PARIS — Parfums Caron is evolving, with a new geographic market, store identity, perfumer and fragrance.
“Caron is an extraordinarily fun brand to continue working on, because to stay true to it is to stay true to its values,” said Olivia de Rothschild, the French house’s artistic director.
“And its values are so timeless,” she continued. “They’re so applicable to the individual as a whole that it gives a very wide range of possibilities to make the house go in one direction or another.”
One geographic direction is to officially launch in China this week.
“It’s a great market, because they have the cultural depth, knowledge and capacity to absorb a brand that has 120 years of history,” de Rothschild said.
Meanwhile, Caron continues to perform extremely well in the Middle East, where it will open a shop by yearend, she added.
Caron’s store architecture is being reworked by Casper Mueller Kneer, who’s led projects for the likes of Saint Laurent and Céline for Phoebe Philo.
“I am immensely honored that they work with us,” de Rothschild said. “And I could not be happier with the results.”
She considers them as a reinterpretation and modernization of Caron’s origins.
“We’re opening a store in Paris and in Monaco for the coming year,” de Rothschild said. The first, in the French capital, will be on Rue Saint-Honoré and debut in January.
“Our point is to revamp our retail DNA,” de Rothschild said.
Louise Turner and Olivia de Rothschild
Courtesy of Parfums Caron
Louise Turner, who was named Caron’s new house perfumer at the end of February, worked with her on the fragrance Atmah, which launched Wednesday.
“Caron is an iconic and historic brand,” Turner said. “We are there to carry that history into the future.”
She described Caron as audacious, artistic, elegant and qualitative. For her, working with the house “is like a dream come true.”
Early on, de Rothschild shared with Turner a perfume industry pain point.
“It’s that vanilla is often transcribed in similar ways — whether it be quite sweet, very food-like or a bit dark and sensual,” de Rothschild said. “Louise and I do not believe that it was the only way to express this ingredient.”
Five years ago, de Rothschild visited Kyrgyzstan for the first time. “It was the most beautiful surprise of my life,” she said. “Because it was so absolutely extraordinary and breathtaking that it left me absolutely speechless.”
There are enormous steps and an extreme vastness. “There’s no austerity; it’s not unwelcoming,” de Rothschild continued. “What I appreciated so much is that it gives you space without leaving you alone.”
It’s not a land of escapism, either, as it’s so tangible, she said. De Rothschild’s favorite place there is the Suusamyr Valley. She was told that since it’s swampy, it is where clouds form in Central Asia.
“It’s such an extraordinarily tangible, graspable — but at the same time extraordinarily imagined place,” de Rothschild said. “What I really like is that even if your head is in the clouds, your feet are so anchored on the ground.”
Her mother has always said she should dream, but always remain grounded.
“That was the first time I was physically living it,” said de Rothschild. “So it was very special for me.”
Such an essence was meant to be channeled into the perfume
“Louise is just extraordinary, because she is capable of understanding my absolute abstraction and translate it into what I think has become one of the most beautiful perfumes,” de Rothschild said.
“It was a rapid project where we took our time,” Turner said. “Olivia had a lot of ideas. She manages to express in a very clear manner her emotions through words, through images. I love working like that.”
Together, they conjured up a vanilla that isn’t sweet, gustatory or dark and leathery. “We came up with the idea of making a mineral vanilla,” Turner said, explaining they thought of the texture and sensation of stones. That made them decide to use Givaudan’s Ambrofix ambery note.
It reminded de Rothschild of chunky, crystalized slates of fossilized woods. They also used Vetiver des Sables, with its terroir effect, along with Akigalawood. The duo wanted the vanilla to be luminous, with an airy quality.
Atmah is a Sanskrit word meaning free spirit, like a soul liberated from physical constraints. That was also the name of de Rothschild’s great-great grandfather’s first boat.
The eau de parfum comes in three sizes — 30 ml. for 150 euros, 50 ml. for 205 euros and 100 ml. for 285 euros.
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