Creative pragmatism

with Amy Smilovic

Amy Smilovic is one of those rare founders whose company and personality are indistinguishable, you can't separate Tibi's point of view from Amy's and it is, I think, what makes them both so compelling. We've admired Amy as a businesswoman and as a creative for years, long before we started talking about doing this together. Ahead of the Tibi fragrance launch, Frances sat down with Amy to talk about the customer she built Tibi for, what she wanted this scent to say, and what thirty years of Creative Pragmatism smells like.

How would you describe the Tibi customer?

The Tibi customer is a highly creative and curious individual who also craves pragmatism and functionality in their everyday lives. They seek an effortless blend of chill, modern, and classic, and believe deeply that one's clothing, and even the scent they choose, is an extension of the self, and thus a means of true self-expression.

What was the most important thing you were trying to capture in the scent?

This is the first scent we have ever created. We knew for certain it had to reflect Tibi authentically. The essence of our 30 years in business, our independence, our philosophy of creative pragmatism, and our three adjectives, chill, modern, classic. We have long been certain of what this looks like, but working with Abel to uncover what it smells like, was a very different journey. Where we arrived is just right.

How do you hope people will feel when they wear Tibi?

Tibi is fresh and green, it is also soft, and feminine, and it is also masculine with hints of musk, we hope that Tibi resonates with each individual in a different and uniquely personal way. Scent is, in many ways, akin to a box of memories, it's with us as we experience moments in our lives that get locked in and triggered by scent. Who are we to say what's inside each of us? A scent allows us to create the memory associations that are uniquely our own.

How do you feel when you wear it?

I want the customer to feel, just as I do, that the fragrance they're wearing perfectly encapsulates how they feel and ergo, who they are.

What's your favourite thing about the creative process behind the scent?

Learning about the front to end development and production process of creating a natural fragrance, how our ingredients were sourced, how the fragrance is extracted, how certain molecules work differently in different circumstances. Frances, Isaac, and their team of noses are geniuses in the art of fragrance, and it has been a truly wonderful experience to learn about this world through their lens.

Anything else you'd like to add?

This has been a beautiful experience, not working with a likeminded company per se but with likeminded individuals. After all, that's what a great brand is, a group of people working together with a shared purpose.