Bond No. 9 - Andy Warhol's Silver Factory
[Bond09_SilverFactory]

Bond No. 9 - Andy Warhol's Silver Factory

A cooperation by Bond No. 9 & The Andy Warhol Foundation, New York

Perfume meets pop art

In December 2007 Laurice Rahmé, the creator and CEO of Bond No. 9, opened up a new dimension in the art of perfume production and flacon designs. With the creation of Andy Warhol's Silver Factory perfume, and marked the prelude by BOND NO. 9 of a series of Warhol collector's items. The flacon adorns one of the most famous images of the artist - a colourful reinterpretation of his legendary Campbell's soup can. Soup? Perfume? Both smell delicious. But an Andy Warhol perfume? How does that smell? Well - Warhol once said that a company would be interested in buying his aura. Here it is - as a fluid, in perfume form.

The background story:

Bond NO. 9 is an exquisite niche perfumery in downtown New York. Where one can experiences the high art of perfume making in every respect from the perfume creation to the art of design. Bond No. 9 was fascinated from the first moment on as the internationally renowned Andy Warhol Foundation enquired about a joint venture in creating an Andy Warhol perfume collection. The product design would use paintings, illustrations and video sequences from the artist.

Right now Warhol's complete works are being rediscovered and his timelessly modern glamour is a counter to the global fears of today. Why not interpret this glamour as a perfume? Warhol himself once said: "Another way to create more space is to wear perfume. I really love to wear perfume.” Laurice Rahmé complements this with the statement "Perfume is always a way to see and be seen!"

"The creative way BOND NO. 9 with its luxurious fragrance collection celebrates New York City - has fascinated us," said Michael Hermann, director of the Andy Warhol Foundation.

"Our cooperation is a unique and exciting opportunity to bring the artistic aspects of Andy Warhol to a much larger audience."

And because BOND NO. 9 perfumes always have a New York theme they decided to kick-off with the best-known of Andy Warhol motifs and launched "The Silver Factory" as the first perfume. Amongst the in-scene the Andy Warhol studio was simply known as "The Factory" and from 1964 to 1968 was considered the club scene and place to be. The studio in the East 47th Street No. 231 between the 2nd and 3rd Avenue was unique, the rooms being lined with with silver foil. An absolutely exceptional and subliminally glamorous, narcistic atmosphere; literally a mirror image of his time. Artists, filmmakers, actors, political activists, stars and wannabe stars came together here to imbibe this colourful and creative universe, from which Andy Warhol emerged as an avant-garde director, pop-art icon and all-round superstar.

The common theme of BOND NO. 9, and the Warhol Foundation is New York. As a mirror-image of his era Andy Warhol reflected the whole exuberant vitality of this city - just like BOND NO. 9. With the Warhol partnership BOND NO. 9 has linked the visionary creativity of the artist with a new dimension: Perfume, a world of fragrances, which surrounded and moulded him: the ambience of the studios and the clubs and the streets of this bustling metropolis.

Andy Warhol's Silver Factory - the perfume:

Like all the compositions designed for the Warhol collection, this fragrance embodies an ambivalent, male-female character. Silver Factory is interpreted as a smooth, smoky-spicy blend of self interwoven accents that were so typical of the 60s. Tree resin and syrupy-seductive Amber. In addition to a heart of jasmine, iris and violet, a fragrance that Warhol was crazy about. This slightly dissonant accent of flowers call forth an almost metallic effect - like the smell of warm, molten silver. To add a touch of coolness to the whole composition, a touch of cedar has been added.

The Silver Factory flacon

The flacon is the traditional Bond No. 9 star, this time in silver and bears the unmistakeable characteristic of the Pop Art Campells soup can motif which Warhol created in a series of silkscreen printings in 1965. The colours are a powerful contrasting turquoise and purple, accompanied by the typical Campell writing in mustard yellow. The logo of BOND NO.9 has replaced the Campells gold medal. The Flacon is an exemplary design, a recycle in the best sense - for an entirely new product. A humorous wink in reference to Campbell, whose soups where always condensed, BOND NO. 9 also offers the fragrance as a 28% concentration - a fragrance experience between Eau de Parfum and extract! The Perfume box is of course a very special eye-catcher in silver!

The Andy Warhol Foundation

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is a non-profit New York institution founded in 1987. In accordance with Andy Warhol’s testament its mission is to promote the visual arts, innovative artistic expression and creative processes by supporting cultural organizations and, directly or indirectly, artists and their work. To date over 1,700 programmes have profited from the financial assistance amounting to over 70 million U.S. dollars.