Guerlain’s Iconic Bee Bottle Gets an Artistic Design

Moroccan Artist Tarek Benaoum has redesigned Guerlain’s Santal Royal Bee Bottle in celebration of its fifth anniversary. Now based in France, Banaoum has a unique method of fusing together the spontaneity and modernity of urban art with Eastern-inflected calligraphy.

The colourful design features interlacing arabesque patterns and calligraphy in bold gold and blue hues.

In just five years, Santal Royal has become one of the biggest successes of Guerlain’s Absolus d’Orient collection. Created by Guerlain Master Perfumer Thierry Wasser, this scent combines the majestic scent of sandalwood making it particularly popular in the Middle East. Housed inside the iconic Bee Bottle which has been part of the Guerlain House since 1853, this scent has become a modern-day icon since its inception five years ago.

Tarek Benaoum

To celebrate this milestone Guerlain has partnered with artist Tarek Benaoum who’s work celebrates Orientalism. With his unique bottle design, words, images and meaning are layered and interlaced with arabesque designs and words to create a decorative sense of mystery.

To completely reinvent the bottle Benaoum has coated it in rich shades of oriental blue and illuminated it with gold script. The Guerlain name sits surrounded by symbols that intertwine across the bottle.

The choice of colours and design evoke wisdom and spirituality. A colour that has long been used in meaningful artefacts, this bold blue tone is striking and holds a sense of importance.

To accentuate the blue spray-painted bottle Tarek Benaoum has traced it with brushstrokes of calligraphy and letter work in precious gold, a shade which (for him) symbolizes immortality.

To create the hand-painted pieces, this craftsmanship has been repeated by Benaoum across 22 limited edition bottles, before being topped with the distinctly Guerlain finishing touch of a “Les Dames de Table” blue and gold ribbon adornment around the neck.