MILAN — Coqui Coqui founders Argentine Nicolas Malleville and Italian Francesca Bonato have captivated the most discerning noses with their tropical scents and a lifestyle that spans French Polynesia, the Mediterranean and the Yucatán.
Since 2003, they have built a business around fragrances, with spas, residences and shops in the Yucatán Peninsula, the Society Islands in the South Pacific and the Riviera dei Fiori in the Mediterranean. A niche brand that attracts the fashion and hospitality worlds, they also caught the eye of H&M Home‘s head of design Evelina Kravaev-Söderberg, who was entranced by Coqui Coqui’s sensorial experience after visiting their properties.
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“When we were looking for the perfect partner for a new collaboration and a contact mentioned them, I thought, of course! It seemed like a great opportunity to do something with their strong aesthetics and nomadic lifestyle, where we can let our customers’ senses travel,” Kravaev-Söderberg said.
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The meeting would prove a major turning point for the couple-run company. On Thursday they saw their aesthetic translated for a mass public.
H&M Home has unveiled a 26-piece interiors collection with Coqui Coqui that consists of curated home decor objects and travel essentials. With a background in botany; a fascination with travel, history and the explorer’s lifestyle, and captivated by the charm of the tropical and sub-tropical landscapes, the collaboration was envisaged around the idea of creating a home away from home. Two unique home fragrances developed in Grasse, France, were created for the collaboration, in addition to textiles, ceramics and steel objects.
WWD caught up with the duo to discuss their history and the H&M collaboration.
WWD: When did things take off for Coqui Coqui on an international level? What was the turning point?
Nicolas Malleville: In 2006, our story was shared in several major magazines such as Condé Nast Traveler, AD France, W Magazine, and The New York Times. Many journalists were looking for authentic travel experiences at that time, and we started getting more attention through magazines and word of mouth. Having a perfumeria situated in the middle of the Yucatán Peninsula was an unusual concept. We had this idea of wanting to share both the primitive luxuries and decadent luxuries in an unusual space, and we felt drawn to curating the experience for guests to arrive to a perfumeria and spa in the midst of the wildest corner of the Yucatán jungle. This was the first place where we began to share with others these local arts, folklore, landscapes, and our own line of fragrances inspired by the surrounding botanicals for both the home and body.
WWD: How did you come up with the name Coqui Coqui?
Francesca Bonato: The name Coqui Coqui was born by accident when we started approaching the creation of fragrances for the home and body with coconut and monoi oils and coconut perfumes that were reminiscent of the Yucatán region where we began. This was the first fragrance ever made for our collection, and we curated it with two different types of coconuts, so Coqui Coqui felt like the right fit for our brand.
WWD: How do you define the Coqui Coqui aesthetic in your own words?
N.M.: Coqui Coqui is our interpretation of the explorers’ lifestyle that we have chosen for the last 21 years. Our objective is always to live a life fully immersed within the florals, the landscapes, and folklore of the tropical and subtropical regions that we choose to inhabit. These are the places where we discover the formulas and authentic aromas for our fragrance collections and also where we find inspiration for each of the objects that we design. This collaboration with H&M Home is our way of inviting others to explore the faraway places that have become part of our lives with the rest of the world. We describe the collection as authentic, eclectic and accessible.
WWD: Where do you live most, Bora Bora or Mexico?
F.B.: We will always have places that we call our “home away from home” — places we return to. Our way of life has led us to navigate the four hemispheres of the world in which our collections exist. We move from place to place according to the seasons, often chasing eternal springtime because that’s when the florals and botanicals are in full bloom. In this way, we always have the desire to move within these four hemispheres of the world and to go back to these certain places that we call home.
WWD: The mix of scents for H&M Home — can we talk about those?
N.M.: The two new fragrances that we developed for H&M Home, Flores de Yucatán and Vétyvers du Pacifique, are unisex scents. We designed them to complement the surrounding landscapes around our homes. The DNA of these fragrances always keep us connected and allow us to celebrate our “home away from home” lifestyle, wherever we are in the world. These two new fragrances will allow others to fully immerse themselves — inviting people to explore, discover or even reconnect with these magical places, bringing the spirit of the Yucatán and of French Polynesia to the rest of the world.
WWD: How did the collaboration with H&M Home come about?
F.B.: We met Evelina 12 years ago when she visited us at Coqui Coqui in the Yucatán. She visited us a few times over the years, and we became friends. When she got in touch about a collection with H&M Home, we felt it would be a great opportunity to share our unique Coqui Coqui universe with more people around the world. We curated this collection by thinking about the things we consider essential in our everyday lives — the items we need to create a “home away from home” wherever we are. We wanted every item to be very versatile, such as a beautiful fringed blanket that can be placed over shoulders for a travel wrap, or used as a blanket for a picnic, or turned into a tablecloth or a throw for a bed.
WWD: Why something so massive? Not niche? How will this all be produced?
N.M.: For us, the most beautiful way to harness the emotional expression of the places where we live is through creating our collection of fragrances and objects. Collaborating with H&M Home was a way for us to be able to share our philosophy with more people, and a way of inviting others to explore the faraway places that have become part of our lives. Everything has been made working with H&M Home’s production partners. The fragrances were developed in Grasse, overseen by Nicolas, who is the creator of all the Coqui Coqui fragrances. Textiles in the collection include linen, cotton and ramie for the kimono, with botanical illustrations representative of the fruits, flowers, herbs, roots, and woods that make up the collection’s fragrance ingredients.
WWD: Who are the artisans behind the accessories of your brand — where are they located?
F.B.: The artisans behind the brand are located in the four hemispheres where Coqui Coqui exists. These artisans work to create beautiful products, local arts, and blend the perfumes by hand for our line of home and body fragrances. These local artisans have extraordinary skills that have been passed down for generations. In the Yucatán, French Polynesia, and Riviera dei Fiore our products all have a legacy that’s rooted in traditional handcrafted products that are rooted in these specific hemispheres. These are items that carry the histories and stories of these tropical and subtropical regions. Within the design process, it has always been conceived within the domination and origin of these inherent places. For the H&M Home collaboration we have worked with their own production partners.