Parisian Maison Diptyque is proud to officially open the door to its new home at Marin Country Mart, joining a passionate community of artisans and merchants. The boutique creates a warming and welcoming atmosphere, featuring local Marin and Parisian references and a color palette of light yellow and oranges throughout that were dear to Diptyque’s founders.
They look forward to welcoming you to our newest boutique for a visit! Come into the beautiful world of Diptyque.
In the turquoise blue… of Venice, Johan Creten’s ‘La Laguna’ illustrates the passage of time. Submerged in translucent wax, a bronze Venus reveals herself as the candle burns… as the hours pass. Aesthetes and explorers of all stripes can purchase ‘La Laguna’, a limited-edition work of art created for Diptyque’s Le Grand Tour to mark the Maison’s 60th birthday.
Curious, open, sensitive to the beauty and cultures of the whole world: such were Desmond Knox-Leet, Yves Coueslant and Christiane Montadre, the three amateur aesthetes at the origin of diptych. Perpetuating the philosophy of the founding trio, diptych’s view of the world has continued to be enriched by multiple collaborations. In 2021, for its sixty years, the House demonstrates this by inviting five internationally renowned artists to imagine an original creation as part of the Grand Tour, the penultimate part of this extraordinary year. A journey in 5 stopovers, 5 artists and 5 exclusive editions to discover from September 2021 in an exhibition in Paris and pop-ups around the world. Art and diptych are definitely linked.
From different cultures, disciplines and sensibilities, the artists on the Grand Tour map share a common interest in the other and what surrounds them. Their techniques and practices are plural, just like the destinations they have been invited to sublimate. How do they perceive them? And according to what contours? The answer in five artistic proposals to perfumes from elsewhere.
One of the artist is one of the greatest contemporary sculptors, a pioneer in his innovative use of ceramics and the first artist of Belgian origin to have had the honors of the Louvre Museum, in 2005: Johan Creten. The choice to entrust him with Venice, a city appreciated and often visited by the founders of diptych, was obvious. Also famous for his large allegorical bronzes, the artist based in Paris is a lover of nature, the art of perfume and Venetian bronzes, which he collects with passion. “Venice is the city of all fantasies, a mirage, a ghost, a mermaid, a city of brutal and vivid beauty, decadent and delusional. It is a territory of crossroads, multiple artistic influences but also the reality of a dense and complex economic world, of dynamism and decline”.
For diptych, he imagined a bronze sculpture, La Laguna, immersed in a candle 4 wicks of 1.5 kg in blue tinted glass, whose wax of a translucent green blue, reminiscent of the menacing Venetian waters of the acqua alta recently become clear, reveals the female icon. By burning, the candle with the perfume worked by Cécile Matton evoking the freshness of a vegetable garden with accentuated marine notes, releases the sculpture.
To the initial idea of the Venice vegetable garden, the artist wanted to add “the smell of the sea, the note of iodine, a light, indefinable, fresh smell like the wind that floats above the water when you pass ‘Torcello’ in ‘vaporetto’ and smell the kitchen and gardens. Seeming gradually to emerge from the waters, La Laguna symbolizes for the artist ‘the passage of time, the fragility of this ecosystem, the mystery’. A candle ‘memento mori par excellence’ that leaves, once used, the vivid trace of its passage via a limited edition printed in 24 copies to keep for a long time, a small object with an independent ‘life’, which makes you dream and calls out”.
Diptique’s La Laguna is available in 24 numbered editions at their website. Come into the beautiful world of Diptyque.
For its 60th anniversary, French Maison Diptyque is celebrating what has shaped it since its creation: a love for fareway lands, art and fragrance, with the voyages immobiles – La Grand Tour Exhibition.
‘Voyages immobiles – Le Grand Tour’ is fast approaching. From 10 September, Diptyque’s first art exhibition will present the gaze of nine international and multidisciplinary artists upon five iconic destinations. A journey of the imagination in the heart of Paris, open to aesthetes, explorers, wanderers and all who are driven by curiosity about new horizons.
‘Voyages immobiles – Le Grand Tour’, from 10 September to 24 October 2021 at the exhibition space of La Poste du Louvre, 52, rue du Louvre, 75001 Paris. The journey begins here. Come into the beautiful world of Diptyque.
The very first shop, located at 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris, opens onto the street like a two-part Italian Renaissance or Flemish master’s painting. Three friends had found the ideal stage for their chic little bazaar of fascinating finds as well as the perfect name for it; Diptyque.
It’s tricky to spell, because the i and the y are cheeky letters. Mistakes were so common in the beginning that the Maison had to list it under both spellings in the phone book. Diptyque has such a refined ring to it, and in every language it is chic, eclectic, poetic, esthetic and graphic.
The secret to Diptyque’s singularity is the distinct chemistry between three unique individuals: Christiane Montadre-Gautrot, Yves Coueslant and Desmond Knox-Leet. When they met, it sparked a chain of creativity, that continues to resonate today.
They met through friends of friends. Christiane graduated from l’Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, Desmond was a painter. Together they designed fabric and wallpaper for ultra-chic British Maisons. Then, some other friends introduced them to Yves Coueslant, who had escaped an unlikely career in banking to follow his heart and work… in theatre. The three friends quickly became inseparable. In 1961, they opened an unusual boutique with a daring plan: listen to their intuition and only do what they love. Nothing dampened their friendship as their business grew, and diptyque spread the creations born of this incomparable friendship all around the world.
This year French Maison Diptyque is celebrating its 60th anniversary: an opportunity to immerse yourself in everything that has inspired the Maison since its creation. A cavalcade of youthful creativity, 2021 will be dedicated to graphic design, encounters, nature, travel and curiosity. A year that will be filled with collections and events.
To mark its anniversary, the niche perfume house presents the new perfume Eau Rihla in the spring of 2021. The fragrance is inspired by the spirit of the Middle East, named after the Arabic Rihla wood which means ‘journey’. It is dedicated to the 14th century globe-trotting merchant, Ibn Battuta – a prominent Arab Moroccan-Berber traveler and explorer – and his travels throughout the known world.
Perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin drew his inspiration directly from the Maison’s co-founder Desmond Knox-Leet’s leather-bound sketching notebook and Ibn Battuta’s leather luggage. Weathered and worn, the leather keynote is “an invitation to travel”, says Pellegrin. An exclusive to the perfume house molecule, extracted from rare cedar wood, forms the heart of the fragrance, layered with musk and precious iris.
Top notes: raspberry, pink pepper, saffron
Heart: leather, iris, cedar
Base: vanilla, musk
A bazaar of spices – much like the ones encountered by Ibn Battuta in far-flung lands – linger, is depicted with notes of saffron, pink peppercorn, and vanilla. Diptyque’sparticular signature, an unusual combination of notes, or ‘olfactory accidents’, emerges as an energetic, sweet raspberry opening note.
The flacon’s artwork is unmistakably Middle Eastern, an etched illustration signed by Safia Ouares showing an iconic Bedouin landscape of desert dunes, date palms, a falcon and camels. Another special touch – the oval label is a glided gold, a different route from Diptyque’s usual black and white branding.
Available as an exclusive for the region, Eau Rihla will be available only in the Middle East from May 1st, until June 2021, when it will release to the international market.
Diptyque Eau Rihla is available as a 75 ml Eau de Parfum at Diptyque Boutiques and selected stores worldwide. This year we can expect more special editions on the occasion of the anniversary. Come into the beautiful world of Diptyque.
Yakymour Men 