Diptyque founders Yves Coueslant, Christiane Gautrot and Desmond Knox-Leet in front of the first Diptyque shop.

This guiding spirit of artistic expression was reflected in the name chosen by the trio—it came from the fact that they wanted customers to get lost in their vision, mimicking the two panels of a diptych painting. Launching this kind of aspirational business seems almost commonplace now, but in the early 1960s, that bohemian disregard for convention was something of a risk. But one that clearly paid off. Because just a few years into the business, they decided to create their own candles.

Some of Desmond Knox-Leet's early sketches for the brand's signature jumbled lettering.

Some of Desmond Knox-Leet's early sketches for the brand's signature jumbled lettering.

Each founder brought something to the table. Montadre-Gautrot, who designed Diptyque's early fabric designs, looked to a 'Prétorien' pattern—that Roman-inspired shield motif is still represented in the brand's famed oval logo. Knox-Leet was a British painter, but apparently, he also worked as a code breaker during WWII, decoding enemy messages. So it's no surprise that he was responsible for the deconstructed names that twist their way around Diptyque's signature black and white labels. Finally, Coueslant was the house's first nose, blending the original three fragrances for a trio of scented candles: Aubépine (an early floral ancestor of the rose), Cannelle (a woody, fresh cinnamon bark) and Thé (a strong, smoky black tea aroma).

As the brand celebrates the 60th anniversary of its legendary candles this summer, those three original scents are still available. Only now they're joined by a wide-ranging collection of nearly 50 individual scents that work like an aromatic teleporter that is able to whisk you away to far-flung locales or take you back to a favorite memory. The brand refers to this “olfactory treasure” as an “exceptional herbarium of scents.” There are no silly naming conventions—the scents are straightforward and pure, like the simple names suggest. Cyprès, for example, smells like a grove of cypress trees, like the wind blowing through the resinous, almost honeyed evergreen needles. The house's team of perfumers say their goal is to “pay homage to nature simply by enhancing the raw ingredients.”

Remarkably, not much has changed in the last six decades when it comes to producing the candles. It takes two days to make each candle and includes eight separate processes—most of which are still done by hand. Is that what makes them cost so much, I wonder? Later I come to find that this is why they're worth so much. Because, yes ... these perfectly-Instagrammable candles have clearly become a status symbol. Just placing one on your coffee table is a flex. It's the reason why we clean out the wax remnants after burning them and reuse the glass jars to hold Q-tips in medicine cabinets or pencils on our desks.

But the artisan craftsmanship is clear once you light it up. Artisan candle makers, all with years of experience, mix up the best blend of waxes and perfume oils for each scent, then straighten and center each wick perfectly before cutting it to exactly 4 millimeters. Because each fragrance concentrate reacts to heat in a different way, meticulous care is taken to strike the right balance. To achieve a perfect diffusion of perfume, each candle benefits from a unique blend of high-quality waxes in small batches. And this is how a Diptyque candle actually is able to fill a room with fragrance without being overpowering. Anyone who has come to a jar for the looks has inevitably stayed for the quality.