Le Cherche Midi
Takashimaya
Bergdorf Goodman
Our story begins almost 20 years ago on Rue du Cherche Midi, tucked away in the heart of the Left Bank of Paris. On this narrow, meandering street, young couples and families strolled among artisan shops and outdoor cafés, bestowing a charmed elegance to this tiny hamlet. An oasis among the hustle and bustle of cosmopolitan life, Rue du Cherche Midi’s historic corridors offered a welcome respite where visitors could take a breath, reflect and find a moment unto themselves. Wanting to capture this feeling and share it with others, Le Cherche Midi was born and began a journey to inspire others to experience their own 'found moments' through fine fragrance.
Nothing is more memorable than a fragrance. A scent can be unexpected, momentary, and fleeting, yet conjure up long forgotten memories or transport us to another place. With this in mind, we spent over two years working to develop our signature fragrance, Le Cherche Midi 01. By using a complex blend of high quality oils and extracts, we crafted an original fragrance that broke the bounds of simple, single-note home fragrances and allowed each of our customers to draw their own conclusions about what the fragrance could and should be. Almost two decades later, the tradition continues. In addition to Le Cherche Midi 01, we now offer a suite of fine fragrances that can work individually or together over a number of products including luxury candles and fragrance mists. Each of our fragrance lines are identified only by color and number, we leave the rest to you.
Each of our fragrances has been carefully selected and crafted with a unique blend of natural essences and oils. Our hand poured candles use the highest grade wax available and burn clean with all cotton wicks. Each candle comes with a hand-crafted silk topper that helps to seal in the fragrance until it is ready for use and serves as a unique decorative piece. The accompanying fragrance mists can be used to scent the air, linens, or even your skin. Each of our custom designed cube boxes, made to be reused, are hand fashioned from 100% recycled wood and lined in pure, luxurious silk.
The Fragrances
Using colors as inspiration, Le Cherche Midi worked with the best French fine fragrance perfumers to create a collection of unique, complex fragrances for the home that share the same sophistication and quality as luxury perfume. Le Cherche Midi created a palette of over 20 colors that were submitted to our fine fragrance perfumers for interpretation into home fragrance. Each of these colors served as an inspiration for our perfumers. Our current fragrances were selected from these submissions.
Quite simply, better ingredients make better fragrances, and our fragrance oils are made from the same raw materials and ingredients that are found in luxury perfumes and colognes. Because of their complexity, our fragrances have no names, instead using only colors and numbers as their primary identifiers. Working with the original palette of over 20 colors that were initially chosen, Le Cherche Midi has assigned a number to each color and selected a collection of six to re-launch the brand. In the future, we will continue to expand the line with new fragrances.
Le Cherche Midi Fragrances
Le Cherche Midi 01, the original and signature fragrance, brings to life a tranquil ocean-side retreat where swaying beach grass, sun-dried driftwood and summer herbs stir thoughts of sunset walks with family and friends. Sicilian Bergamot, Sage, Lavender, Freesia, Mint, Oakmoss, Driftwood, White Amber, Sand Musk
Le Cherche Midi 05 invites you to an afternoon garden party where lovely dresses graze a fresh-cut lawn, crisp white linens cover the tables and the shade of a majestic pine cools the air. Absinthe Flower, Cyclamen, Hyacinth, Fresh Cut Grass, Clean Laundry, White Lilac, Pine, Galbanum, Tonka Beans, White Musk
Le Cherche Midi 09 tells the story of exotic travels where the pleasures of cashmere throws, silk robes and cognac neat are brought together under a blanket of amber light. Lemon Meringue, Lily of the Valley, Night Blooming Jasmine, Whipped Lavender Crème, Patchouli, Soft Amber, Sandalwood, Vanilla absolute
Le Cherche Midi 14 awakens the senses on a clear spring morning where orange blossoms fill the air, rose buds begin to unfold and fresh leaves glow in the sunlight. Mandarin leaves, blackcurrant, Water Lilies, Rhubarb, Peonies, Rose Buds, Orange Absolute, White Cedar, Musk,
Le Cherche Midi 20 reveals warmly lit corners where whispered conversations are surrounded by dark wood, leather-bound books and a cedar-wood fire.
Armoise, Bergamot, Lemon Zest, Black Pepper, Rose Water, Soft Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Dark Amber
Le Cherche Midi 21 brings together a winter celebration with family recipes of golden spices and tart berries served with the warmth and laughter of childhood memories. -Grapefruit, Blackberry, Golden Saffron, Cardamom, Cinnamon Flower, Carnation, Sandalwood, Leather, Skin Musk
LE CHERCHE MIDI A FINALST FOR
2008 FIFI AWARD FOR INTERIOR
SCENT COLLECTION OF THE YEAR
Luxury home fragrance brand Le Cherche Midi, announced today that it was
one of five finalists for the Fragrance Foundation’s 2008 FiFi award for Interior Scent Collection of the Year.
The FiFi awards considered the “Oscars” of the fragrance world recognize excellence in the industry and are bestowed each year in 20 various award categories. A panel of judges from diverse backgrounds (industry, retailers, journalists, etc) met in New York at the end of March and judged collections according to three criteria:
Olfactory Impression - the overall quality and consistency of the scent
Presentation and Packaging - attributes that call attention to the brand
Commercial Viability - the ability to capture the consumer's attention
Le Cherche Midi is honored to be included in a finalist group that includes interior scent collections from such prestigious brands as Prada, Slatkin, Gumps, and Crabtree & Evelyn after having been selected from an earlier round of over 60 other brands that included Marc Jacobs, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Armani Prive, Bond No. 9, Barbara Barry, and many others.
