Pierre Dinand is a legend. A word that’s oft-used (we’re guilty as charged) – but really and truly applies to the man who brought us the most extraordinary roll-call of perfume bottles.
They include Robert Piguet Fracas, Givenchy Amarige, both Opium and Rive Gauche (with its revolutionary blue and silver tin) for YSL. Clarins Eau Dynamisante and Calvin Klein Obsession. Estée Lauder Pleasures, and Paco Rabanne XS.
It’s a career that began, astonishingly, with the bottle for Madame Rochas back in 1960 and continues today with the bottles for Vilhelm Parfumerie and for Map of the Heart*, showcasing their beautiful fragrances in a bottle based on the most phenomenal piece of ‘design’ of all time: the human heart.
Map of the Heart founder Jeffrey Darling is a filmmaker – and has created the beautiful short movie about Pierre Dinand‘s life and work that you can view below, featuring a rare interview with this tastemaker. (It’s also showcased on mapoftheheart.com, among other really interesting features on their website.)
It begins with an anecdote about Elsa Schiaparelli, who effected his move from the world of advertising to perfume bottle design (though he a bite from her dog in the process). You’ll discover, too, that the tasseled Opium bottle was originally designed for Kenzo – who passed on it. That originally, Calvin Klein wanted to call Obsession ‘Climax’, but it was considered too overt. And so it goes on…
The film marks a four-day retrospective of just some of Dinand‘s work, at the Liberty department store in London. It opened yesterday – for a frustratingly short few days, closing on Sunday 2nd April 2017.
If you can’t get there – and even if you can – enjoy this encounter with the living legend (sorry!) that is Pierre Dinand…
Find the pop-up exhibition in the ‘Disappearing Space’ on the 4th Floor at Liberty London, Regent Street, London W1B 5AH (though actually on Great Marlborough Street).
