Creation Starts With An Encounter

diptyque is a collective: many elements, one entity. In the beginning were the founders: Desmond Knox-Leet, Yves Coueslant and Christiane Gautrot, who invented it all. New skills have been added, new contributors brought on board. This is how, right from its inception, diptyque has used its plural structure to become one of a kind.

NEW WAVE

It started, exactly sixty years ago in the so-called Latin Quarter of Paris, the heart of the city’s artistic and intellectual night life. No longer truly post-war but not yet May ’68 – a period of effervescence, yet peace. Everyone was deep in discussion with everyone else. The talk was of politics and liberty, but also of culture and innovation, and these conversations were of the utmost importance. Philosophers were superstars (Sartre, Aron, Althusser), French cinema was reinventing itself with Godard, Rohmer and Rivette, jazz was all around and prêt-à-porter was getting started

It was during these years that the trio came together. Lightning struck – on many different levels. The friendship spontaneously developed into a “rule of three” when it came to creating together, six-handedly, and to sharing enthusiasms, fantasies and desires. The itch to create was in their fingers and in their hearts. (“The desire to realise something true” is how Christiane would put it later). A beginning would spring from an idea, a memory would lead to a hunch, one detail would be enhanced by the next or shed fresh light on its predecessor, and so their talents grew greater when combined. Fraternity, spontaneity, modernity. Work in progress.

This was also the golden age of cafés: the boulevard Saint-Germain and the adjacent thoroughfares contained plenty of meeting places, which Boris Vian referred to as “archipelagos.” Some only opened once others were closed: the Rose rouge, the Caveau de la Huchette, the Tabou, the Montana (yes, already!), the Méphisto, where one might come across, say, Albert Camus and Roger Vadim – half club, half salon, and quite possibly based on the model set by a precursor café situated at the intersection of a boutique with two window displays with the rue de Pontoise: the Orphéon. 

AT NIGHT

Less well-known than its competitors, this was a club that came to life – albeit mezza voce - from eight in the evening to eight in the morning. Above all, its two-levels made it the only club to provide two ambiances: the beautiful vaulted cavern, smoky and festive, offered music, dancing and shows (it was here that the singer Christophe, who would go on to achieve iconic status in the French music scene, had his first booking); meanwhile, the ground floor, offered a cocktail bar and seating with crimson velvet upholstery. It was an ideal spot to meet people and engage in conversations: the lighting was subdued, the clientele a mixture of regulars and others from further afield. You might come across American students on their “grand tour”, painters, up-and-coming actors, writers with varying degrees of experience, young women who loved fashion and literature, boys who sometimes preferred boys and co opted guests. Christiane, Desmond and Yves, when not exploring the globe themselves, would drop in at the Orphéon several times a week. They had a great excuse to do so: the Orphéon was directly adjacent to them! It was their salon, their evening getaway, their office outside the confines of their tiny kingdom. This was where they would invite friends to meet them or tell each other about their finds, try out their works or make sketches. This was where the ideas flowed freely.

Clearly, as with all things, this exquisite locale would not last forever. The archives have vanished, and with them the memories. What we do know is that for diptyque and its trio, its closure was at once a shock and a further step on the path to success – because by purchasing the property, diptyque would extend its own surface area by one third. And the double window display from which the company took its name was transformed, from a “diptyque” into a “triptyque”. Pure happenstance – always so welcome!

THE ORPHÉON OF THE IMAGINATION

To mark its sixtieth anniversary, the Maison has chosen to pay homage to this legendary background. The atmosphere has been recreated – although since there is no one left who can personally recall these places, the key requirement was to reinvent them. Orphéon is an olfactory dream.

Olivier Pescheux, a trusted friend, composed his formula like a tableau.

The space itself, dominated by wood: coffee tables, armchairs, shelves behind the counter displaying, one imagines, a line-up of bottles and ice containers, the dance floor in the basement (cedar, vetiver, patchouli).

The drinks, with a sharp note of juniper berries evoking the British spirit served as a long drink with a slice of lemon, a drop of green tangerine (as in a gin fizz?), and a few ice cubes.

The tobacco, which on certain evenings must have formed a sort of fog, at which no one took offence (it was a different time!) is represented by the acrid accents of mastic and galbanum, along with the much smoother accents of honeycomb and rockrose, like fine cigars or Amsterdamer pipe tobacco.

The scent of women, floral or powdery but always complex and potent, ylang-ylang from the Comoros archipelago, magnolia from China, Turkish damascena. Plus the indispensable disruptive surprise: a magnificent, vibrant absolute of Arabian jasmine, like a flash of lipstick in the half- light... The men, somewhat dandified and often in search of fresh conquest, smelling of musk or amber (but also of cigarettes).

And finally, the lighting that accompanies the décor: a warm, subdued red on an accord of Venezuelan tonka bean and vanilla-flavoured Laotian benzoin. Ambroxan almost to excess: an addiction without risk, albeit not without a certain giddiness...

In four words: fresh, floral, sensual, woody. And, of course, gender-free.

Gianpaolo Pagni, an Italian plastic artist and Parisian by adoption, has also chosen to exercise his design skills in a manner akin to storytelling:

On the front, in the middle of the oval, an interpretation of the sketches for the fabrics that were the original vocation of this gathering of artists. Offbeat forms, as if created by some optical effect and captured in the rays of light that are still reflected by the sole remnant of the Orphéon: a pillar with stroboscopic facets that now stands in a prominent position in the boutique at 34 boulevard Saint Germain. A spirit of celebration.

On the reverse, an historic motif reinterpreted: three different profiles, juxtaposed in three variations of grey – inviting us to imagine that they represent Desmond, Christiane and Yves and their prolific partnership, the fruits of which are now spread out all around the world.

So Orphéon, like all things diptyque, can be seen as a three-step waltz (Maison, perfumer, illustrator). A pattern that has endured for sixty years.

In the Philippines, diptyque is available through boutiques owned and operated by Stores Specialists Inc. located at Central Square in Bonifacio High Street Central and at Power Plant Mall. Follow @ssilifeph on Facebook and Instagram for more information.

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