Design dreams: Chez Pierre

Pierre Dinand’s perfume bottles have graced your dressing table top more then you know.

Since the fifties, this maestro has given shape to more than 500 fragrance bottles for  brands like Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, Fendi, Valentino, Givenchy, Armani, Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) et al.

Born an engineer’s son, Dinand began his art studies in Paris in the early 1950s.

Drafted to fight in the paddy fields of Indochina, Dinand's passion for art  however prevailed.

“I  convinced a senior officer to let me continue my studies”; he thus ended up at the Royal Art School of Cambodia in the Silver pagoda of Phnom Penh.

Dinand fell into perfume bottle design truly by a twist of fate, but his travels and a rich background in history, sculpture and painting helped. ‘Madame Rochas’, the first perfume to bear the name of a living personality (actress Helene Rochas), was his design.

Inspiration for the bottle came from Madame Rochas' collection of antique perfume bottles. “I went to her home and searched through her collection, picking up an eight-sided janusette, a French bottle of the early 19th century.

“I created an interpretation of its spirit as much as a modernisation of it.” The hinged cap became a screw cap, a feat that was still rather tough to do in the ‘50s. Its success got him a job with Rochas, catapulting him into the company of designers like Yves Saint-Laurent, Givenchy and Dior.

Ingenuity marks his designs. While playing golf in the 1980s, Dinand broke the ball and found stuffing which looked liked frosted glass and had a huge depth of contrast.

“I ordered this material, surlyn from Dupont Chemicals and used it for Calvin Klein Obsession. Now it’s a standard material used for making perfume bottles.”

When glass bottles were the norm in the 50s, Dinand drew on his background in automobiles. He created a bottle for a Paco Rabanne perfume with ABS, a new material in the car industry.

“Paco wanted an erotic perfume bottle, shaped like a couple making love in a car, but I found the idea too tacky.”

He focused more on the idea of a car, the Rolls Royce, and its front rectangular grille. “I created a grille frame for the bottle which looked like, but was not, real metal.” Named after its shape, Calandre’s bottle was the first to use this material in the industry.