As the Year of the Dragon approaches, luxury fragrance brand CREED has jointly invited artist Zhang Ding with UCCA Lab under the UCCA Group to create a new limited fragrance artist collection for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

The year 2024 marks the Year of the Dragon in the lunar calendar. In Chinese culture, the "dragon" is regarded as the master of rivers, lakes, wind, rain, clouds, and water, soaring through the universe or diving in the waves, symbolizing clear weather and smooth water. CREED’s legacy perfumery is situated in the Fontainebleau region along the Seine River in France. In collaboration with CREED, artist Zhang Ding abstracts the form of the dragon from the winding patterns of the Seine River from satellite maps, using it as the core element for this fragrance artist collection, providing a fresh artistic interpretation of this classic symbol in the Chinese culture.

Zhang Ding's signature series "Vortex," using gold as the primary colour, has been ongoing since 2017. This series of reliefs uses brass plates gilded with 24k gold and illustrates the geographical landscapes of various large open-pit gold mines through etching. Besides the absurd gesture of “depicting gold with gold” or drawing a treasure map in gold, the Vortex series also explores the significance of the relationship between geology and human desire in this Anthropocene Epoch. The current collaboration between CREED and Zhang Ding continues the artist’s reliefs practice with gold, with the addition of red color that symbolizes auspiciousness for the Chinese New Year. With an exquisitely rendered water map with veins like a wandering dragon, the collection piece creates an elegant and timeless experience of artistic fragrance.

In the "Vortex" series, the gold concealed within the mines possesses scarcity and precious value. As a longstanding luxury fragrance brand, CREED, with its artisan spirit, selects superior and rare raw materials, adhering to the traditional craftsmanship of hand-soaking, filtering, and brewing, creating textured artistic fragrances. This cross-disciplinary collaboration between CREED and Zhang Ding extends the concept of this series, likening CREED's legacy perfumery to a "mine" producing scarce fragrances, further emphasizing the brand's long history of artisan heritage.

Taking one of CREED's classics, the limited artist collaboration features the Millésime Impérial fragrance, known for its fresh, stylish, and elegant aroma, blending refreshing fruity notes with marine and cedarwood scents, presenting a unique charm with rich layered streams. The fragrance is encased in an iconic gold bottle, recreating the radiance and elegance of the rising sun, expressing reverence for time while exuding a modern and fashionable atmosphere. Just like the timeless and sophisticated aroma of Millésime Impérial, the design endures the test of time and shining brightly regardless of changing trends.

This fragrance artist collection piece will be launch globally with limited 18 sets. Each set includes a CREED Millésime Impérial 500ml, a refillable travel perfume atomizer 10 ml gold/leather, and a gold funnel. It also inherits CREED's environmental philosophy—the art piece’s cover can be hung as an artwork at home, adding an artistic touch to the living space. CREED, together with UCCA Lab and artist Zhang Ding, pays homage to traditional Chinese culture and contemporary art with this timeless creation, once again leading the trend of luxury fragrance and art.