Creating Scents and Meaning

“How did you get into perfume making?” many people have asked me.  I never really wore perfume much, and I still don’t.  I discovered the creation of scents as an artistic medium in which I could express myself differently, and in my case better than, the visual arts I had been practicing.  I think we can all agree that scent is one of the most powerful senses by which to recollect memories.  Smelling an ex-boyfriend’s cologne on the street can stop you dead in your tracks; walking into your grandmother’s house, which somehow smells the same year after year, you’re hit with a kind of deja vu.  It’s unmistakeable familiarity.  Somehow you feel, for an instant in your mind, as if no time has passed at all.  You are in the moment of your memory.  And for me, creating art is all about distilling memories and expressing their essence.

I fell into perfumery through aromatherapy.  Using only natural essential oils, I was first exposed to how the distillation of flowers, resins, barks, peels, leaves and other plant materials have psychological and physical impacts on a person’s health.  At the time, I only wished that the people at the sort of new-age hippie classes I was taking would care as much about making their blends smell interesting too. 

I think that using natural ingredients, with their inherent therapeutic qualities, alongside more modern ingredients and techniques could produce scents that smell attractive and transform the wearer and those in the presence of the wearer, influencing experiences by altering states of consciousness.  If it sounds a little lofty, think about why we wear scents already: to influence ourselves and those around us, to put ourselves in a certain mood, to surround ourselves with a scent we like and hope to entice others with too.  I want to use scent not just for superficial reasons, but to communicate and create meaning as well.