When Rosita Met Ron

The Missoni matriarch and the L.A. retail pioneer have a meeting of the noses.

When Apothia founder Ron Robinson went to see Rosita Missoni about collaborating on a candle line, he was told that Missoni was "very fearful of fragrance, because she respects it so much."

But Robinson, whose eponymous boutiques are located within Fred Segal, found Missoni to be not scared, necessarily, but specific —very specific— about scent. After she came up with a concept and briefs for five candles, one for each element —earth, air, wind, and fire— and one to be representative of the Missoni brand, Robinson received a paper bag of wildflowers straight from Genoa with a note that read "Stick your head in it." He obliged, and created Maremma, a helichyrsum scent that represents not just the flower but the stem and soil, too. There's also Laguna, meant to capture the air over a cypress forrest; Mediterraneo, inspired by the fig trees and the ocean near Rosita's house on Lake Maggiore; Monterosa, a smoked leather; and Icon, an orange, espresso and light wood candle that came from Missoni's memory of a cedar closet in a family home.

And, of course, it wouldn't be Missoni if there was not an accompanying zig zag pattern to go with each scent.

MissoniHome by Apothia candles, $78 each, ronrobinson.com

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