An original idea by Philippe di Méo.

An original idea by Philippe di Méo.
Les Liquides Imaginaires are scented symbolic eaux endowed with emotional power and something of the sacred.
Beneficial, angelic, erotic or esoteric, they aromatize, fragrance, cleanse, or perfume.
These olfactory messages are loaded ad infinitum into the imagination via liquid.
...

- SACRED SCENT -
The word perfume comes from the Latin per fumus meaning “through smoke“. Religious ceremonies evoked this reaction
through the burning of incense and resins. Perfume played its first role in the sacred as an offering to the gods.
Seduction and enchantment is its latest incarnation.
From Egypt to Greece, the Romans to the Arabs, from Marseille to Grasse, perfume has continued travelling, evolving,
expanding from the visual, the function, the scent and even the bottle. In perfume cellars that were reserved for the elite,
perfume was a veritable luxury, an object encased in crystal, gold, or other precious materials.
- PARFUM DE PARIS -
Perfume was launched as a fashionable trend first in Paris and then France soon followed as its capital.
Bottles, accessories and beauty products were all the rage and the sign of the times.
The contents and the container were at that time sold separately.
- UNIVERSAL EXPLOSION -
Might a method be invented by the extraction of volatile solvents and synthetic components. Manufacturing became
industrial and then quite rightly democratized. An olfactory pyramid was constructed allowing odour to evaporate
at different speeds. Perfumes for men became increasingly popular and French perfume reached its peak in the 1950s.
- SIGN OF OUR TIMES -
Perfumers and fashion designers as well as affectionately termed brand-new “noses” are constantly creating new smells,
innovating, experimenting. Perfume has changed with the times and much less faithful to its origins. The market has
established itself with a desire to entice the largest part of the world. The charm has left, the scent has lost its magic,
and its imagination is no longer anything more than a base object of desire. It has left behind unforgettable trembling
and mythical fragrance, but nowadays what has happened to one of its most fundamental factors: intoxication!
...

- RETURN TO THE SACRED -
The essence of perfume must be taken back to the olfactory capital in order to dream, to purify, to bewitch, to
fantasize, to draw an imaginary scent of ephemera. Reinstalling ceremony, a ritual perfumed by developing new
materials, other gestures. Creating an exceptional bottle that is a call to craftsmanship and that is in its own right
precious. Contained within a mysterious object, an amphora, the archetype of all perfume.
These were the reflections and thoughts that gave birth to Philippe di Meo’s Les LIQUIDES IMAGINAIRES,
scented symbolic eaux endowed with emotional power and something of the sacred.
Beneficial, angelic, erotic or esoteric, they aromatize, fragrance, cleanse, or perfume.
These olfactory messages are charged into the imagination via liquid.
“The passages of life are incarnated in tangible form: desires, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses.”
- HUMAN WARMTH -
To create these perfumes, one must look to the masters of scent, a human encounter and an exchange
of expertise. This alchemy has been made with the complicity of Givaudan perfumers, experts in this domain.
Perfumers have let their noses soar to encounter these ”imaginary liquids”, letting go of constraints
and specifications in accepting the idea that a perfume might stain or even go up in smoke.
- OLFACTORY CONFESSIONS -
These fragrances are like puzzles, they are used to interpret thoughts, intentions, confessions.
They memorize passages of life, desires, beliefs, strengths and weaknesses.
Volatile bodies that help leave the material world and cross into imaginary worlds, intimate spirit evaporates,
other fields explored, new desires found.

- LES LIQUIDES IMAGINAIRES BY Philippe Di Méo -
These dual eaux, potions or antidotes, symbolize good and evil, night and day, wisdom and insobriety... opposing yet inseparable.
Contained in amphora bottles, the «reliquiae» are custom-made of pewter by the l’Orfèvrerie d’Anjou.
(12 limited editions, size 51 cm in height)

- Holy water or wellness -
Wholesome relic
Silent disagreement
Challenges revealed...
esteemed breath
Momentum of purification
Thirsty light...
Tears of Venus
Pearls of insight
Divine dew...
Water, liquid purity and universal solvent,
is the oldest symbol of purification.
Holy Water is a sacred protection that
has great healing powers.
Sprinkled abundantly on the face,
giving energy to see.
…
HEAVENLY SCENT
perfumer : sonia constant
© Daniel Sannwald

- Shadowed or dark water -
Froth of the soul
Pure water of the Phoenix
Ink of luck...
beginning of cleansing
Blotting of the unpaired
substance of voodoo...
Film of shadow
dedication of incense
...Dodge Mage
Black ink, dark as smoke, burnt wood.
Awash with flavours from the East,
ever-imprinting its fragrance upon paper,
fabric and other objects from home.
This mysterious concoction delivers
an indelible scent that renders
home & place free of negativity.
…
PARFUM OF REINCARNATION
perfumer : sonia constant
© Daniel Sannwald

