Design Thierry Bogaert Voile de Beton (2009) {New Perfume}

If you love architecture and deplore our loss of connectedness to our sense of touch not just to smell, you will have to check out this new perfume whose core concept was created by architect Thierry Bogaert. The idea for him was to propose a "...synthesis of his love for matter, form and the sensuality of perfume."

Voile de Béton (Veil of Concrete) is an artisan-made concrete structure designed by Bogaert who is passionate about the material and has used it in urban design. Each unique concrete veil resembling that of a boat shelters a bottle of the perfume going by the same name. The scent is described as a unisex fragrance...

Head notes are: hesperidic (lemon), blackcurrant, apple; heart notes are floral with jasmine, white rose and cedar wood; base notes are ambery and musky.

The Eau de Toilette was created by Only Fragrance in Grasse.

Emphasis is put here on the sense of touch. While you may think that concrete does not evoke softness a priori but rather its opposite, in this case the surface of the sculpture was studied to feel finely grained and sensual to the touch.

I once read that based on the elaborate designs of prehistoric clay beads, prehistorians had come up with the hypothesis that touch was probably much more significant a sense to our extremely distant ancestors than it is for us. Don't you love this idea that once upon a time, human beings thought that something was beautiful to the touch in a much more common fashion?

Yes, I know, it is more conventional to say in the perfume world that the sense of smell is the most neglected of the senses but touch might be even more so.

Voile de Béton (vuahl-deb-etton) is available in 3 sizes although the medium size, which I find to be the most attractive-looking too, is currently sold out. The large size is a limited-edition. Refills are also sold for a fraction of the price, from 40/10€ to 110/30€.

More info at www.voile-de-beton.com