Student's Marko Matijevic and Simon Mohorovic have visited for the purposes of the seminar thesis Peter Florijančič, Slovenian innovator. At home in Bled, when he told them about his experiences creating hundreds of innovations, he also mentioned the innovation of the first perfume bottle, the patent for which he sold to the then King of Egypt. Since they did not even know how to make those perfume squirting pumps, he made all the machines and tools to make them.
In 1949, a Slovenian man thus revolutionised an industry that has never had a single new breakthrough innovation until today. But wouldn't it be fascinating if, 70 years later, it was Slovenians who made the next big breakthrough again? This thought was endlessly inspiring to Mark and Simon.
But what innovation could it create in perfumes? The first idea was: "What if, instead of the classic pressing of the pump, we made a simple on-touch button, like on phones?" Well, nothing came of it.
As they grew more and more interested, they came to understand the industry. They talked to manufacturers and users, compared perfumes from all over the world, learned about scent creation and manufacturing methods... But did you know that just one drop of an ingredient can completely change the way a perfume smells? That's when they had the idea: "What if I made a personalised perfume scent? But could we create a technology that could mix a unique scent every day according to the user's preferences?"
They made a bottle of NINU perfume, which has 100 different fragrances in one. With an app on your phone, you can make your own fragrance combination, different every day.
Almost ten years after Peter Florijančič's visit, they presented their prototype for the first time to the biggest names in the industry at the Monaco Motor Show. They returned home thrilled by the overwhelming response they received. Congratulations. Praise. Enthusiasm. Admiration from Dior executives... To them, their product was as unusual as someone coming to a car show where you have a whole range of modern cars on four wheels and they have a flying car.
Yes, we are on the right track! they got confirmation then.
In three years of development, "We realised there were a hundred and one ways things don't work before we figured out how they do work. We worked with mechanical engineering faculties, electrical engineering faculties... where everyone knows something, but it was hard to make sense of the individual skills to make the product work seamlessly."
They also received a prestigious award The most innovative perfume product from 2021proving that this is the most advanced and completely unique fragrance experience.
What advice could you give to entrepreneurial individuals who are still thinking about their innovative idea? "It's hard to say anything new that hasn't already been written. But you definitely have to be persistent. Don't be afraid to try and take a little risk. And don't be afraid to change your original idea. We have learned a lot with every fair, with every meeting, and we have changed our business model and product with it."
Our innovator Petr Florijančič is no longer with us, but he would certainly be proud to know that the next big innovation in the perfume industry has also come from Slovenia.
Two more interesting stories by Peter Florijančič, which are remembered to this day:
Peter has made a great contribution to the town and the municipality. For a period of time, the water in Lake Bled was so polluted that bathing was discouraged. The municipality employed two wardens to go around the lake and warn about this. "What nonsense," said Peter, "two in the morning, two in the afternoon, four salaries a month, an unnecessary waste of money." And what did he suggest? "I wrote to them that they had better throw two crocodiles in the water and no one will bathe any more." Really? Seriously.
The second story is from Germany. He patented slide frames and sold them to a German company. They agreed that every month he would get a percentage of the sales. So for a few months he patiently looked at that little number on the cheque, and then ... He went directly to the CEO of the company in Germany, but the secretary would not let him in without an appointment. "Tell him there's a crazy innovator who won't leave here until he's accepted." He had no choice. He let him in. "I don't like this monthly drip of change... Let's change for a single digit, and you're freaking me out." "All right, all right, tell me how much you want," said the manager. Peter confidently wrote down a figure that was extremely high for that time: 100,000 marks. The director just looked at him in silence, stood up and walked out of the office. Peter didn't know whether he had offended him, or whether he had written too much or too little, or whether the gentleman would come back at all, or ... Whereupon he returned, cheque in hand. "Excuse me, here are 100,000 marks." Peter looked now at him, now at the cheque, surprised that he had accepted the offer so quickly. But his curiosity wouldn't let him rest, so he asked, "OK, as I said, that's what I said. But I wonder what you would say if I wrote 200,000 marks?" "I would give you that too." "How about 500,000 marks?" "I would give you that too." "Yes, but what if I had said one million?" "Well, then maybe we would have negotiated a little." But he went home with only 100,000 marks in his pocket and one good school.