About The Fragrance Foundation
The Fragrance Foundation was established in 1949 by six industry leaders affiliated with Elizabeth Arden, Coty, Guerlain, Helena Rubenstein, Chanel and Parfums Weil, to develop educational programs about the importance and pleasures of fragrance for the American public. Today, America is the largest fragrance market in the world and The Fragrance Foundation has become an international source for historic, cultural, scientific and industry related reference materials.
Currently, the Foundation's International Membership includes: manufacturers, suppliers, media, advertising and public relations agencies as well as designers, packagers and retailers. The Foundation maintains one of the most extensive print and video fragrance libraries in the world. It publishes educational and sales training materials. The Foundation produces videos and consumer publications and holds seminars and symposia for its members as well as for the international fragrance industry.
In June, The Fragrance Foundation organizes the annual "FiFi" Awards Ceremonies. The American "FiFi" Award was conceived in 1973 by the president to acknowledge and honor the creativity of the fragrance industry. In 1993, the first annual European "FiFi" was awarded.
Candle
Le Cherche Midi went to great lengths to find the highest quality components possible for our luxurious candles, creating a lasting mix of beauty and performance. Taking the characteristics of each unique fragrance in mind, we work directly with our perfumers to customize the concentration levels in each of our candles to provide the best possible results.
The vessel: Each glass vessel is hand-blown and customized for Le Cherche Midi with a customized lid made of pure Thai silk. This lid helps keep dust and dirt out of the candle and also helps preserve the fragrance of the candle when not in use.
The wax: Le Cherche Midi created a custom blend of wax using the best raw ingredients from around the world. Our wax, one of the softest on the market, is designed to have a low melting point, which creates a larger wick pool, giving our candles an exceptionally even, clean burn that maximizes the amount of fragrance lifted into the air. Our wax is also odor-free, which allows the complexity of our fine fragrances to be enjoyed without any impact from the candle itself.
The wick: Our wicks are made from 100% cotton and have been sized to maximize burn time with our custom wax. All wicks need trimming to maintain the best burn, but our self-curling wicks help to control the flame and reduce smoke.
Fragrance Load: Our candles contain a 12% fragrance concentration – one of the highest loads you will find among scented candles. This ensures a strong fragrance throw when they lit and thus require less burning before filling the surrounding environment.
Fragrance Cube
Le Cherche Midi is proud to introduce a first-of-its-kind scent experience. Doing away with the maintenance required by today’s reed diffusers, Le Cherche Midi has introduced an innovative line of reedless diffusers. Our Scent Cube uses a patent-pending design to diffuse our unique scents and is housed in a spill proof container. The Scent Cube’s beautifully designed wooden packaging will also serve as way to turn the fragrance “on” and “off”. The unique design and size make the Scent Cube perfect for use in the car as well as the home.
– Fashion team Costello Tagliapietra and luxury home fragrance brand Le Cherche Midi are pleased to introduce a limited edition candle, CT01, inspired by the designer’s Fall 2008 collection. Making its debut at Costello’s February 2nd runway show, each attendee will depart with an exclusive luxury mini candle, the first in a potential collaborative collection between the two brands.
Introduced by mutual acquaintances, Le Cherche Midi and Costello Tagliapietra found a common synergy in their approaches to design and luxury. Both brands look for their customer to define what their purchases means to them. Le Cherche Midi chooses to number each of their fragrances, rather than naming them; Costello Tagliapietra, similarly, does not define their collections by seasonal inspiration, but rather leaves this up to interpretation. Le Cherche Midi lines all of their candle boxes in a custom silk while Costello Tagliapietra is known for their exquisite jersey fabrics.
THE CONCEPT
The concept began with what has quickly become recognized as Costello Tagliapietra’s signature scent, balsam fir. The warm and inviting fragrance set the tone and the ambiance of the duo’s Brooklyn studio and thus became the basis on which to build an evocative candle fragrance. Next, Le Cherche Midi’s fragrance experts looked to CT’s Fall 2008 inspiration, the fairy tale illustrations of Arthur Rackham. With words like “mysterious,” “woodsy,” and “darkly romantic” used to describe the feeling of the scent in mind, the Le Cherche Midi team got to work. After various revisions, Le Cherche Midi perfected a scent, with additional notes of cedar leaf, emerald cypress, crushed sage, suede wood and aged vetyver set to transport the user to the magical destination Costello Tagliapietra occupies with their beautiful creations.
THE PACKAGING
The packaging design was also a detailed process. Le Cherche Midi’s unique wood outer packaging remained, but to give the candle box a special twist, the inside lining was replaced with Costello Tagliapietra’s signature jersey cotton.
As Le Cherche Midi uses colors and numbers to identify each of their existing fragrances, the candle was designated CT 01, in honor of the first collaboration.
About Costello Tagliapietra
In 1994 Jeffrey Costello met partner, New York native and Parson’s School of Design graduate, Robert Tagliapietra and together they have created Costello Tagliapiertra, a collection that fuses their aesthetic into a concise ready-to-wear collection that borders on the couture in technique and process. Both, Costello and Tagliapietra were taught at an early age, by their grandmothers, in the finer points of tailoring.
The pair introduced their premier collection at the Spring 2005 fashion week in New York and quickly garnered a number of rave reviews and awards. They went on to win the 2005 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award and were finalist of the prestigious CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2005 and 2006 and were elected to the CFDA in 2006.
The Costello Tagliapietra collection, beautiful both inside and out, is masterfully finished with gussets, bound edges and French seams resulting in expertly tailored clothing perfect for the modern woman. Working primarily in kits, playing with the tension between fabric, drape, and silhouette, the designers have created a unique vision that is both elegant an timeless. Finding inspiration in music, art and fashion the references for their collections are not solely dictated by a certain decade, muse or idea, but rather a myriad of inspirations blended, building a silhouette and look distinctly their own.
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