IDOLE de Lubin

There it stands, looming, a great and terrifying presence.  An idol from Africa, a voodoo priest, bewitching and talismanic.

To smell IDOLE is to wake up in a strange and exotic place.  The air is thick with saffron, pepper and rich spices, smoldering over a sultry, magnetic blend of incense and ashes.  Sticky resins bleed their intoxicating tears… bark burned in effigy to protect a powerful and mysterious god.

You want to explore, but are afraid.  The dizzying fumes of island rhum and smoky incense leave you drunk on all the magic of the unknown.  But brave enough to go forth.

“From the shores of East Africa to the Sunda islands, from Zanzibar to Macassar, on the maritime spice routes, for centuries, nomadic people have set out, all sails to the wind, to face the storms…this bottle is the sail of a felucca, full with the swift sea breeze, taking away a wooden idol by night, the symbol of a nomadic people.” – Serge Mansau, Bottle Designer

“Set the jungle on fire with a woody liqueur rich in scorching spices, as sweet as sugar cane, and as warm as leather.” – Olivia Giacobetti, Perfumer

Olivia Giacobetti, as she did with Dzing! for L’Artisan Parfumeur, creates a three-dimensional scentscape with the vision and imagination for depth of an architect.  From it’s spice-heavy top to its dark, intriguing base of leather, sandalwood and resins (suggesting cistus labdanum, benzoin, amber and myrrh), this fragrance will have you transfixed, powerless, and under its spell.

Undeniably, one of the best parts of IDOLE is its packaging.  Shaped as a felucca sail, its glass hollowed out by the warm winds of the East, the bottle is topped with an impression of a classic African mask.  Striking, severe, and all the while exquisite, IDOLE is truly one of a kind – a real piece of art.

Noire et Blanche, Man Ray, 1926
 

Head of a Woman, Pablo Picasso, 1907