The Olfactory Art Studio

The gods of rain have finally listened to the prayers… 🌧️😂

Must be time to get back to the lab and play with all the smells in the air.

Sorry to everyone at Reading Festival… ☔️🙃

Finally managed to make it to V&A East Storehouse, I’ve been meaning to visit since it opened.

Such an interesting way to display art and design: part museum, part open archive

And, of course, I found a few chairs and tables I wouldn’t mind taking home… 🪑🙃

2027 exhibition work begins…

Olfactory art is not just about smell. There is a history, an idea and a concept behind every scent.

One of the most fascinating parts of developing a new work is the research: going back into the past, finding fragments, stories and ideas, and asking what they might mean today.

Tonight, part of that research means watching an old film.

Where this will lead… I’m not telling you yet. 👃🎬

Catching the eclipse from the lab… 🌘🧪

I may not know how to play the piano, but I know how to compose with smell.😊

Last Tuesday, I presented a small version of *A time for peace, a time for waltz · Performance Version* at Reading Humanists’ group .humanists special evening, *Appreciating Humanism through the Arts*.

Afterwards, there were many questions, but one stayed with me: how do we explain smell?

Smell is not only chemistry or biology, and it is not simply about what we find pleasant or unpleasant. Its meaning is also shaped by culture, age, memory and personal experience.

This is something I see every day through my fragrance commissions, workshops and olfactory art practice. The same material can be loved by one person and disliked by another, often because of what it represents to them.

This inspired my new article, **Perfume Is Never Just a Smell: Culture, Memory and the Art of Scent**.

You can now read it in the Journal on our website via the link in our bio

Photo by Paula Virse

I think my July reading is sorted… 📚😂

Not a bad way to spend Father’s Day… sitting in the shed with a good magazine and my little boy by my side 🐈

Today, installing the olfactory elements for Majo’s sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London.

Her work explores the smell of the sea of Lima, Peru, held inside a Corten steel cube.

From yesterday’s sunshine in Athens to today’s rainy London, a shift in weather, place, and atmosphere, but still working with scent, memory, and space.

A pleasure to be part of this olfactory collaboration.

Athens, thank you. 🇬🇷 What an incredible few days.

It was an honour to present A Time for Peace, A Time for Waltz, a multisensory work, at the 7th Experimental Scent Summit and to see the piece come to life.

My sincere thanks to the organisers, fellow perfumers, artists, performers, volunteers and everyone who attended. These events remind me how powerful scent can be as a medium for communication, reflection and human connection.

I leave Athens inspired, grateful and full of new ideas for future projects.

Until next time.