On June 7, 1660, as part of the plan to end the Franco-Prussian Spanish war, the Spanish royal family gave infanta Maria Theresa of Spain to France as Louis XIV’s bride. The hand-off happened on joint territory, the Isle of Pheasants in the Bidasao river between France and Spain.
Nearly 350 years later, Arquiste’s founder and creative director Carlos Huber stood on the banks of the Bidasao and imagined the whole royal procession. In 2009, he began researching the meeting at the Isle of Pheasants and uncovered a wealth of aromas: iris from hair pomade; rice powder scented with orange flower; leather gloves; and, of course, the countryside’s arid herbal breeze.
He wrote a brief based on his research and handed it to perfumers Rodrigo Flores-Roux and Yann Vasnier…
