S.T. Dupont: 150 Years of Innovation, Joy, and Light

A new ultra-luxury collector's set, a U.S.-exclusive collection, and a flagship model promise 150 more years of greatness for the French maison

- NICKY PESSAROFF

The City of Love. The City of Joy. The City of Light. Paris, France, goes by many names. To French luxury accessories brand S.T. Dupont, Paris is, simply, "home." For 151 years now, S.T. Dupont has found inspiration in Parisian architecture, art, sartorial design, and thought for its lines of leather accessories, lighters, and fine writing instruments. And with a new luxury collection that comprises both a fountain pen and a lighter, it is clear, S.T. Dupont loves Paris.

The history of Paris dates back to the third century BCE when a sub-tribe of Celtic Senones known as the Parisii settled near the Seine River. In 52 BCE it was conquered by the Romans, and with time it became the center of politics, art, and culture for that empire's Gaulic region. After the Western Roman Empire fell in the third century CE, Frankish rule began, followed by Burgundian rule beginning in the 1400s, then followed by English rule until 1436.

By the 17th century, the Paris of today that we know and love began to form. In the 18th century, Paris became known as the City of Light due to its leading role in that era's Age of Enlightenment. Then came the French Revolution in 1789, followed by the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800s. Then came a constitutional monarchy, followed by the rule of Napoleon III beginning in the mid-1800s. And that brings us to S.T. Dupont.

Simon Tissot Dupont was born in Savoy, France, in 1847 and resided in Faverges, in the east of France. In the early 1870s, Dupont relocated to Paris as the court photographer to Napoleon III. In 1872, he opened the S.T. Dupont luggage and leather goods workshop at Rue Dieu, Paris.