Salum

Salum, trading as Salum Parfums, is an Italian niche fragrance house founded in 2023 [8]. Based in the Parma area of Emilia-Romagna, it builds its collections around a single idea: the sea, treated not as a familiar summer freshness but as a starting point for scents that travel to specific places. The company operates under the tagline "Profumi di Nicchia Made in Italy" — niche fragrances made in Italy.

The brand is owned and produced by ITALART CO. SRL, an Italian company registered as a Società Benefit [1]. Salum remains active: it launched new collections in 2024 and is listed as an exhibitor at the Pitti Fragranze niche-perfume trade show in Florence for its 2026 editions [11].

According to the company's own account, Salum was born from an idea by Massimiliano Minorini, described as an art director with long experience in perfumery [2]. The name is drawn from Latin and, the company says, evokes the open sea, distant horizons and the freedom of travel — with each fragrance framed as "a route to follow."

Sources differ on who should be called the founder. The brand's about page credits Minorini as the founding art director, while naming Luca Maffei and Sofia Bardelli as the perfumers behind the compositions [2]. Some retail and editorial write-ups instead describe Maffei and Bardelli themselves as the founders [8]. A Fragrantica feature likewise identifies Bardelli and Maffei as the noses rather than the owners, which is consistent with Salum's own framing of Minorini as originator and the two perfumers as collaborators [15].

Salum positions itself as a departure from conventional aquatic perfumery. The Italian retailer 50 ml, which carries the line, describes the brand as interpreting marine fragrances "in an unexpected way," moving away from the "classic summery and sparkling representation of the sea." Rather than a single marine accord, the house treats the sea as a narrative device, pairing maritime freshness with resins, spices, woods and richer materials to evoke particular waters — among them the Arabian Sea, the seas of the Pacific and northern waters.

The company frames each fragrance as part of a wider voyage, summarised on its about page with the line "our journey has just begun." Its stated values center on selected raw materials and what it calls unexpected olfactory discoveries.

Salum's output is organised into themed collections, each tied to a place or mood. The house debuted in 2023 with Arabian Vibes, a set of oriental, marine-inflected scents that included Delicious Bay, Marine Oud and Abyss Rose. Delicious Bay, sold as an extrait de parfum, layers aquatic and gourmand notes over dates, saffron, sandalwood, oud, vanilla and amber.

In 2024 the brand presented Polynesian Soul at ESXENCE in Milan, one of Europe's principal niche-fragrance fairs; the collection — Cocoyster, Strawberry Pool, Blue Mai Tai and Salty Tiarè — drew on tropical and white-floral themes [16]. The same year it introduced Treasure Island, dedicated to Madagascar, with fragrances such as Vanilla Monsoon and Tropylang. Further lines include Tropical Juice and Ocean Blend. Across the range, recurring materials include sea-salt and marine accords, oud, vanilla, amber, sandalwood, tropical fruit and tiarè.

The fragrances are made in Italy and sold both directly through the company's website and through an authorised-retailer network. That network spans all twenty Italian regions and reaches a dozen other European countries as well as the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and several Central Asian markets.

Coverage of Salum has come chiefly from the specialist fragrance press rather than mainstream beauty media, which is typical for a recent independent launch. Fragrantica published a feature on the Polynesian Soul collection following its ESXENCE presentation, and the niche-perfume blog Memories & Scents reviewed the brand's debut. Its appearances at Pitti Fragranze place it within the established Italian niche-perfume circuit [11].

Salum is an active brand. Founded in 2023, it has continued to release new work and expand its distribution, and its parent, ITALART CO. SRL, is a functioning Italian company [1]. Its most recent confirmed activity is its listing as an exhibitor at Pitti Fragranze in September 2026 [11].