My Creative Cup of Tea

February 12, 2026

#MCCOTInteriors&Design {8}

HABITARE

Elena Pelosi x 1981 Lab

Milan

Italy

From friends to "business partners". In life, sincere friendships can sometimes, unexpectedly and fortunately, lead to one-of-a-kind creative and beautiful collaborations. Some, born organically, like the one we are about to tell you, definitively stand out from the crowd.

Milan-based beauty expert, entrepreneur and founder of young and promising Italian premium, eco-conscious, unconventional and genderless skincare brand 1981 Lab Francesca Di Palma and Italian slow designer, creative director and talented renowned versatile female artist Elena Pelosi met, by pure chance, about three years ago during a pleasant evening with common friends spent in the fascinating Isola district.

It was truly friendship at first sight. According to Elena, "The encounter felt inevitable, almost scripted." On her side, Francesca also knew by instinct from day one, they both were meant to become friends.

They indeed share the same life core values and have the same way of behaving and approaching life. They are two busy, creative, bold, ambitious, caring and independent women living in a metropolis full of opportunities, seeking honesty in creation, following their gut and chasing their dreams. They both understand, trust and are supportive of each other.

Each time their busy schedules allow it, they enjoy spending time together including holidays. Working on a special project together was not really something planned, it simply happened. The idea came up out of the blue last summer as they were having a drink and were chatting. As an entrepreneur and founder, Francesca told Elena that she was looking for something new to launch on the market. Elena has just read an article about home fragrance, an emerging trend of the moment. A perfect idea to explore. A golden opportunity for two friends who get along well together and share a deep passion for Art, Design, Home decor, beauty and fragrances, to join forces and use their skills and know-how.

Fusing their two universes perfectly, the exclusive home fragrance collection HABITARE was born with the bold purpose of offering a unique and innovative olfactory experience at home. As an invitation to experience the environment as an extension of oneself. Perfume is not only to wear anymore but to live in.

" We shaped a project where fragrance becomes identity—personal, architectural, spatial. Home is the new fashion. Today the home speaks louder than handbags. We are weaving scents that inhabit both the body and the room, blurring intimacy and representation. " Elena tells.

With dedication and passion, the close-knit duo worked together in symbiosis all step long to create something very special.

Francesca created a perfume, premium and natural- aligned with the 1981 Lab signature-that is warm , sweet and full-bodied, as the result of the perfect mix of oriental wood and incense. The bottle, in glass, faithful to the 1981 Lab aesthetic style, is refillable.

In her Milanese workshop Made in Fornace' located in the former historical Fornace Curti, Elena, who is a skilled craftswoman and ceramist, carefully handcrafted- in small batches (only 250 pieces with a certificate of authentication)- unique ceramic pieces with a brass ring to use as an unconventional scent diffuser, but also as a refined and arty furniture accessory and piece of design. If a few drops are enough to perfume a room, a few drops poured on your clothes can also make you feel peaceful and reassured by a beloved familiar perfume all day long. Walking around the city, smelling like your "home sweet home". This is a small revolution.

Proud of this first creative collaboration of theirs, Francesca and Elena are enthusiastically considering the opportunity for them to continue working together and, why not, expand the collection with the potential launch, in a near future, of new one-of-a-kind olfactory objects and new perfumes.

HABITARE will be showcased at the end of February at Elena's atelier. The collection could also- the duo is currently evaluating the possibility to attend the event- be exhibited on the occasion of the Salone del Mobile which will take place in Milan from 21th to 26th April, as well as during the Downtown Design fair in September in Riyadh.