22.09.2025

Journal Talks - The Talisman Interviews

Elisa Carassai is a Milan-born writer, editor, and creative strategist whose work spans fashion, design, and culture with a distinctly sensorial lens. As co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sali e Tabacchi Journal, she curates a publication celebrated for its tactile worlds and cinematic gaze.

With bylines in Vogue Italia, Wallpaper*, and Cabana, Elisa’s voice is one of atmosphere and intimacy. In conversation for Journal Talks, she reflects on fragrance not just as scent, but as memory, mood, and a personal language, an invisible signature that lingers like stories told on skin.

1. What role does fragrance play in your personal style? Do you see it as an accessory, a signature, or something more invisible?

Because I’m a mercurial person, I’ve always believed that beauty and fashion are tools that allow me to transform into someone new each day. I love shapeshifting, imagining different versions of myself, and inventing stories around my outfits and beauty looks. Fragrance, however, feels a little different.

On some days, I treat it like an accessory, switching scents to match my many personalities. But there are also times when I turn to a specific fragrance for luck, or when I feel the need to ground myself in a uniform scent for a while. Those stretches recharge me until I’m ready to return to my mercurial, ever-changing self.

2. Many describe scent as the most intimate form of beauty. How do you feel fragrance shapes the way we present ourselves to the world?

Perfume is incredibly intimate. We wear it on the small of our necks, our collarbones, and our wrists — places that invite closeness. Perhaps that’s why, over the past year and a half, every man I’ve kissed has commented on the scent I was wearing. Once, when I had on The Botanist, a man went absolutely wild for it. Every fragrance we choose reflects not only the mood we’re in but also the kind of person we want to project to the world.

I’m a devoted fan of chypres and woody scents, which are often my first choice. Yet on a daily basis, some of them can feel a little too bold. That’s when I turn to softer, more natural perfumes — musky, understated ones like Fjällsjö or The Botanist.

The Talisman collection is inspired by archetypes: Nomad, Nymf, and Riddargatan. You were chosen as the Nomad.

Nomad / The Seeker

1. When you think of “Nomad,” what does that archetype mean to you personally?

I think it represents me quite well. I’m the kind of person who can’t stay still for too long; otherwise, I get bored or stuck. I seek inspiration in movement and travel, but I always come back home to ground myself and recharge.

2. Nomad carries notes of suede and hay, evoking wilderness and skin. What kinds of places, paths, or states of mind does this bring to you?

It brings to mind a few trips. The first was to Scotland this past winter, for one of my best friends’ weddings. We stayed in a beautiful house in the Highlands, went swimming in the ocean at Nairn in February, and spent nights dancing, drinking whisky, and celebrating her love. There was such a heady sense of freedom in those moments.

The second was a summer road trip along the coast of Brittany with my boyfriend. I think of our hike near Pointe du Raz, also known as Land’s End, a dramatic promontory that juts into the Atlantic at the western edge of France. There, the freedom felt quieter and calmer — standing so close to something untamed and wild, yet sharing it with someone you care about deeply.

3. Seeking often implies restlessness, but also discovery. In your own life, what do you find yourself seeking right now?

I’ve been learning how to tame the restlessness I carry with me, trying to find a balance that grounds me without dimming my spirit. It isn’t about silencing that energy but softening it so it doesn’t wear me out. In love, life, and work, I’m learning to channel that restless, nomadic curiosity and give it roots — grounding it through rituals. What I seek now is a curiosity within steadiness: the trust and the courage to truly commit.

4. If you had to describe your ideal fragrance in three words or three textures, what would they be?

Leather, Wet Grass, Salty Air.

Find out more about Elisa here.