For the decoration of its annual bottle paying tribute to the lily-of-the-valley, Guerlain called on Séricyne, the Cévennes-based creator of natural 3D non-woven silk for its 2019 edition.
The maison’s historic bee bottle—which dates from 1853—is this time sheathed in diaphanous white silk. "The idea was to have two houses collaborate who share an interest in insects: the bee for Guerlain and the silkworm for Sericyne," explains Sericyne founder Clara Hardy.
Séricyne delivered the material after the silk production season in 2018, which is about six months long. The sheets of "naturally white and untreated silk" were then passed on to Créanog’s Parisian workshop, a specialist in embossing and hot stamping techniques, where the silk was stamped with Guerlain’s bee motif. Créanog had to adjust its tooling to work on the textile as too much pressure would have crushed the delicate fibers. "It was the intensity of the press that had to be adjusted in order to obtain the perfect embossing given the natural material. In addition, silk reacts very differently to heat than paper does, so additional tweaks had to be made," Hardy explains.
For the final touch to the bottle—produced in 6,000 pieces this year—a white thread is wound around the neck and sealed. Founded by a duo of partners in 2015, Séricyne is now managed solely by Clara Hardy. A major project, currently in the works, will be unveiled next year.
LabelSericyne
