Christine Nagel gave life to the 7th fragrance of the Hermès Parfums Jardins series – an olfactory quest through Greece that leads to Kythira, combining grasses, olive wood and fresh pistachio
Hermès, Parfums Jardins series since 2003
Hermès Parfums Jardins series combines the soul of a place, the perfumer’s inspiration and the annual theme chosen by Hermès. An olfactory stroll to share for every moment, to indulge every desire for freshness, reverie or escape. The Jardins collection brings together the places that inspired perfumers and the minimalist aesthetic of the fashion house. Seven compositions to recreate the image of a garden.
The first fragrance of the series was Un Jardin en Méditerranée, a diary of a journey that evokes a mosaic of scents snatched from a secret garden in Tunisia. In 2005 it was the turn of a walk on the Jardin sur le Nil, in Aswan. In 2008, Un Jardin après la Mousson explored the unusual facets of India, while in 2011 Un Jardin sur le Toit narrated the story of a secret garden in the heart of Paris. Later in 2015, Le Jardin de Monsieur Li evoked the scent of a Chinese garden, between real and imaginary. The sixth fragrance, Un Jardin sur la Lagune, released in 2019, recreates the olfactory landscape of Giardino Eden, a garden on the island of Giudecca in Venice, Italy.
Hermès Un Jardin à Cythère: the journey on the isle of Kythira, Greece
For the seventh fragrance in the collection Perfumes Jardins, Christine Nagel reinvented her first trip to the Peloponnese, on the island of Kythira, situated in the Ionian Sea. The island is renowned for its beaches, traditional villages, history and natural beauty. It is characterized by an unusual climate: for most of the year there blows a stern wind, in the summer often spur of the Cycladic Meltemis.
Un Jardin à Cythère eau de toilette is a unisex fragrance, a garden that is neither green nor floral. It is the expression of an olfactory quest through Greece that leads to Kythira, an unspoiled island whose name alone is an invitation to travel, where the summer sun shines almost everywhere throughout the year.
A citrusy and woody fragrance, Un Jardin à Cythère combines enveloping notes of grasses with the strength of olive wood and the tenderness of fresh pistachio. Inspired by the magic of alchemists, the Nose Christine Nagel dedicated herself to turn the fragrance into a poetic creation, born from the memories of a trip, sublimated by the savoir-faire of the Hermès perfumer.
The legend of Aphrodite, ‘foam-born’ from the shores of Kythira
According to the legend, Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, was ‘foam-born’ from the shores of Kythira and stepped on that island for the first time, not in Cyprus. The island is recognized to be the one where everyone reconnects with memories and sensations, and it is said to be inspiring for many artists.
The symbolism of Aphrodite and the island of Kythira goes through the centuries: it gets depicted in 18th-century paintings such as Jean-Antoine Watteau’s ‘The Embarkation for Cythera’, is recorded in Renaissance poetry, occupies Charles Baudelaire in the 19th century and continues in the cinematic perspective of Theodoros Angelopoulos. Aphrodite is dedicated to a sanctuary in her honor on the island.
Un Jardin à Cythère – The tale of a universal garden
Un Jardin à Cythère conveys the atmosphere of a universal garden. A dry garden immersed in indomitable nature. It’s not green nor flowery: it’s the color of the sun. A welcoming garden untouched by the human hand, who lives without rainwater. Next to the olive trees and the fresh pistachio, the grasses give off such an intense aroma carried by the marine breeze and it’s like «a caress on the cheek», in Nagel’s words. In the distance, the olfactory notes of aquatic freshness, together with the green and the floral, nutty and atypical vegetable shades.
Christine Nagel deconstructed the classic Hermès
The success of Nagel comes from her ability to prove to the industry that there is an appetite for fragrances that challenge popular preferences and ask people to push the boundaries of their preconceived tastes. In short, Nagel is looking to significantly alter our relationship with perfume.
«Being a perfumer means sharing one’s inspirations to give joy, pleasure». Christine Nagel has taken over the reins of creation and of the Hermès olfactory heritage since 2016, succeeding the master Jean-Claude Ellena. She is known for being the first to deconstruct the essence of ‘Terre d’Hermès’.
The case and the bottle designs signed by Elias Kafouros and Fred Rawyler
The illustration of the case is signed by Elias Kafouros. He created the colorful landscape on the packaging, which features golden grasses, green olive trees, fresh pistachios and the blue sea, the ingredients who mainly compose the fragrance. This Greek artist has recognizable style and he’s famous for his compositions full of details which inspired several carrés Hermès, including Eleftheria, ‘Freedom’, made in 2021 on occasion of the bicentenary of independence of Greece.
Fred Rawyler’s bottle design is inspired by the lanterns of horse-drawn carriages and consists of a graduated yellow glass reflecting the sunny fragrance.
The perfume is available in 30 ml, 50 ml and 100 ml bottles.
Un Jardin à Cythère by Hermès
Un Jardin à Cythère by Hermès is the seventh fragrances from the Parfums Jardins collection and is inspired by a trip made on the island of Kythira, Greece by Christine Nagel, who has served as the in-house perfumer at Hermès since 2016.
Martina Tondo
