Bottled up passion(2)
Part of Cui's perfume bottle collection.
Cui says this event was also related to the philosophical concept espoused by the museum's owner: "The bottles are like a huge family, and a collector's responsibility is to reunite them one way or another."
This has inspired him to try to collect entire series. He has more than 200 bottles from the Christian Dior Tendre Poison series, for instance.
The collector has befriended perfume dealers who offer him samples, discontinued varieties, and commemorative and limited editions at discounts or for free. He sometimes trades liquors for perfumes.
Cui doesn't wear perfume or care about fashion, which makes his current collection different from his liquor bottle collection, as he was a tipple connoisseur.
He knew little about perfume and only cared about the containers' appearances.
"It's the bottles' attractiveness that leads people to buy perfume in the first place," he says.
It was only a few years ago that the former archeology student started digging deeply to learn more about perfumes.
His room is scattered with international shopping catalogues, fashion magazines and brand biographies.
He enjoys talking about the production of the world's first perfume bottles and the differences between plant and musk fragrances. But his pronunciation sometimes betrays how new he is to the subject.
His decision to learn about perfume, he says, has been inspired by an interest to discuss his collection.
Cui has staged annual exhibitions at Beijing's antiques hub, Panjiayuan, since 2009.
He recalls displaying 110 bottles in a 1-meter display area, although he knew from a shop window-display design class that the upper limit is nine.
He has won fans through the exhibitions, who defend him online when others post photos of his collection and claim it's theirs.
He is also frequently approached by businesspeople from as far away as Hong Kong, who are interested in buying his collection. Through them, he has come to realize it has increased in value. His bottle of Clive Christian with a gold-colored cap, for example, sells for up to 80,000 euros ($105,161).
Cui refuses to sell any of his bottles, although he realizes their accumulation will eventually become burdensome. He instead plans to donate them to people who like them, he says.
"Some people create beautiful things, and others use them," Cui says.
"If beautiful things remain unbroken, they can be passed along to next person, the next 10 people or even the next 100. This is the procession of beauty."
