Hand over heart, we mean it when we say that the appreciation of a Diptyque candle is a shared experience. From its iconic minimalist facade—the emblematic oval label peppered with the dancing letters of the Diptyque alphabet, to its pristine white wax that embodies the scent of a story—all that’s left is the picking of your favourite perfumed candle from a herbarium of 50 enjoyed scents.
Diptyque’s founders Desmond Knox-Leet, Christiane Montadre-Gautrot and Yves Coueslant were creative and free spirits. United by their sense of beauty and love for nature, the trio started out by retailing rare objects from around the world in their very first boutique at 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain before moving on to create an objet d’art: the scented candle in three scents Hawthorn, Cinnamon, and Tea.
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Initially used solely for practical purposes, Knox-Leet, Montadre-Gautrot and Coueslant injected a sense (and scent!) of wanderlust into their creation—to invoke a feeling of travel without leaving your living room, to add a stroke of decor in spaces, and to introduce the igniting of a Diptyque candle flame as an artistic but pièce de résistance for perfumed, sensorial interiors.
In fact, even the dancing letters on Diptyque’s emblematic oval label are a distant echo to Knox-Leet’s past life as a code-breaker during the Second World War. Each label is a calligram to decipher and thrill, usually taking the shape of a cypress tree or a gardenia.
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Some 60 years on, the Diptyque candle is often heralded as a work of art. Its artistry is holistic and transcends beyond what the eye can see. The gesture may be as simple as lighting a wick that transmutes light into perfume, but the Maison’s perfuming expertise unravels itself with every flick of the candle’s wick.
From the get-go, Diptyque’s perfumery composition process remains faithful to its founders’ methodology of incessant mixing and matching of spices, leaves and flowers that create harmonious accords—the kinds that breed a sense of familiarity and fuzziness.
Those who know, know. For those that don’t, each Diptyque candle is a perfumed blend of high-quality waxes with varying textures and densities that take several months to perfect. Even the wick of each scented candle is different—carefully engineered with the right material and diameter to ensure that the wax burns optimally and pools uniformly.
The candle is then manufactured lovingly in France, in one of the two factories in Paris or Provence. Once started, the process takes two days, involving around 10 separate stages, of which some are exclusively carried out by hand.
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The end results are full-bodied scents that when lit, waft gently through living spaces, and seep in the nooks and crannies. Candle after candle, the Diptyque repertoire is robust enough to offer limitless options for exploration into places undiscovered and re-discovered, and users are invited to customise their own olfactory palette, creating a scent landscape that’s uniquely theirs.
And let’s not forget what happens when the flame goes out: scooping out the wax to repurpose the glass into something new like a glamorous vessel that houses makeup brushes, Q-tips, or even a succulent.
In 2023, the celebrated Diptyque candle will blow out sixty candles of its own, marking six decades of olfactory exploration, expertise and craftsmanship for the Maison’s cult creation. And to mark their diamond jubilee is a gem of a gift: 50 of its perfumed classic candle creations in a special 60th-anniversary coffret set.
The exclusive collection, all housed in a Diptyque-branded trunk, is produced in only 12 copies, with Singapore being one of the destinations where you can get your hands on only one of these sublime sets.
Discover the Diptyque classic candle collection at Diptyque Raffles City, Diptyque TANGS, escentials Paragon, escentials.com and the latest Diptyque boutique at Takashimaya S.C #B1-32.