Ramón Monegal comes from a long and distinguished line of the most important perfumers in Barcelona and Spain. He represents the fourth generation of the founders of the house of Myrurgia, which was the official purveyor of the Spanish Royal Family, and the most important international perfumer in Spain. His training began back in 1972 at Myrurgia, where he submerged himself completely and became intimate with the most essential of scents such as the mythical infusions of amber, tonka bean, musk, castoreum, civet and iris. These were the treasured secrets of the house and the key ingredients to the only couture perfumes existing at the time. Monegal's training continued in Geneva with his mentor, the maître parfumeur Artur Jordi Pey (Firmenich), then in Grasse with Marcel Carles (Roure Bertrand and Argeville) and finally in Paris with Pierre Bourdon (Takasago and Fragrance Resources). From his beginnings as a perfumer, Ramón Monegal showed courage, good taste and mastery of the most complicated and costly ingredients. Early on he began to develop the concept of olfactory image — the images we conjure with the smell of a fragrance. He embarked on the preparation of perfume creations with great sensitivity, thoroughness and zeal. It took him years to refine his skills in the search, selection, acquisition and evaluation of the finest natural ingredients —the defining qualities of a nez. In addition, Monegal was very active in the processes of conceptualization, design and communication and, in 1977, to broaden his knowledge in these areas, he studied at the Barcelona Design Center. In 1979 Ramón Monegal created his first fragrance, Alada. It soon flowered into an unexpected success within the house of Myrurgia, leading the domestic market for decades. From that time on he took over the artistic management of the house and began to create fragrances for the licenses of Adolfo Dominguez, Antonio Miró, Aigner, Inès de la Fressange, Don Algodon and Massimo Dutti. Myrurgia grew even more in prestige and as a company. In 1985 Monegal joined the board of Myrurgia and later was appointed vice president. In 2000, just as the company reached its peak, Antonio Puig acquired Myrurgia and Ramón Monegal was asked to head the fragrance development of its brands and licenses for the group, which included the new Maison Parfum. It was not until 2007, with the strategic disappearance of Myrurgia, that Monegal decided to relinquish his emotional ties to the family project to which he had dedicated most of his life, making the decision to embark on a brand new enterprise. After a period of reflection and experimentation, he started the project he had always dreamed of: creating his own fragrances. He longed to reach his public directly as a true perfumer, without filters, without mediation. The realization of a dream After 30 years in his profession, having become a master perfumer and authentic nez, the challenge of Ramón Monegal is now to reach excellence and transfer his knowledge to the fifth generation. Perfume can only rise to the level of art when accompanied by the absolute freedom of the mind and spirit. To be able to use formulas containing necessary ingredients and proportions without being coerced by the costs or other restraining factors is the path to recovering the true and ancient craft —a path that is these days seen as the cutting edge. Ramón Monegal recognized early on this emerging tendency towards more crafted perfumes and in 2009 began to grow his much desired project in all of its characteristics: to offer a fragrance collection of a master perfumer, to claim his own identity like the perfumers of the golden era before mass production, to have his own workshop that specializes in the mixing, maceration, production and control, and to work with absolute artistic freedom. Monegal seeks to use the most noble and delicate essences that exist in the world, creating fragrances that induce feelings and emotions, fragrances that evoke a timeless Mediterranean passion and whose elaboration restores the natural language of the craft —to excite, entice, surprise, create desire, pleasure and magic. He deciphers the code of the masters and composes an intimate narrative through his extensive collection of unique compositions. He extends his hand to invite others into the folds of the sensuous pages of elixirs, filters, extracts and perfumes, that together, write the timeless language of olfactory communication. Come with us as we write this beautiful story that has only just begun.