Article: Flamed perfumes
by Emilie Veillon | collages: Nausicaa Board
On’everyone has probably already come across the vanilla or chocolate version that closes the long maze of corridors of an Ikea store. Or smelled at a friend’s a rarity found in one of the chic bazaars of Paris, London or New York. Everyone is looking for their scented candle. And this trail now extends to all spheres of the market: from Zara’s home collections to the luxurious cases of major brands such as
such as Dior or Louis Vuitton, through to the more natural versions like those of the Jardin des Monts or the cutting-edge creations of Cire Trudon and Baobab Collection.
Sometimes a decorative object or a fragrant masterpiece depending on the quality of the manufacturing processes and the ingredients that compose them, these candles follow the same paths as the olfactory families of skin perfumes. Woody for the living room. Floral for the kitchen. Musky for the bedroom. Or the other way around. A great mix of scents that varies with the seasons and moods. Because these ambient flames are said to have relaxing virtues. The power to tint our interiors with the atmosphere of a chalet where a fireplace crackles, a field of centifolia roses under the May sun or a forest of fir trees wet with rain.
INTERIOR COMFORT
The greatest perfumers have made it their playground. Like Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud, who last year imagined four scented candles, L'Air du Jardin, Ile Blanche, Feuilles d'Or and Dehors Il Neige, for Louis Vuitton. In ceramics, signed by designer Marc Newson, which can be transported from one room to another thanks to their leather handle hand-stitched in the house's workshops. "Everyone wants a piece of luxury at home. A bag is for going out. An item of clothing for getting ready. The designer candle is a guarantee of the brand's good taste that allows refinement to enter into one's daily well-being," analyzes Alberto Morillas, master perfumer who works for the biggest brands through Firmenich.
According to him, the success of scented candles goes hand in hand with the rise of the diffusion of scents at home, in stores, corporate headquarters and hotels over the last ten years. Room fragrances play a role in the feeling of interior comfort, and even on the desire to consume or buy. "As long as it remains subtle and limited to certain spaces," he tempers. "There is nothing more intrusive than an overly perfumed jewelry store or a hotel that diffuses its olfactory imprint in all its rooms and its restaurant in addition to the lobby. The advantage with a candle lies in the control of the emanation. You can extinguish it after two or three hours, the time it takes for it to perfume the room."
According to the memory of this creator who created more than 500 fragrances, the first scented candles that made an impression – inspired by the potpourris dear to the British – were developed in France in the 1960s. “Rigaud candles were in all the chic living rooms of the time, with their two silver cups that were placed one on top of the other.
The object was as important as its smell.Viviane and Mario Rigaud, in their Parisian boutique with its boudoir atmosphere, had developed a soft wax formula whose main characteristic is to reveal the richness of the natural extracts that make up Rigaud perfumes," he continues.
Their first creation, the Cyprès candle, dark green in color, in a mouth-blown glass, was quickly exported to the White House at the time of Jacqueline Kennedy. In the 1970s, other candles followed – Cythère, Tournesol, Gardénia, making the front page of decoration magazines. Now distributed in more than 30 countries worldwide, the Rigaud collection is
remained a reference for connoisseurs and exceptional residences. This is evidenced by a list of prestigious clients, such as Prince Albert of Monaco, Prince Charles of England, the Vatican and even the Quai d'Orsay.
CANDLES OF EMOTION
The other French pioneer of the genre is Diptyque. This chic bazaar in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, where three scented candles attracted attention in 1963 – Aubépine, Cannelle and Thé. Since the 2000s, nearly half a million pieces have been made per year according to thematic scents: floral, woody, spicy, fruity, herbaceous. “Diptyque has always created emotional candles that seduce the epicurean elite. The fig tree really smells like the tree. It is not simple, because behind the flame lies a whole technique to ensure optimal combustion and diffusion,” continues Alberto Morillas, who founded the artisanal scented candle brand Mizensir with his wife in 1999, today run by their daughter Véronique.
Doped up on subtle fragrances even in his house in Vandœuvres, the nose had gotten into the habit of creating his own scented waxes. During a dinner at the Morillas, Patrick Firmenich – then head of the Geneva company specializing in the creation of aromas and perfumes – and his wife marveled at the olfactory atmosphere that reigned there. “Very visionary, he suggested that I create a candle as a corporate gift for the following Christmas. It was such a success that we started selling them. That’s how Mizensir was born, a play on words for wax, in a nod to the title of British nobility,” relates the founder who has developed around a hundred references, handmade in a Geneva workshop. Among them, a candle has just been designed by the perfumer for Le Temps. Profits from sales will be donated to the NGO Race for Water, which fights for the preservation of the oceans.
THE MAGAZINE OF TIME 12/10/19
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