Scent on Paper
“Yet a single sound, a single scent, already heard or breathed long ago, may once again, both in the present and the past, be real without being present, ideal without being abstract, as soon as the permanent and habitually hidden essence of things is liberated.” – Marcel Proust, Time Regained
It’s the end of the 19th century, the age of great exhibitions: in 1889, the Exposition Universelle de Paris attracted more than thirty million visitors, the Tour Eiffel overlooked the Champ de Mars, and the city was in full swing. Auguste Ponsot, who returned from a trip to Armenia, just imported a new product to France: benzoin, a Malaysian resin.
During his journey, he noticed how local people burned benzoin to scent and disinfect their homes. With the help of the pharmacist Henri Rivier, he found out that dissolving benzoin in alcohol delivered a lasting fragrance and discovered a procedure that enabled the paper impregnated with the solution to burn without a flame. The green, little notebooks perfumed with vanilla and balsamic notes were brought to the Exposition Universelle, and success was immediate.
It’s just the beginning of Papier d’Arménie’s history, starting in 1885 in the Parisian suburbs of Montrouge; a history that continues nowadays thanks to Mirelle Schwartz, Rivier’s great-granddaughter who is carrying on the family tradition, manually producing the tiny, scented booklets in their workshop. The process is made in a time-honoured fashion, with the resin dissolved in alcohol for two months; the now world-famous fragrances are then added before the blotting paper is steeped in the solution, manually, one sheet at a time. The sheets are then put in a press for a whole month before being assembled into ephemeral, beautiful booklets ready to be burned, almost like a magical purifying ritual.
Over the years, two more fragrances joined the original; among the first “Oriental” scent, sweet and balsamic, there are now The Armenia and La Rose. The first pays homage to Armenian aromas with hints of myrrh, sage, lavender, and cedarwood, while La Rose is a more feminine fragrance with a touch of Iran and Turkey roses with gourmet and oriental notes, born from the collaboration with the perfumer Francis Kurkdjian.
Using the paper is simple: it only takes light a Papier from one end and lets it burn in an ashtray, and immediately, the aromatic fumes are released to purify the air and leave a pleasant scent. It is also possible to use them to perfume drawers, hiding the thin paper between clothing.
In addition to the booklets, Papier d’Arménie also released a collection of scented beeswax and vegetable wax candles, reviving the original Oriental scent of the brand and the delicate La Rose fragrance, and a line of ornamental burners inspired by their booklets.
Papier d’Arménie‘s carnets and candles, with their accents of yesteryear, can still recall travels in mysterious lands of startling beauty and keep alive a centuries-old culture as well as a family tradition and business.
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on January 10th, 2020, n° 02/2020
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