01 A MYTH OF PERFUMERY BY AN AVANT-GARDE ARTIST
Unexpected and futuristic, it is the kind of match that only the House of Guerlain could orchestrate. A myth of modern perfumery, Mitsouko, reinvented by a young French avant-garde artist. This exceptional edition limited to 8 pieces embodies the encounter between contemporary art and age-old savoir-faire that resonates with Guerlain’s creative approach.
02 JEANNE BRIAND A BREATH OF INSPIRATION
It is to the French visual artist Jeanne Briand that Guerlain has given carte blanche. A 2015 graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, she was trained by master glassmakers who taught her the craft of mouth-blowing glass. In her studio-laboratory, the artist interweaves materials, molecules, and affects. Her vision of forms springs from the substances that compose them. Her hybrid works made of glass, clay, leather stands or steel tubes stand at the crossroads of industrial technologies and age-old crafts.
03 AN OUTSTANDING EXCEPTIONAL BOTTLE
Jeanne Briand has created an exceptional mouth-blown glass bottle for the House. It is the outcome of a very physical labor, carried out by the artist in a glass-blowing studio in France. The artist and the craftsmen of the studio must skillfully coordinate their movements, in a practiced ballet, when the molten glass is taken up, then mouth-blown by Jeanne Briand out of a blowpipe. Between sleek contours and opulent proportions, the bottle—at first a fluid texture—became crystallised in movement.
04 WHEN NIGHT FALLS
Black during the day, like the mystery of a forbidden love, the piece shows its true colors at night, when it turns a mesmerizing, phosphorescent blue. The distribution of the luminescent pigments in the glass makes each piece unique.
A reflection on the tangible and the intangible, this fabulous bottle gives shape to the art of the invisible that is perfumery…
05 MITSOUKO, A MYTH, A MYSTERY
The choice of Mitsouko as a source of inspiration for this exceptional edition is especially symbolic. The fragrance is particularly dear to Jeanne Briand, whose mother wore it when the artist was a child. And for all perfumers, it is an absolute icon. Born in 1919, it is the first fruity chypre of this abstract fragrance family. The fragrance’s tension between night and light remains, to this day, a paradox. Luminous, as bergamot – dear to Guerlain – soars in the opening. Tender, because of the peach note that Jacques Guerlain was the first to play in a mysterious, woody chypre accord, adorning a heart of jasmine and rose de mai… But also, vibrant, because of its biting spices. And above all, nocturnal – like a forbidden love – because of the woody drydown of oak moss and vetiver tinged with salt.
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06 MITSOUKO ABSOLU 17, THE DAZZLING REINVENTION OF AN ICON
The futuristic bottle created by Jeanne Briand could only hold a bold olfactory creation, driven by the incredible talent and consummate expertise of Thierry Wasser, Guerlain Master Perfumer and Delphine Jelk, Guerlain Perfumer and Creative Director. An Absolu de Parfum exclusively composed for this limited edition standing as a luminous reinterpretation of the original: Mitsouko Absolu 17 (the artist's lucky number). Guerlain's Perfumers offer up a radical, absolutely contemporary vision of history’s first fruity chypre. An overdose of bergamot is made more sparkling still by glittering pink pepper. The peach note that characterizes the original turns to apricot. Rounded, carnal, it is wrapped in rose absolute and an iris accord. To accent the composition’s tension, the perfumers have undergirded this heart of fruit and flowers with a very “vintage” base of oak moss, vetiver, and leather.
07 THE INSTALLATION, A REMINISCENCE OF JAPANESE GARDENS
As a tribute to the Japonism that inspired Mitsouko, the installation that showcases Jeanne Briand’s bottle draws its inspiration from a Japanese garden. The piece nestles against a black branch that could be modeled after one of Hokusai’s woodblock prints, with black, gold, and silver leaves echoing the olfactory tones of Mitsouko. Two flat glass pebbles and another fluid-shaped pebble reflect the bottle’s movement. The fragrance that inspired Mitsouko Absolu 17, Mitsouko is presented in its Eau de Parfum version, in the iconic inverted heart bottle made in Baccarat crystal. All the elements of this exceptional creation are presented in a bespoke jeweler’s box covered in black leather.
