French fragrance house Diptyque is marking its 60th anniversary with the launch of the new Orphéon Eau de Parfum.
The fragrance was rolled out across domestic and travel retail locations from 15 March.
Diptyque was founded by Desmond Knox-Leet, Yves Coueslant and Christiane Gautrot in 1961 and has since grown to become one of the world’s most respected fragrance houses.
The new edp pays homage to Diptyque’s origins in Paris’ Latin Quarter, which was the centre of the city’s artistic and intellectual night life in the 1960s. The Orphéon was a typically Parisian café, located across from the first Diptyque boutique at the rue de Pontoise, and was the precursor of the golden age of cafés, according to the brand.
The Orphéon edp is a fresh, floral, sensual and woody fragrance. It was created by perfumer Olivier Pescheux, a close collaborator of Diptyque, who took inspiration from the café’s distinctive elements.
It opens with top notes of cedar, vetiver and patchouli inspired by the café’s coffee tables and armchairs, sharp juniper berries and green tangerines, inspired by its cocktails, and the smells of mastic and galbanum honeycomb and rockrose from the smell of tobacco.
The gender-neutral fragrance also offers floral notes of ylang-ylang, Turkish damascene and Arabian jasmine inspired by the scent of women, and musk and amber notes from men. It closes with base notes of Venezuelan tonka bean and Laotian benzoin which pays homage to the subdued red décor of the café.
To celebrate the launch, Diptyque has partnered with Italian artist Giampaolo Pagni to create a special illustration on the flaçon. Pagni is a graduate from the Orléans Visual Arts Institute and creates stamps to be used as drawing tools. His body of work focuses on memory and uses repetition and reappropriation to create self-portraits and imprints.
Pagni has been featured in several international arts publications including Le Monde, Liberation, So Foot, L’Obs, le Un, Le Tigre, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times and La Stampa.
“Perfume, and scents and smells in general, are a source of inspiration for me,” Pagni said. “As for Orphéon, what most seduced me, besides its fragrance, was the goal of creating the olfactory sensations of a place and going back in time to 1960s Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
“Transcribing the mix of smells of wood, cigarette smoke, perfume and alcoholic beverages – the intrinsic components of an intimate, festive and musical place that was also a space where ideas were shared and exchanged. A place that is sorely missed these days. All we have to do is smell Orphéon, close our eyes… and there we are.”
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