Filippo Sorcinelli was born in Mondolfo, in the Marche, in 1975, into a family of weavers and seamstresses. He was playing the organ in cathedrals at 13 and went on to study organ at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. In 2001 he founded LAVS, an atelier for liturgical vestments. Its work has been worn by Benedict XVI, by Francis at the Mass opening his pontificate in 2013, and by Leo XIV at his first Mass with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel in 2025.
Perfume grew out of the atelier. He started UNUM in 2013, and its first scent, LAVS, was a version of the fragrance he sprayed on papal vestments before they were delivered. Later perfumes start from places and events: Opus 1144 from the birth of Gothic at Saint-Denis, Symphonie-Passion from the Rouen organ he played, the same instrument Marcel Dupré played, Notre-Dame 15.4.2019 from the cathedral fire, and Epicentro, whose proceeds go to rebuilding Bolognola after the 2016 earthquake. No perfumer is named on UNUM's scents.
LAVS is built on spice and oak. Reliqvia goes back to Senigallia and the Church of the Cross, a Baroque oratory from 1608 where he serves the confraternity as organist and artistic director: carved and gilded wooden walls, incense on the steps to the high altar, and Federico Barocci's 1582 altarpiece of Christ carried to the tomb.
