‘Dedicated to the love of perfume’: Maison Christian Dior opens with World Duty Free at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5

UK. Parfums Christian Dior today celebrated the Grand Opening of its latest Maison Christian Dior in association with World Duty Free at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.

The boutique brings together a curated and eclectic assortment of 22 artisan fragrances from Dior in-house Perfumer and Creator François Demachy (the day’s guest of honour, see interview below), together with related items such as candles, scarves and soaps.

“It’s not just fragrances, it’s also a full lifestyle experience.”

“This is the first Maison Christian Dior boutique in travel retail in Europe,” said Parfums Christian Dior General Manager Travel Retail Europe Floriane Pampiglione. “We are very proud of it. This is about more than scents. Everything here is made to be smelled, experienced, loved and shared. It is really a declaration of love to perfumes.

Dufry Global Head of Beauty UK Krista Suresh on Maison Christian Dior

“The atmosphere of the boutique is that of Christian Dior’s original apartment, but it also has a big window overlooking La Colle Noire in Grasse where Monsieur Christian Dior conceived his first fragrances… all shown in a snowy, Christmas atmosphere.

“All the 22 fragrances in the range were created by François Demachy and it is enriched every year with two new creations.

François Demachy explains his craft and his inspirations to Parfums Christian Dior General Manager Travel Retail Europe Floriane Pampiglione.

“Maison Christian Dior is dedicated to the love of perfume and at Dior we love perfume and scents. The range can fulfil the aspirations of a wide variety of passengers that we have at Heathrow, from oud to soft and very floral fragrances adapted to our Asian passengers.

“It’s not just fragrances, it’s also a full lifestyle experience, because you have candles, soaps and body creams that can go into beautiful Christmas boxes for each of our passengers.

“Opening this boutique would not have been possible without the support of Heathrow Airport and World Duty Free,” she concluded.

Heathrow Airport Senior Account Manager Martin Gibney: “This is a fabulous concept.”

Heathrow Airport Senior Account Manager Martin Gibney said: “We’re absolutely delighted at Heathrow that we’ve been able to work with World Duty Free and Dior to bring this beautiful offer to our passengers at Heathrow.

“We are always looking to find things that our Heathrow customers will see as the latest concepts, new products and experiences. Couple that with great customer services and attention to detail and this is a fabulous concept.”

Dufry Global Head of Beauty UK Krista Suresh told guests, “World Duty Free is so delighted to partner with Parfums Christian Dior on this amazing project. I believe it will be a very successful business partnership for us. It is a unique collection – a one of a kind.”

“A souvenir of somebody” – An interview with Parfums Christian Dior’s master craftsman François Demachy

“I don’t think especially about the range,” says Parfums Christian Dior Perfumer and Creator François Demachy, when asked how he approaches such an eclectic assortment of fragrances as curated in Maison Christian Dior, writes Martin Moodie.

“When you start to create a perfume, you think about the [individual] perfume, not the range. After it’s ok, then you fill the range. This kind of collection is a blend of every type of perfume. Some of them will be linked to one or several raw materials and some others are more [pure] perfume.

François Demachy talks to Martin Moodie during the launch of The Maison Christian Dior at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.

While the fragrances are non-gender specific, Demachy refuses to describe them as unisex. “I don’t like the unisex perfume [tag] so much because I think that every perfume is dependent on your choice. If you like floral perfumes and you are a man, so you can use them! So, it’s all a question of use.”

What about the global trend, in many product sectors, towards craft, artisan products and collections, often small-batch lines? Will this trend accelerate and even potentially compromise mainstream fragrances?

“It’s difficult to say. Now the world is becoming more and more global on the one side and yet on the other you can see all the nationalism growing and with it the fondness of their culture by every people,” he comments. “So, I think that both the global perfumes and the specific perfumes have some reason to grow.”

How does he feel about seeing his art craft (a Demachy term) from the laboratory of Grasse showcased to such effect at a great international airport such as Heathrow?

“I feel very proud for sure. One thing that really interests me is to see the people here when they try to choose the perfume. I think that perfume is a way to share something with people – even some people we don’t really know. This is a place where you can communicate with [all kinds of] people, through the same smell.”

Written large on the back wall of the boutique are the words of Christian Dior himself, ‘A drop of perfume and you’re dressed in Dior.’ How much did the founder’s words influence Demachy? “For fashion, it’s easier for Dior to have a signature. For perfume, it’s more difficult but if I say that there is a signature of Dior in perfume then it is the amount of flowers in each perfume, even for the men’s perfumes.”

A challenging question for any craftsman or artist but what is Demachy’s favourite perfume among the Maison Christian Dior collection? “It’s difficult,” he replies. “If you ask a mother which child she prefers, I am sure she will not respond at all. But I can say that for personal feeling it is Dior Amour.”

Why this fragrance, I ask? “Because it’s a story,” he smiles. “When I was younger… it’s a souvenir of somebody. And the idea was [to recreate] the smell that stayed on the pillow after one night.”

[Look out for Martin Moodie’s Podcast with François Demachy, coming soon.]

Dufry Global Head of Beauty UK Krista Suresh told guests, “It is a unique collection – a one of a kind.”

Dior in-house Perfumer and Creator François Demachy tells Martin Moodie about the inspiration and artistic freedom that underpins Maison Christian Dior.

Some of the fragrances in The Maison Christian range. See above for our interview with François Demachy where he explains why his favourite fragrance is Dior Amour.

The most fragrant of Christmas trees, courtesy of Parfums Christian Dior.

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