Riccardo Halac-Ruggeroni: The Perfumer who Reinvents the Art of Interior Fragrance

(c)DR

Some destinies are not discovered, but revealed. Riccardo Halac-Ruggeroni belongs to this rare category. Founder of RHR Luxury, this self-taught perfumer has transformed a collection of olfactory souvenirs into a house of fragrances that defies the conventions of contemporary luxury.

A Summer That Changes Everything

The story begins in 2007 by chance, in the creative whirlwind of Manhattan. Riccardo Halac-Ruggeroni, then in the midst of negotiations for a position as design director in a major fashion company, accepted a consulting project for an interior designer. On her inspiration table, candles carefully arranged by color. A simple phrase casually tossed out: "I want to create a line of candles one day. Maybe you'd like to draw something?"

That evening, in the shady garden of their West 12th Street home - a 78-foot sanctuary in the heart of the Village - Riccardo begins scribbling notes. But instead of packaging sketches, memories flood in. Scents from his childhood, precise moments, places imbued with emotion. The exercise captures him: these notes are too personal to be shared, too intimate to be merely a commercial project.

The designer's project may never materialize, but something else is born.

The Jasmine Epiphany

A few weeks later, a summer evening in the West Village. A window covered with jasmine blossoms. In the diaphanous light of twilight, the white stars of the vine diffuse their fragrance across the New York street. Riccardo is instantly transported - seven thousand miles and several decades back in time - to his paternal grandmother's garden.

That evening marked a turning point. "What if I could recreate those smells myself?" The question sounded obvious. Why not create a product capable of conveying emotions, of sharing a fragment of soul? There was just one fly in the ointment: "How on earth am I going to learn perfumery?"

From Fashion to Fragrance: A Radical Reconversion

Riccardo Halac-Ruggeroni finally got the job in fashion, but the idea never left him. Evenings passed between packaging designs and concepts for a capsule collection of six scented candles, each inspired by what he now calls a "scent moment" - that precise instant when you know a fragrance will stay with you forever.

For years, he accumulated niche fragrances and candles, not simply for the sake of collecting, but with a clear goal in mind: to understand his own nose, to decipher why certain scents attract him more than others. He discovers that his mental olfactory library is intimately linked to his origins, to the migrations of his ancestors, to the cultural traditions that have merged to create his identity.

In 2015, the big leap: Riccardo left the fashion industry to devote himself entirely to the project. At first he considered the classic private label route, but his husband brought him back to basics: "If you want this project to be personal, you have to learn to do it yourself."

A lifetime of learning

What follows is a challenge. Riccardo Halac-Ruggeroni immerses himself in the chemistry, botany and methodologies of haute parfumerie. He studied migratory currents, trade winds, the history of transatlantic trade routes and the raw materials endemic to the Americas. A decade of relentless learning that culminated in the retail launch in early 2024.

Today, RHR Luxury boasts a library of over one hundred formulas divided into twelve olfactory families. Since 2025, Riccardo has been adding a new fragrance every month. Each creation emerges from his personal collection of nearly two thousand raw materials, sourced directly from producers around the world.

Art against standardization

In an industry where the author is often obliterated behind manufacturing contracts, Riccardo asserts the artist's signature loud and clear. "Every fragrance must have a reason to exist," he asserts. "It has to be different not only from my own creations, but from everything else on the market."

The result? An RHR Luxury rose is like no other. It's a new interpretation, a narrative captured in wax and flame. For Riccardo, true luxury lies not in price, but in originality - the indelible mark of an artist's hand.

Aesthetics at the service of meaning

His background in fashion and interior design naturally permeates the visual identity of RHR Luxury. Each container is made of crystal, chosen for its purity and refraction. The packaging, in water- and oil-resistant coated paper, is embossed with gold and housed in deep navy-blue boxes that whisper elegance rather than shout it. Onyx trays, marble bases, semi-precious stone stoppers: each accessory extends the experience beyond the fragrance, creating a complete sensory encounter.

The aesthetic, rooted in mid-century modernism, reflects the fragrance ethos: timeless, uncluttered, uncompromising.

Building a Heritage

Riccardo continues to study haute parfumerie and composes all his fragrances himself. "I love what I do," he says simply. This body of work represents much more than a luxury brand: it's the medium through which he attempts to convey, through fragrance, that we all come from somewhere, and that we share more in common than it might seem.

From the West Village garden where it all began to his ever-expanding library of raw materials, Riccardo Halac-Ruggeroni embodies that rare figure: the autodidact who becomes a master, the dreamer who materializes his vision, the artist who refuses to compromise. In a world saturated with interchangeable fragrances, he proves that there's still room for authenticity, memory and soul.

Treat yourself to the excellence of Riccardo Halac-Ruggeroni's compositions, carefully selected by our curator.

Riccardo Halac-Ruggeroni's creations on SCENTISSIME

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