Jovoy
France The perfume and cosmetics house Jovoy was founded in 1923 by Blanche Arvoy and was located in Paris, Rue de Longchamp 127. Born in 1892 as Blanche Antoinette Rose Reneaux, the... Read more
Interesting Facts
The perfume and cosmetics house Jovoy was founded in 1923 by Blanche Arvoy and was located in Paris, Rue de Longchamp 127. Born in 1892 as Blanche Antoinette Rose Reneaux, the company founder had married a British man named Bertie Istvan Arvoy, henceforth called Arvoy, and was a dazzling personality of the 1920s in Paris. The name "Jovoy" is a made-up word, formed from Blanche's nickname Joe and her married name Arvoy.
In the years from 1923 onwards, Blanche Arvoy launched several successful fragrances under the Jovoy brand, which were popular for their original names alluding to animals ("Allez Hop!", "Allo Coco!"), and especially for their unusual, often animal-shaped flacons. The handmade Baccarat glass flacons, which were packaged in elaborate cases, are still sought-after collector's items today.
As early as 1924, Blanche Arvoy founded another fragrance company, Parfums Corday, which she named after Charlotte Corday, the aristocratic assassin of French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat who was executed in 1793. The Jovoy brand appears to have ceased operations shortly thereafter; the last researchable fragrance ("Gardez-Moi") was released in 1926.
Parfums Corday, on the other hand, was successful in the French and U.S. markets with numerous fragrances until the 1960s. Among the most famous fragrances are "Toujours moi", "Tzigane" and "Fame". In 1961, Parfums Corday was sold to the cosmetics company Max Factor. The last researchable Corday fragrance ("Le Coq d'Or") appeared in 1969.
François Hénin, his sister Marie-Laure de Rodellec, and a cousin of the two, Henri de Pierrefeu, revived the Jovoy brand in 2006 and launched the "7 Parfums Capitaux" (seven main fragrances), each intended to represent one of seven major fragrance families - Hesperidé, Marine, Boisé, Fougère, Chypre, Oriental, and Poudré. According to a Jovoy marketing memo, Blanche Arvoy was a great-aunt of Hénin and de Rodellec.
The 2006 "7 Parfums Capiteaux" were offered in identical bottles whose round shape and surface were meant to evoke a Tahitian black pearl. An elaborate coffret served as packaging. The new edition thus continued the tradition of the old fragrance house Jovoy with its unusual and elaborately packaged flacons. In addition to the "7 Parfums Capitaux", the women's fragrances "Terra Incognita" and "Quand?" were also launched - in a different, historicizing flacon shape (the Corday fragrance house also had a fragrance with the name "Quand?" in its range).
In 2011, the Jovoy fragrance house was completely redesigned by Francois Hénin: as an exclusive niche perfumery, which, in addition to fragrances from selected, well-known houses - including Jacques Fath, Rancé, Clive Christian, Coudray - also launches its own creations under the Jovoy brand. The perfumers involved were mainly Jacques Flori, Marc Fanton d'Anton, Cécile Zarokan and Michel Saramitot. The bottles were also changed and unified; the Jovoy fragrances now appear in a heavy, angular glass bottle, which appears gender-neutral, but still classy.
With the fragrance "L'Enfant Terrible," Jovoy won first place in the competition for the "Prix de Parfum Artistique" at the "Global Art of Perfumery" perfume fair in Düsseldorf in 2012.
The Jovoy fragrance boutique is located at 4 rue de Castiglione in Paris.
In the years from 1923 onwards, Blanche Arvoy launched several successful fragrances under the Jovoy brand, which were popular for their original names alluding to animals ("Allez Hop!", "Allo Coco!"), and especially for their unusual, often animal-shaped flacons. The handmade Baccarat glass flacons, which were packaged in elaborate cases, are still sought-after collector's items today.
As early as 1924, Blanche Arvoy founded another fragrance company, Parfums Corday, which she named after Charlotte Corday, the aristocratic assassin of French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat who was executed in 1793. The Jovoy brand appears to have ceased operations shortly thereafter; the last researchable fragrance ("Gardez-Moi") was released in 1926.
Parfums Corday, on the other hand, was successful in the French and U.S. markets with numerous fragrances until the 1960s. Among the most famous fragrances are "Toujours moi", "Tzigane" and "Fame". In 1961, Parfums Corday was sold to the cosmetics company Max Factor. The last researchable Corday fragrance ("Le Coq d'Or") appeared in 1969.
François Hénin, his sister Marie-Laure de Rodellec, and a cousin of the two, Henri de Pierrefeu, revived the Jovoy brand in 2006 and launched the "7 Parfums Capitaux" (seven main fragrances), each intended to represent one of seven major fragrance families - Hesperidé, Marine, Boisé, Fougère, Chypre, Oriental, and Poudré. According to a Jovoy marketing memo, Blanche Arvoy was a great-aunt of Hénin and de Rodellec.
The 2006 "7 Parfums Capiteaux" were offered in identical bottles whose round shape and surface were meant to evoke a Tahitian black pearl. An elaborate coffret served as packaging. The new edition thus continued the tradition of the old fragrance house Jovoy with its unusual and elaborately packaged flacons. In addition to the "7 Parfums Capitaux", the women's fragrances "Terra Incognita" and "Quand?" were also launched - in a different, historicizing flacon shape (the Corday fragrance house also had a fragrance with the name "Quand?" in its range).
In 2011, the Jovoy fragrance house was completely redesigned by Francois Hénin: as an exclusive niche perfumery, which, in addition to fragrances from selected, well-known houses - including Jacques Fath, Rancé, Clive Christian, Coudray - also launches its own creations under the Jovoy brand. The perfumers involved were mainly Jacques Flori, Marc Fanton d'Anton, Cécile Zarokan and Michel Saramitot. The bottles were also changed and unified; the Jovoy fragrances now appear in a heavy, angular glass bottle, which appears gender-neutral, but still classy.
With the fragrance "L'Enfant Terrible," Jovoy won first place in the competition for the "Prix de Parfum Artistique" at the "Global Art of Perfumery" perfume fair in Düsseldorf in 2012.
The Jovoy fragrance boutique is located at 4 rue de Castiglione in Paris.
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