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Repository 220: Aromatica Poetica Review of Esxence
Realizing some Mindmarrow readers might not have seen the post on SM – I’m excited to share that the following essay is featured in Aromatica Poetica, a journal dedicated to all things scent founded by Leona Godin. She asked if I could review the Esxence event, where I was in April to do a workshop on art and the niche scent landscape from an American (and artist’s) perspective. She kindly edited and published the work, and I recommend you follow…
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Repository 169: Perfume No. 31 | How to Scent an Exhibition
I just received a package of reconnaissance for my ongoing scent, parfumerie and all things alchemical project. The most intriguing was a recent “art exhibit” fragrance launched by JCrew. They did not go the anemic grass and floral bomb route as other mid-tier retailers have done in the past. Instead they went a more intellectual route by collaborating with a fragrance boutique “Arquiste”, and based the fragrance on the “Exhibition by 31 Women” by Peggy Guggenheim in 1943. That’s right,…
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Repository 99: Bon Mots | The Science of Scent | Luca Turin on Scent
Continuing my olfactory research and armchair scent travel, I just completed the Luca Turin book “The Secret of Scent, Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell.” Luca Turin is a biophysicist and has a remarkable career in the perfume world designing fragrance molecules for major perfume and flavor companies. The title of the book is deceiving – the secret of scent remains a secret after reading it. Unlike Mandy Aftel, whose book I also completed last month titled “Essence…
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Repository 81: Serious Scents in the Land of Make Believe
Perfumer Josh Meyer’s concoctions are the stuff of legend, Imaginary Author legends specifically. After reading about him, smelling his fragrances in some Portland boutiques, and learning we had mutual friends, I jumped at the opportunity to meet him. I have a long personal history with fragrance. As a child when my bedroom doubled as a guest bedroom for my grandmother on her visits, the smell of her skin creme (circa 1980s Lancôme) was so special to me I wouldn’t let…
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Repository 34: A Scent is a Scent is a Scent is a Scent
I just finished the book “The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside The Perfume Industry in Paris and New York” by Chandler Burr. Mr. Burr had the enviable job of being a reporter for the New York Times Style Magazine whose beat was the perfume industry. He is now Curator of the Department of Olfactory at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. The only curator of olfactory art in the world. The book follows the inspiration and…
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