- Cloudy water or vaporous -
Jewel-cased liquid...
Bath of felt
Lascivious wave
...cloud of emotion
fugitive connection
Truce of modesty
...nudity eclipsed
body confesses
hazy love
Fresh emanation inviting nudity, warmth,
and sexuality. This source, fragrance
of well-being, relaxes tension and
stimulates the body in letting go.
Essential for a warm bath before
surrendering to its enveloping fog.
…
PARFUM OF ABANDONMENT
perfumer : jacques huclier
© Daniel Sannwald

MEETINGS & COLLABORATIONS
- IMAGINARY FILMS -
Odilon Redon «king of the imaginary worlds» said:
«The sense of mystery is to be always in doubt, double, triple aspects. Suspicion of aspects.»
This quote reflects perfectly the artistic direction I wanted to take in creating the visual atmosphere in film.
Create images in the image, forms that take other forms in the mind of the observer, drawing on a series of dreams ... gentle hallucinations.
- DANIEL SANNWALD -
Daniel Sannwald, German photographer, lives in London. His strange and dreamlike world appeared as a revelation.
Influenced by surrealism and expressionism, his visual imagination embodies the spirit and symbolism of these three liquids,
making the project his personal vision, his fantasy mixed with science fiction.
Daniel thinks like a craftsman, with the need to see, to touch in a real image. Creation perfectly «hand» made and right before our eyes.
At the time when the virtual and the postproduction remain to an extent unlimited, Daniel uses his material, live effects «no photoshop»
as he says. Last-minute improvisation is one of its drivers and engenders surprise.
Fire burns but the eye of the model appears through the flames as a chimera.
A girl dances, but her figure is much more than an immaterial form made of light radiating and moving in the wind,
ready to disappear like a ghost, a photogenic mirage.
Bodies, obscured by a soft distortion of antique glass, move in a kinetic wave creating a sensual fluid, a fuzzy and disturbing reality.
Daniel brought out the human incarnation of the imaginary liquid hidden within my jars.
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- GIVAUDAN FRAGRANCES -
The development of this project has been the result of a creative exchange with the perfumers of Givaudan.
Sonia Constant, Jacques Huclier dived head-first into these waters.
Givaudan plays a major role in the fragrance and flavour industry. A rich heritage dating back to 1796 and a global presence in over 100 countries,
Givaudan was the first company to design and produce fragrances and flavors all over the world.
Their fragrances and flavors account for many of the better known brands in the sectors of luxury goods, consumer products,
as well as the beverage and food industry.
By an unreserved commitment to invest continuously in research and development programs, Givaudan ensures its leadership position.
By sharing its expertise, Givaudan shows how cutting-edge they are in going beyond simple demand, and showing their willingess in not only other
creative sectors, but also with projects like Liquides Imaginaires, which, like Givaudan,
is both unique and innovative in spirit and in understanding.
- L’ORFEVRERIE D’ANJOU -
The Amphorae «Reliquiae» are made to mesure in pewter by l’Orfèvrerie d’Anjou.
Pascal Blandin, but also Léon, François et Franck, worked with a will on this exceptional bottles, searchingly engraved with a diamond cutter.
When the metal is pure, we say that its brightness, which is used on the shields of the heroes of ancient Greece, was used to blind the enemy.
It dazzles, and centuries later, the great French aristocracy, when Louis XIV decreed that metal, like silver, be in the homes of the wealthy.
Noble, ecological, steel, tin becomes metal silverware in its own right. Heir to a long line of famous silversmiths born in the eighteenth century,
L’Orfèvrerie d’Anjou works today with the greatest creators in both the design world and the luxury industry.
The design of these amphorae is obtained by a variety of techniques ranging from laser cutting, mirror polishing, satin finishing, a day of engraving
by diamond-point, etc.
- ATELIER NORLINE -
Established since 1961, the Ateliers Norline specializes in manufacturing custom-made presentation cases for the cosmetic, perfume and
spirits industry. With this savoir-faire, the amphorae are meticulously boxed within a case of divine action.

Exhibition At LA MAISON DES CENTRALIENS
September 15th to October 24th.
The magnificient mansion located in the heart of the «Triangle d’or» just between les Champs-Élysées, l’Avenue Montaigne and le Grand Palais,
was recently decorated by la MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA. This prestigious historical building erected in 1866,
was the residence of Princesse d’Essling also stepdaughter of Maréchal Masséna. In 1919, the building became la Maison des Centraliens, since
1990 an additional building was added and renamed l’Hôtel La Maison - Champs Elysées in 2010.
LA MAISON DES CENTRALIENS
8, rue Jean Goujon _75008 Paris
Tel. (+33)1/40746465
http://www.lamaisonchampselysees.com
The EXhibITION will ECHO to
PARIS DESIGN WEEK, 15th to 18th september
Les RIVES DE LA BEAUTÉ, september 28th to october 2nd
FASHION WEEK «OFF», september 27th to 5th october
FIAC «OFF», 20th to 23rd october
CONTACT
Press : Ismaël Goldsztejn-seck +33 (0)6 58 61 71 35
ismagold@gmail.com
Project : Anne-Caroline Paute +33 (0) 1 53 01 99 14
ac.paute@resodesignband.com
Photographie_Films Daniel Sannwald
danielsannwald.com
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