For the fourth edition of the Casati Prize, Tamara Repetto (Genoa, 1973) has been selected. She is an artist with a refined sensibility and a multifaceted career, ranging from olfactory installations to sculpture and design, investigating the relationship between matter, the senses and the relationship between man and nature. Her work, “Numero Undici”, feeds on this interaction, drawing inspiration from the ancient pomander, a secret treasure chest of fragrances, kept for centuries by courts and aristocracies to protect the body and spirit with precious essences such as ambergris and musk.
The cap of the ampoule, the true aesthetic and conceptual fulcrum of the work, recalls the delicate structure of the morille, an evocative French term for the morel mushroom, a fruit of the earth with a sinuous and archaic shape, symbol of rebirth and transformation. This shape, reproduced in shiny yellow bronze, recalls the golden hues of ripe olives, while its perforated surface allows the essence contained within to shine through, in a sensory interplay that stimulates sight, touch and smell.
Oil, a primordial and sacred element, interacts with the scented cap, creating a synesthetic experience in which art, nature and fragrance intertwine in a refined and visionary whole.
Further enhancing this creation is Casati fragrance no. 11, which can be detected inside the cap with a sweet, woody accord, an intoxicating combination that celebrates the sacred nectar. This scent evokes the number 11, an esoteric symbol linked to creative energy, intuition and sensitivity, a portal for the fulfilment of desires, as well as the artist’s date of birth.
Thanks to Tamara Repetto’s poetic vision, this new Casati Artist’s Ampoule becomes not only the guardian of sensory excellence, but a work that embodies the very concept of sensory alchemy, where aesthetics, matter and symbolism merge in a creation destined to leave a mark on the memory and the imagination.
(from the press release)
Premio Casati / Casati Award 2025: Tamara Repetto, Numero Undici, 2025
images: (cover-1) Tamara Repetto, portrait (2-4) Tamara Repetto, «Numero Undici», 2025 for Casati Award, courtesy of the Artist (3) Tamara Repetto, «Numero Undici», 2025 for Casati Award, sketch, courtesy of the Artist
