single house perfumer but with changing signatures: Quentin Bisch composed Fleur Narcotique, Jordi Fernández Blue Talisman, Louise Turner Spiky Muse. The idea is born in the house, the olfactory answer comes from each perfumer. Classical haute parfumerie meets natural extracts and modern synthetics. In selected boutiques, the Osmologue system personalises fragrances – weighed, filtered, bottled and finished by hand.

What makes Ex Nihilo special to us is the interplay of craft, technology and design. The scents are opulent and modern at once, from the floral Fleur Narcotique and the fresh Blue Talisman to the seductive Lust in Paradise Extrait.