There is just a handful of glassmakers left in France, working by hand – but Waltersperger, in the ‘Glass Valley’ of Normandy, is among the most notable.
And it’s to this historic factory that Diptyque turned for an exquisite, light-filled bottle that would perfectly capture 2019’s Essences Insensées – a true ode to summer, created by Diptyque’s long-term perfumer ‘accomplice’, Fabrice Pellegrin.
The hand-crafted vessel is a design from Waltersperger’s archives, embellished with radiating lines to evoke the midday sun – and so perfect for this light-filled fragrance…
Perfect, finished bottles ready for shipping to Diptyque for fillingThe fragrance itself, meanwhile, has an equally fascinating back-story. Essences Insensées (which sit within the La Collection 34 series) tap into the old perfume-making tradition of mille fleurs (or ‘thousand flowers’), which essentially distils the ‘leftovers’ from a given year’s harvest.
Diptyque revived this Grasse perfumery tradition in 2014, with a scent based around mimosa, followed by jasmine in 2015; in 2017 it was the region’s classic rose de Mai which had a starring role in the scent series. For 2018, however, no Essences Insensée was released – but in 2019, the bounteous Tahitian tiaré crop (see below) has afforded Fabrice Pellegrin the opportunity to create something very special and very fleeting. To complement the flower’s natural hints of fruit and sugar, he underpinned the fragrance with vanilla absolute, adding flourishes of pink peppercorn for a spicy freshness in the opening.
But of one thing we’re sure: when you’ve spritzed your very last last of this fragrance – a never-to-be-repeated, harvest-based limited edition, determined by the vagaries of soil, sky, sun and rain – you’ll want to hang onto the flacon itself. A little piece of history, for a true perfume-lover’s collection.
£170 for 100ml eau de parfum
By Jo Fairley
