Our homes are our sanctuaries — places we crawl back to every night to exhale. While they’ve always been sacred, home became an even bigger priority during the pandemic when we all found ourselves confined behind closed doors — hidden from the world. Overnight, many prioritized making it a sanctuary with a sense of urgency. The idea was to be able to travel without motion to a place where exploration meets peace from the confines of their homes — and that desire sparked the beginning of a new chapter for Diptyque.
Back in 1963, Desmond Knox-Leet, Christiane Montadre-Gautrot, and Yves Coueslant launched the brand as a bazaar where they expressed their interests and creativity through the sales of potpourri, fabrics, candles, and trinkets from their travels. Little did they know that their brand would become synonymous with “cool girl” status, as evidenced through the endless scroll of soft-hued Instagram posts that prominently spotlight its cult-classic candles. Fast forward 60 years and the Maison has taken the next step in embodying at-home luxury with the launch of “Les Mondes de Diptyque” — the worlds of Diptyque.
Marking its first refillable candle collection, Diptyque introduces five luxury pieces inspired by magical yet little-known locations around the globe. Unlike all of its classic candles, which each prominently features one scent (Baies, Figuier, Roses, etc.), these inaugural launches stand apart as they feature a multi-faceted blend that captures the essence and history of each location they embody: Villa Borromeo Visconti, Italy; Las Pozas; Mexico; Arashiyama; Japan; Jingdezhen, China; and Mesa Verda, USA.
Desmond, Christiane, and Yves relished traveling the world and pouring into Diptyque what most inspired them from their explorations. The founders have all passed, but their nomadic spirits remain central to the brand’s DNA. “If they were alive today, where would they go?” ponders Diptyque’s SVP of Brand, Laurence Semichon. While in lockdown, the team flipped through endless travel books to find the answers. Through an exchange of dreams and musings, they landed on a handful of remarkable locations and then entrusted Olivia Giacobeti, the nose behind some of Diptyque’s most iconic scents (i.e.: Philosykos and Feu de Bois), to bring those places to life.
- Nymphées Merveilles transports your senses to a secluded garden on the outskirts of Milan. Close your eyes and picture yourself in 16th-century Italy, walking alongside sculpted grottoes and orange trees under the summer sun.
- La Forêt Rêve is a dream getaway to the humid heart of the Mexican jungle. Notes of ylang-ylang, tuberose, jasmine, and vanilla swirl to imitate the sanctuary created by the English art collector and poet, Sir Edward James. Each flicker of a flame emits a unique tropical, dreamlike scent.
- Temples de Mousses is inspired by a Japanese zen garden where 120 rare and delicate varieties of moss flourish. Its woody fragrance is an artistic composition of green moss, bark, lichen, and velvety notes of matcha. The feelings it evokes are those of rare tranquility, the type we often dream of.
- Terres Blondes smells of sun-drenched wheat in a high desert plateau in Colorado. Its earthy essence balances accords of cereal crops, a corn-kissed breeze, and warm air — an elevated take on the wild west.
- La Vallée du Temps replicates the slow, purposeful pace of a traditional, thousand-year-old Chinese “Gong Fu Cha” tea ceremony. Inspired by the meeting of ancestral practices and the present day, the notes of white tea dancing amongst flames invoke profound peace.
Each candle (priced at $285) reflects Diptyque’s fragrant artistry, and each can be paired with twin-scented matches ($30) — a first for the brand. The collection also includes a gold wick trimmer ($65) to ensure an even burn and a matching snuffer ($50) to gently extinguish flames.
Apart from the tasteful fragrant compositions each candle evokes, people can distinguish the collection by its architectural packaging. Diptyque’s classic candles come in a circular transparent glass that features its iconic oval symbol — this collection deviates from its traditional packaging to mark a new chapter for the Maison. “Les Mondes de Diptyque” features muted tones, oval-shaped glass, and replaces the stickered logo with an embossed one etched into glass. Not to mention, they’re all refillable.
Because of her work in the glass industry, Diptyque selected architect Cristina Celestino to create this new design because of her feel for decoration and nature-inspired style. She had no background in packaging when she embarked on this journey, but she was an expert in crafting atmosphere through design. Celestino exclusively explains to ELLE that the oval shape is an ode to the brand’s symbol, the three tiers are a nod to the three founders, advanced pressed glass technology to create the sculptural design, the lid can also work as a base, and the five muted shades are inspired by the vegetarian of the location each fragrance was inspired by. “I loved the idea of having the wick in the center of the oval,” she tells ELLE, noting that this design choice presented a challenge as the wax has to melt down equally, not cave in at the center. The process was well worth it.
As previously mentioned, this candle collection is Diptyque’s first refillable one. However, Semichon notes that it’s not the Maison’s first array into sustainable packaging — it currently offers refillable hand wash, body lotion, solid perfumes, and many fragrances can be refilled at select stores. Considering the brand’s ongoing reign in the candle space, though, its move to create luxurious and sustainable options marks an important new chapter for the brand — one they plan to continue as they expand “Les Mondes de Diptyque.”
To refill, she says to wait until there’s a little more than half a centimeter of remaining wax and then wash it out with dishwashing liquid, a soft sponge, and some hot water. “It’s very simple,” Semichon ensures. Once the wax is removed, simply pop in the refill ($123) and light the wick.
“Les Mondes de Diptyque” allows users to travel globally and experience the world through a dash of imagination and curls of fragrant smoke. Wanderlust, delivered.
“Les Mondes de Diptyque” launches on August 31st at all Diptyque boutiques, select department stores, and on diptyqueparis.com.
Pia is a beauty and fashion editor with a decade of experience at publications including Hello Giggles, InStyle, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Prevention, People en Español and HELLO!/HOLA! She has also written for People, Elite Daily and Bustle. She received a B.A. in creative writing from NYU and a Master of Science at Columbia’s journalism school. She is based in New York City.