LE PARFUM DE LA MAISON

LE PARFUM DE LA MAISON

Genie of the house, are you there? I hear you breathing, sense your presence, catch your silhouette. Your fragrances take me away. Endless fields of wild herbs, footsteps that crackle in the snow, a window open to the horizon. A myriad of colours reaches into my interior. Alchemy of forms and fragrances.

Home fragrances bring a delicate and refined ambiance into the heart of our most private spaces. PIERRE-ALEXIS DUMAS A NEW ART OF EXPERIENCING PERFUME Look, touch, smell. Slip away. Like an illusion emerging from a sheet of folded paper or a ceramic object, Le Parfum de la maison takes the form of a waking dream. Materials and scents, matched with various forms and colours, have brought life to a new collection of perfumed objects. Sensory whispers drift through our private spaces. Two artists have, with their four hands, composed these conversations between the air and matter, uniting in their artistry the craft of the perfumer with the world of the home. The fantasy world of the perfumer has joined that of the designer: Céline Ellena's nose and Guillaume Bardet's eye. For a shared vision of two craftspeople, each dedicated in their individual ways to perfecting the innermost soul of our interiors.

A SCENT TO BE HEARD To give a specific tone to this creative world, JEAN-CLAUDE ELLENA, Hermès perfumer since 2004, selected CÉLINE ELLENA, his daughter, to whom he passed on his passion for writing and scents. Fascinated from a young age by the language of raw materials, Céline Ellena has been writing formulas as stories for the past twenty years. Perfume for her is a wonderful imaginary world of which she never tires exploring its secrets. When I think of the home, I think of architecture, spaces, noise, inside and out. I imagine those who live within these walls, their friends passing through The home is a place filled with emotion. It shelters the thoughts of its inhabitants, their memories, their plans as well as their secrets. Céline Ellena has conceived of five perfumes for Hermès as five reveries that speak to the imagination of each: Des pas sur la neige, Temps de pluie, Fenêtre ouverte, Champ libre, À cheval! An interior perfume, she explains, is a scent that we listen to, an olfactory whisper that pushes us to escape. With it, spirit takes to the air. When Céline Ellena created these perfumes, she developed a writing and technique that keep the traditional origins of the perfumer's craft alive. For Hermès, it was necessary to find materials capable of both bringing a beautiful object to life and liberating its perfume without betraying it. Ceramic, wax and paper were vital. Thus, Céline Ellena knits olfactory materials with support materials. Her five perfume-reveries take shape with objects, their materials and forms designed by the hand of a craftsperson.

THE PERFECTION OF FLAWS At Hermès, objects have a soul and reason for existing. Each stands the test of time and conveys with it a part of its history. In the same way, they embody the sensibility of the craftsman and designer who made them. For this project, Hermès selected GUILLAUME BARDET. This designer is passionate about authentic materials and is unafraid to colour his creations with a degree of fragility. For his first foray into the world of perfume, the designer explored the unusual alchemy that exists between the reality of an object and the evanescence of harmony. He imagined these objects as couriers of scents. The fragrances, these fleeting dreams, are captured here before they can escape into other spaces. I explored several avenues, he explained, before coming back to the essence of things: forms, in paper and ceramic, doted with a certain fragility and a sure presence. The creator highlighted the strength of details giving attention to the perfection of flaws, the delicacy of a fold, the texture of ceramic evoking that of paper. It is this that gives each model a measure of uniqueness.

THE COLLECTION The collection is comprised of five perfumes, five reveries, for which there are five stories and five colours: (taupe), (celadon), (lagoon), (sulphur), (pumpkin). Three families of perfumed objects carry these reveries: a paper origami horse and a ceramic pebble and candle bowl. The origami horse is a discrete travelling companion. Like a pocket sculpture, the pebble is perfect for the table. The candle bowl, available in three sizes, plays with the contradiction of mat and enamel.

LE PARFUM DE LA MAISON A collection of five perfume-reveries conveyed in three families of objects. PERFUMED CANDLE BOWL large model 1 100 g Taupe Celadon Lagoon Sulphur Pumpkin PERFUMED CANDLE BOWL medium model 620 g Taupe Celadon Lagoon Sulphur Pumpkin PERFUMED CANDLE BOWL small model 220 g Taupe Celadon Lagoon Sulphur Pumpkin PERFUMED PEBBLE PERFUMED ORIGAMI HORSE Sold in 4

The collection will be available in Hermès boutiques as well as in selected sales outlets from December 2014 We invite you to download this press dossier as well as images of our collection LE PARFUM DE LA MAISON on our website www.hermesparfumeur.com Login: maison Password: collection Biographical details CÉLINE ELLENA Born in 1968 in Grasse, Céline Ellena studied psychology and linguistics before entering Isipca (Institut supérieur international du parfum, de la cosmétique et de l aromatique alimentaire). She graduated in 1994 and then worked for various producers of raw materials and perfume houses. She currently lives in the Alpes-Maritimes, near Cabris, where she works with her father, Jean-Claude Ellena, as a creator of Parfum de la maison for Hermès. GUILLAUME BARDET Born in 1971 in Rouen, Guillaume Bardet studied at the Ensad (École nationale supérieure des Arts décoratifs). He worked with the industrial designer Jean-Marie Massaud before becoming a fellow at the Villa Medici in Rome in 2002. His latest project, entitled L'Usage des jours which is comprised of 365 ceramic objects created in the course of one year, one drawing per day was the subject of a book and several exhibitions. International press director INA DELCOURT Director of communications, Hermès Parfums CORINNE PEREZ Press relations, Hermès Parfums ANNE DE LALUN 12-16, rue Auger, 93500 Pantin Tel. +33 (0)1 49 42 35 75 anne.delalun@hermes.com Graphic design & illustrations Cléo Charuet / Cleoburo. An Éditions Hermès publication. Printed in Italy by Nava. Hermès, Paris 2014.