How Kerzon Captures The Romance of A Lit Candle
Kerzon is a French company selling fragranced products for the home, laundry, and body, who never cease to surprise us with their subtle and singular approach to scent. Originally, the company’s delicate aromas could only be experienced through candles and perfumed pouches, but soon their collection expanded to include liquid soaps, detergents, mists, and boxes of matches, each of which offers a new and exciting sensorial experience. Fragrance is a way to celebrate life, between memories of the past and exaltation of the present moment. Curious about the psychology and aesthetics behind their brand, GC sat down with Pierre-Alexis Delaplace, the mastermind behind this extraordinary purveyor, to discuss scent, memory, and the social lineage of botanical fragrance.
GC: How do you choose Kerzon’s perfumes and scents?
PAD: We always imagine scents based around a theme, to a certain extent. In the beginning the collections were really centered around the Maison Kerzon, its history and our memories. These days, our collections journey outwards and are more extensive. There’s generally an image or source material which serves as the starting point for a scent or a collection. Then, by working on it, the magic happens and the scent takes shape. We work by instinct; it’s rare that a scent has more than two versions before the final note.
GC: Do you need a special atmosphere to imagine the aroma combinations or the names of the collections?
PAD: I don’t require any particular atmosphere, but rather a series of steps. I walk a lot, and it’s while I’m wandering that most of the ideas for products or new collections that I’d like to do come to me. Afterwards, I sit down to give them a framework, without necessarily going into the details, and then it’s by trying to bring them into existence that things come together, associations are formed, and the idea comes to life.
GC: What is the history of your packaging? How would you characterize the Kerzon aesthetic?
PAD: When it comes to our packaging, it’s first and foremost the starting point for what we want to say about each collection. I’ve been a graphic artist for over 12 years, working for different brands from whom I’ve absorbed vastly different worlds. I really enjoy that diversity, but I sometimes feel trapped in a graphic style which has been imposed or which feels too rigid. Nowadays, as Kerzon blossoms little by little, it’s becoming my testing ground, something more personal and more free.
GC: How would you like Kerzon to evolve? What are your plans for the future?
PAD: I would like Kerzon to be fully free to develop, to move from project to project without a plan or preconceived objective. We want to continue to develop our collections of scents to feel happy at home or on your body, following our desires and meeting with craftspeople as we proceed. We’re convinced that a detergent or a cleaning product should be produced with just as much attention to quality as a soap or body cream.
There are a number of projects on the way, [and] there are always [several] in progress… The most important thing for us at the moment is the opening of our first shop, in spring 2017. The Kerzon company is setting up in Paris in the heart of the 3rd arrondissement, where we’ll be offering all of our collections and a selection of household items.
GC: Which Kerzon collection or product would you recommend to our readers for a romantic evening?
PAD: Of course, a candle or scented mist from the collection named “Flâneries à Paris” (Wanderings through Paris), the City of Love! The “Tuileries Palais-Royal” scent, inspired by a bouquet of cut flowers is perfect for a marriage proposal, or “Place des Vosges”, which is a beautiful rose with a powdered and fruity mango harmony.
