Created in 1909
L.T. Piver (L.T. for Louis-Toussaint) is one of France’s oldest perfumeries. Founded in 1769, by the mid 19th century it had gained international fame. In 1893, Jacques Rouché (1862-1957), a graduate of the élite Ecole Polytechique with a passion for politics and the theatre, married the heir to the prestigious perfume house and became its managing director. He subsequently turned his scientific talents to chemistry, but also strove to relook the perfumery’s image, redesigning the graphics of the labels and presentation boxes. In 1909 he commissioned René Lalique to create a new presentation for his latest perfume, Scarabée (Beetle).
Four years later, Jacques Rouché bought a mansion at number 30 rue de Prony in Paris and set to renovating the building in the Art Nouveau style. He called upon artists such as Edgar Brandt for the wrought ironwork and William Lemit for the sculptures on the façade, Maurice Denis and Henri Matisse for the walls and ceilings, Maurice Dufrêne and Louis Majorelle for the furniture. He commissioned René Lalique to design chandeliers, wall lamps, windows and doorknobs that the art critic Eugène Belville called « Lalique at his best » in an article in the Art and Decoration magazine. The result was admired by the Parisian élite of the arts and culture, guests of the Rouchés’ hospitality.
