FROM ITALY WITH LOVE
ITALY
My sister and I started Alora in 2000 after spending two years living together in Lake Como, Italy. While there we often commented on how lucky we were to be living in such a beautiful place. It was unforgettable and to this day, 20 years later, we still talk (or laugh or cry) about all the special memories with hearts full of gratitude.
The two of us lived in a 150-year old villa overlooking Lake Como, and were constantly surrounded by beauty. We also traveled as often as we could. Last minute weekend trips to Florence, island getaways to Sardinia, afternoon boat rides up to Bellagio and Sunday hikes in the mountains overlooking Switzerland...we were exposed to so many things!
One of those things was a room fragrance we saw in a tiny local shop, similar to what would become our signature diffuser. Like so many other things in Italy, we fell in love with its simplicity and efficacy and knew others would too.


AMERICA
In 2000, we moved home to our family farm in Southern Minnesota where we designed our own diffuser, developed a trio of signature scents, and introduced America to a brand new home fragrance category. Our dad thought we were crazy, but he quickly became a regular on the assembly line and to this day remains our biggest fan.
By the end of 2000 we’d hand assembled 8000 diffusers and landed Alora in 12 boutiques across the country. In 2002, Barneys New York added Alora to their apothecary while People magazine revealed that Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt used Alora in their home and the rest is history.
MINNESOTA
Today we no longer hand assemble products on our family farm (it’s all done by hand in St. Paul, Minnesota) and we’ve expanded the fragrance family to include 15 signature scents and have added candles to the product mix. My sister lives in Hawaii (another beautiful place!) and I run the company from Minneapolis, just a few hours from our family farm.
Our experience in Italy along with our Midwestern values have made Alora what it is today. We keep it simple because we were raised with a strong work ethic and a desire to always do the right thing. Our goal since day one was to translate beauty and value into the quality of our products so we could take care of you, our treasured customers. Even now, 20 years later, nothing makes us happier than seeing and hearing how we help make your gorgeous houses into beautiful homes.
