JÉRÔME
“The bottle feels like it has a story of its own.”
MELANIE
“It says that you belong here.”
MELANIE BENDER, FOUNDER: You were working on the bottle before Greg, Joe and I had even defined the brand. What was it like shaping something in tandem with the identity itself?
JÉRÔME LAURENDEAU, DESIGNER: That's the best way of working. It’s how you make something that's truly magical and completely holistic. Breakthroughs come when the whole room has a point of view.
JÉRÔME
“Breakthroughs come when the whole room has a point of view.”
MELANIE: How many versions did we go through before landing on this?
JÉRÔME: We sent around 40 to 50 form versions and 150 color versions.
MELANIE: At what point in the process were you most annoyed by me?
JÉRÔME: I wouldn’t say annoyed, but there was a moment where we were probably 30 to 40 versions in and nothing had really clicked for you. You’re not sure until you’re sure. In that moment, it feels like it could be either in the next version or in another hundred versions, you know?
MELANIE: You gave me so much grace. It’s easy to forget that when you're in it, you don't know how it's going to end. You don't know if it will. Nothing was wrong; everything was a possibility.
JÉRÔME: You’d ask to push the saturation by 1%. It's barely perceptible but the difference is there. One of the reasons why this project is so successful to me is we were able to truly create something that was different, that spoke to people.
MELANIE: It’s about the nuance and the complexity. How every little detail speaks to all the other details. Will you talk about how our references all came together into one design language?
JÉRÔME: Inspiration came from objects that would change or evolve, like André Thuret’s blown glass, sea glass, and worn European steps. We wanted this object to feel like it had a life of its own, which is not easy to do in manufacturing. As the references came together, we had a lot of versions and needed to come back to it with a fresh eye.
JÉRÔME
“We wanted this object to feel like it had a life of its own.”
MELANIE: That was when I found the little bit of clarity. That it was about using hard materials to create something that feels warm and intimate, how the softness of the bottle has a conversation with the hardness of the cap.
JÉRÔME: That's when I finally saw it click in your eyes and be like, "Yes, that's it."
MELANIE: I remember it took my breath away. You intuitively understand it. You intuitively understand that you want it. Every single undulation was your hand and intention.
JÉRÔME: The bottle lives between man-made and found-in-nature–that gray zone is compelling. An object of desire before explanation, you just want to grab it. Then I remember when we decided to make the cap reusable as a candle holder. The moment of, “Oh yes, this feels complete.”
MELANIE: Why do you think we’re seeing this shift back toward distinctive sculptural perfume bottles after years of minimalism?
JÉRÔME: I think people are slowly reverting to something that has an identity of its own, a point of view. To become its own thing instead of falling into a sea of things that may feel similar. What do you hope this bottle says about Lore and where fragrance is going?
MELANIE: I hope it says that you belong here. Every single touch point of the brand is an opportunity to make people feel something, to push it to the fullest. It’s about inspiring both beauty and humanity through an object that’s meant to be held and used every day.
MELANIE
“Every touchpoint has to make you feel something.”
JÉRÔME: Is there anything that you look at on the design now that you’re like, “Oh, I wish we had done this differently.”
MELANIE: Tiny things like the edges of a cap, the distribution of the glass—but they matter to me. Throughout production I went down to Lima twice to work on perfecting the mold and the colors. I learned how difficult a material glass is.
JÉRÔME: I remember very vividly the moment you said, "No, I need the glass to be distributed in this way." And I remember saying, "Well, I don't think that's going to be possible because of gravity, you know." And you answered, "If I have to ask them to put the machines upside down, I will."
MELANIE: I'm now confident you cannot put the machines upside down any more than you can put gravity upside down. That was a hard one for me. I get very fixated on things, needing things to be a certain way. But glass has its own will. You don’t control it - you learn to dance with it.
MELANIE
“Glass has its own will. You don’t control it—you learn to dance with it.”
MELANIE: When you look at the bottle now, what does it represent to you as a designer?
JÉRÔME: I have a very personal relationship with it, it's a labor of love. I'm very proud of how it uses material in a way that's very honest and smart, and how the form is different from every angle. There's something very intimate about wanting to explore it.
MELANIE: What's your favorite Lore fragrance?
JÉRÔME: The one I've been wearing, which is not my usual type of scent, is Sublimity. It's the right amount of sweet and salty, very reminiscent of vacation with my parents when we were young, jumping in the car and going camping by the beach. I don't know, there's like something about it that comforts me every time I put it on.
MELANIE: That makes me happy.
JÉRÔME: What’s next for Lore?
MELANIE: Everything possible. There's a whole world and–to me–the most exciting things are things yet to come. But I’ll also take it at a pace that feels good. What makes me most excited is the way we’re completely oriented around, “What do we think it should be?”
MELANIE
“What’s next? Everything possible—at a pace that still feels good.”
