“Perfume-making: At the Junction of Creative Production and Scientific Practices†was the title of a presentation and seminar by Claus Noppeney  at London College of Fashion: University of the Arts, London, Presentation & seminar: 24 – 25 October 2012. Thanks to the invitation by Ian King from the “Aesthetics and Management Hub” the Swiss research project could be presented at one of the leading international art and design universities. In the discussion Carolyn Mair, Director of Fashion Psychology at LCF, explained that brain light-waves produce images in our mind but it is human interpretation that forms individual meaning. She added that meaning comes from connections in our brain that makes sense of the basic environment that we choose to pay attention to, because of our experiences.  “We all react to scents and touch in different ways. It is translated within our memory so although we smell and might have the same reactions to molecules, the difference comes in when we interpret that in terms of remembering and recalling,†Mair said.
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“Smell is, with its storing and retrieving characteristics, an associative and expansive rather than an distributive and limiting sensory mode. The lack of terminological paradigms as they exist for colors necessitates linguistic detour through the metaphoric, that is a breach of reference level in the text each time we attempt to describe smells adjectivally. The same holds true for the common reference to smells in terms of their origins. “It smells like” or “the smell of” expresses relations of combination and contiguity rather than of selection and similarity. These two points may serve as a preliminary explanation of why the sense of smell is so often considered the most apt to trigger memory. Its very linguistic structure brings up an Other, a reference to the outside.” – HANS RINDISBACHER
At the World Perfumery Congress 2014 in Deauville, Claus Noppeney gave a presentation on the value of management research for the perfume industry. Based on the research projects at Bern University of Applied Sciences he argued that the development of new scents is above all an organizational process that involves the collaboration across disciplines, organizations and the senses. The rise of niche perfumery demonstrates that design-driven, cultural and aesthetic innovation is gaining importance. These non-technical types of innovation hardly follow from the development of new ingredients or technical deliveries. Instead, it is a result of organizing practices known from the creative industries. In fact, it is high time to expand the notion of innovation. A closer collaboration with management and design research is a first step to provide the perfume industry with fresh and informed insights on processes and practices in the industry. This will “open new avenues and complement the programs on ingredients and technical delivery” as Perfumer & Flavorist summarized the presentation.
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DASH, the London-based illustrated magazine on fashion and fashion art, published an interview with Claus Noppeney (Autumn / Winter 2013 Issue): â€Olfactory Ontologies“ follows from a longer discussion with Stephen Fortune, an interactive media artist and science editor from London. Continue reading Dash magazine: Molecular brand competition→
In June 2014 the Institute of Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles organized and hosted an informal talk and discussion with Claus Noppeney. He presented insights from the current  projects at Bern.
