Three Questions To Pierre Dinand

You have designed thousands of bottles for great designers around the world. What is your impression of the Hanae Mori perfume bottle?

I have worked for many French and American designers. I met Claude Saujet for the memorable Van Cleef & Arpels Art Deco bottle for men in black glass. The design of the Eau Sauvage bottle for Christian Dior, and Opium for Yves Saint Laurent had contributed to my reputation in Japan. I have collaborated with many big names in Japan, and designed the perfume bottle for the Empress of Japan. Claude Saujet introduced me to Madame Hanae Mori in Paris, she had heard of me in Tokyo where I had an office for twenty years. I asked her what she liked and the symbol of the butterfly came to mind. She knew the designer Hubert de Givenchy and the bottles I designed for him and she wanted a bottle in the same classic style with a personal touch.

What was the main achievement of this bottle?

It was not easy to make a butterfly cap! Making this butterfly-shaped glass cap was an amazing feat, it had never been done before, a glass cap that would fit on a pump. Robert Petit of Pochet du Courval glassworks, a genius, accepted the challenge. He liked the difficulty, we solved the problem quickly.

If you had to sum up this experience in three memorable words?

Pleasure, historical, forever! Pleasure to work with Claude Saujet for the realization of a historical bottle, which respects the image of the designer Hanae Mori. An elegant bottle forever in fashion 27 years later!