The Different Company’s Luc Gabriel is bringing back the golden age of perfumery by relaunching Cherigan, a French fragrance brand founded in 1929. For the art deco-influenced packaging, the brand opted for rectangular flacons whose lacquering plays on the light, engraved zamak caps and rigid boxes sheathed in creative paper.
Cherigan – once a brand for “VIPs and the jetset” – is being given a new lease on life, almost 100 years after it was founded. Luc Gabriel, CEO of The Different Company, acquired the brand in 2016, and officially debuted its revamp at Italian fragrance trade show Pitti Fragranze this September.
“In relaunching Cherigan, we worked on two different aspects; the packaging design and the perfumes. It’s about rediscovering and recreating historic perfumes, and composing original fragrances inspired by events past,” Gabriel tells Luxe Packaging Insight.
In terms of design, the idea was to create a contemporary environment for the brand while keeping its art-deco feel. “It’s tricky,” says Gabriel. “Either you look like the roaring Twenties or the influence is too light and you don’t recognize it.”
The bespoke, rectangular fragrance flacons (Bormioli Luigi) are designed to “play with light and color”; lacquering (JPM Décors) at the base reflects in the corners, with the flacon appearing either transparent or iridescent depending on the angle at which it is viewed. Something of a signature for the brand, each new fragrance will be lacquered a different color. The flacons are enameled in real gold on the facing and equipped with an “invisible” pump – Aptar Beauty + Home’s La Petite model. A weighty, polished zamak cap is engraved with the brand logo. The fragrances come in rigid boxes sheathed with creative paper and decorated with embossing and gold hot-stamping.
Cherigan also sought to create products that bring back fragrance gestures. For its 15ml formats, the brand opted for Aptar’s Note dispensing system. The cap integrates a transparent applicator that fills automatically with a drop of perfume when unscrewed. Upon contact with the skin, the fragrance is released through capillary action. Cherigan also chose Aptar’s Imagin for its samples.
The brand has recreated Fleurs de Tabac, one of its original fragrances, and has come up with six contemporary scents. All the fragrances are Extrait de Parfum. Cherigan chooses not to reveal the names of the perfumers it works with. “This decision is in step with the brand’s history,” Gabriel explains. “In the 1920s and 30s, nobody cared about the name of the perfumer, they were artisans working in a lab.”
From 2022, each of the brand’s historic perfumes will have a specific bottle, with Cherigan looking to vintage molds from France for these flacons. Blue Impérial will be the next heritage scent to launch, in a very limited run.
Cherigan is launching in Saudi Arabia and Russia, as well as in doors in France. The next markets in Europe to open will be Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain. The contemporary fragrances retail at €128 for 100ml and €52 for 15ml. The historical fragrances have their own price point, with Fleurs de Tabac priced at €195 for 100ml and €69 for 15ml.
BottleBormioli Luigi
Bottle décorJPM Décor
PumpAptar Beauty + Home
15ml, sample formatAptar Beauty + Home
