May 12
The Index
1 result(s)
- Diptyque - Le Marais - Paris
You don't forget an interview with the founders of Diptyque. They're a sound for sore ears, Yves Coueslant and Christiane Montadre. You should hear how they bicker, how they support each other, correct each other; they share an amused glance, or connive, or disapprove. Today they form a sparkling diptych - but hence the name does not stem.
In the beginning, they were three. Yves and Christiane praise in unison the reliable taste and refined nose of their delightful English partner, Desmond Knox-Leet. There's an interval of silence, profound. Yves recalls manly hikes along arid, sloping Greek paths - the origin of some extraordinary fragrances such as Phylosykos, an eau of figs. Memories and far-away lands: a good summary of what inspires Diptyque.
The brand's name is a matter-of-fact description of the original shop's window configuration, with its two angles looking out on a corner of the boulevard Saint-Germain as soon as 1961. Yves remembers the day when a bourgeois lady walked inside, appalled by the coarse bohemian spirit of the Maubert neighborhood, now a chic dependency of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Places have always accounted for much of what Diptyque is. Places discovered in childhood, such as the Vietnamese house where Yves Coueslant spent the holiday in his youth, the inspiration for the Tan Dao fragrance. And places discovered in maturity.
And places where one gathers memories, treasures and creations, to offer them to friends and visitors. Thus the new store at 8, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, a prestigious address, yet devoid of snobbishness. The Diptyque logo is everywhere, a reminder of how precociously the brand developed a cohesive identity. Candles, perfumes and eaux de toilette crowd inside the intimate space. Black, white and gray prevail, illuminated by the hazy halo from an elegantly austere, made-to-measure chandelier. Interior designer Olivier Lempereur leaves his stamp near the Place des Vosges.
And Diptyque nourish their legend.
Diptyque
8, rue des Francs-Bourgeois Paris 3°
01 48 04 95 57
www.diptyqueparis.com
