Diptyque

Founded 1961 · Paris, France · Desmond Knox-Leet, Christiane Gautrot and Yves Coueslant

Diptyque opened in 1961 on the Boulevard Saint-Germain as a shop for fabrics and objects, and came to perfume by way of the candle. Its oval with the crowded lettering is one of the most recognisable marks in the trade, and L'Ombre dans l'Eau and Philosykos are undisputed classics.

History

Three friends — an English painter, an interior designer and a stage director — opened a shop at 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain in 1961 selling fabrics they printed themselves. Scented candles arrived in 1963 almost by accident, and the first perfume, L'Eau, in 1968, drawn from a sixteenth-century pomander. The house grew slowly over four decades on a small and very recognisable catalogue: plant figures, fig, rose, jasmine. Outside capital came in in 2005 and in 2022 it passed to the Manzanita Capital group. For many people it is still more a candle house than a perfume house.

Iconic models

Philosykos (1996)
The whole fig tree: leaf, milk and wood. Among the most imitated green perfumes.
L'Ombre dans l'Eau (1983)
Blackcurrant leaf and rose; cold and green in a way almost nobody has repeated.
Do Son (2005)
Tuberose; the house's white floral.

Worth knowing

The house came to perfume by way of the candle, not the other way round. Its first product was hand-printed fabric, and the oval on the label imitates a wax seal.