Matteo Parfums

Matteo Parfums is an independent fine-fragrance company based in California, founded by Matthew J. Sánchez. Despite the Italian-sounding name, the house is American: its headquarters are in Los Angeles, and Sánchez, a UCLA graduate, both founded the company and composes its perfumes. The brand presents itself as a multicultural perfumery that, in its own words, fuses "concepts and cultures," building scents around ingredients and references drawn from across the world rather than a single European tradition.

The company is active. It sells directly to consumers through its own online store and continues to appear in fragrance press and at industry events through 2025 and 2026 [10]. Outside the United States, its fragrances are reached through third-party retailers, because the brand's own site currently pauses international shipping over cost and tariff concerns.

Matthew J. Sánchez came to perfumery from an unusual direction. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in applied mathematics and chemistry, worked in finance, and had earlier done artificial-intelligence research at the University of Michigan before turning to scent. According to interviews, his interest was sparked by a magazine feature on master perfumers, which appealed to someone drawn to both chemistry and the arts.

To learn the craft, Sánchez took an unpaid apprenticeship at night while working in banking by day, securing a mentor — a Chanel-trained perfumer and ISIPCA graduate — after sending roughly 100 cold emails, of which one was answered [10]. He has described spending about three and a half years in fragrance and chemistry research before bringing a product to market, and he characterises himself as one of the youngest Black and Latino perfumers working in the United States.

Sources differ on how to date the brand's beginning. The company brands itself as established "since 2017," the year Sánchez graduated and began the venture [1]. Editorial reporting instead dates the launch to the autumn of 2020, when the first fragrance, Celadawn, was released after a delay from March 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic [10]. The two dates describe different events — the founding of the company versus the debut of its first product — rather than a genuine contradiction.

Accounts of the founder's heritage also vary. UCLA's reporting describes a Mexican father from Michoacán and a Ghanaian-American mother from West Virginia [10], while the brand's own About page renders the father's background as Mexican-Sicilian [2]. The brand's multicultural ingredient palette draws on these West African and Latin American roots regardless of the discrepancy.

Matteo Parfums describes itself as "an award-winning, California-based, fine fragrance company rooted in multiculturalism, whimsical elegance, and imaginative inclusivity" [2]. The founding idea, as the company tells it, rests on the belief that smell has the strongest connection to memory and emotion. Its stated ethos is one of "imaginative inclusivity," drawing on diverse cultural sources rather than Eurocentric aesthetics.

The house operates at an independent, accessible price point, with eau de parfum sold at a single list price for its standard bottle. Production is small-scale: products are described as hand-bottled and formulated in California, using organic alcohol, with packaging the company calls eco-friendly and recyclable and formulas it describes as cruelty-free and non-toxic. The company states an ambition to become America's best-selling fine-fragrance brand [2], a goal it sets for itself rather than a measured market position.

The perfumes are built around culturally specific ingredients combined across regions. Koribbean, originally released as Heavy Petal, fuses Korean and Caribbean references, pairing Korean bokbunja (black raspberry wine) and Caribbean rum with notes such as Dominican sugarcane and Ghanaian dark chocolate. Ambered Petal, from the brand's Pretty Little Petals collection, combines West African shea and cocoa butters with Mexican vanilla and an Amazonian white cacao called macambo.

The debut fragrance, Celadawn, was promoted as featuring what the company called the fine-fragrance industry's first "horchata amber" accord. Lovers' Dew, the second release, takes an aquatic direction inspired by Aztec and Maya imagery, with notes including Oaxacan copal wood and California pomelo; Sánchez is credited as its perfumer. Celadawn sold out on its opening weekend [11].

In 2024, Matteo Parfums was, by the brand's account and UCLA's reporting, the first fragrance company to receive a grant from L'Oréal Groupe's Beauty Fund (also described as its Inclusive Beauty Fund), valued at 200,000 dollars [10]. The same year, Lovers' Dew was named an Art and Olfaction Awards honoree [7]. In 2026, founder Matthew J. Sánchez was named to the Forbes "30 Under 30" list in the Retail and eCommerce category [5].

The brand's fragrances and founder have been featured in fragrance and lifestyle press, including Robb Report, W Magazine and GQ, the last of which selected Celadawn for its subscription box [11]. French outlets including Libération have profiled Sánchez among a group of American perfumers drawing on personal heritage.

Matteo Parfums is active. It continues to release and stock fragrances through its direct-to-consumer store, and recent activity includes a scheduled speaking session at the World Perfumery Congress in June 2026 and the founder's 2026 Forbes listing [5]. The company has said its fragrances are carried internationally in five countries [11]; non-US sales run through third-party retailers rather than the brand's own shipping.