Identity

“It is said that ‘we are what we eat’—but it is also true that we are what we smell like: fragrant or foul, good or bad.”  – Antony Synnott

Truth

“Fragrance is truth, and truth fragrance” – Antony Synnott paraphrasing John Keats

Perfume as art

“I like to think that every perfumer considers his or her work an art, and that a desire to create constitutes the motives for his work, because the perfumer is the first to appreciate the emotional investment he or she has put into the project. Unless freely chosen, collaborations with...

Trans-sensory desire

“Seeing advertisements has never meant being able to smell the perfume; at the very  best it elicits a desire to smell it.” – JEAN-CLAUDE ELLENA

Fragrant Christmas!

Fragrant Christmas!

Oranges are native to China. In the late Middle Ages they were new to Europe. Andrea Mantegna was clearly aware of orange trees and their beautiful golden fruit when he created this fragrant image of the Holy Night, the Adoration of the Shepherds: The scene is set in an open...

Ferdinand & Smell culture studies (4)

Ferdinand & Smell culture studies (4)

The Story of Ferdinand (1936) is a much acclaimed classic children book written by American author Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson. This post reveals the fragrant (and so far ignored) message of the plot.

Good times

“Good times equate with good smells: even cow manure smells great because it evokes such wonderful memories; conversely, bad times equate with bad smells.”  – ANTONY SYNNOTT

Hedonics

“Odour is a significant component of our moral construction of reality and our construction of moral reality. The fundamental hypothesis is simple: what smells good is good. Conversely, what smells bad is bad.  ”  – ANTONY SYNNOTT

Let us scent your fragrance!

“Go on, O Lord, and make an end of it, stir us up, and call us back; kindle us and pluck us to thee, be fragrant, and grow sweet unto us.” – AUGUSTINE

Magic

“Magic, in order to achieve its greatest potency, must enter through the nose.” –  BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI

Creativity

“Wherever I create something I like, I can be sure that it is too far out.” – ANDREAS WILHELM

Re-awakening the Magic

Re-awakening the Magic

“The Perfumative. Perfume in Art and Design” was the title of an international conference at Zurich University of the Arts (8-10 November 2018). The conference seeked to open up a dialogue between perfumers, researchers, designers, and artists.

Trickle down

“There are many essences of mint in perfumery – spearmint, peppermint, pennyroyal, field mint, bergamot mint – which are also used for flavouring sweets, toothpaste, chewing gum and sometimes as fragrance in household products; these different applications depreciate the emotional impact of smelling mint. The same is true of the...