Life in Scents

The olfactory rebel. Los Angeles-based Killian Wells, pop musician turned perfumer turned millennial entrepreneur, represents less a relaxing of the rules of perfumery and more their ripping up. His fragrance house Xyrena pays homage to the retro culture of the 1980s and to the smells we risk losing in the march of modernity. Wells’ first job was a cinema projectionist and this c

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Perfumer Andy Tauer is a hobbyist turned professional, inspiring many to try their hand at perfumery. Tauer describes the creation of L’Air du Désert Marocain, which features in the exhibition Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent, in cinematic terms as though standing in a desert scene receptive to the odours carried in the breeze. No perfumer has done more than

Lyn Harris has brought a new relaxed confidence to British perfumery, promoting the role of natural materials. Trained in Paris and Grasse, she emphasises the quality of her ingredients which are allowed to shine through using pared down formulations. In Charcoal, Harris has found beauty in a material usually considered prosaic. The perfume holds the tension between hot, rough smok

Free from European perfumery heritage, musician and self-taught perfumer David Seth Moltz is at the vanguard of a thrilling and unorthodox scent movement. His Brooklyn based house D.S. & Durga, co-founded in 2008 with his wife Kavi Durga, uses perfume to tell stories of offbeat landscapes and folk histories capturing places in time and space. David shares his story behind El Cosmic

Daniela Andrier's perfumery is about evolution, not revolution. Her creation Purple Rain for Prada Olfactories (2015) is an exquisite, seamless layering of iris effects. Daniella introduces her philosophical approach to perfumery and gives insight into how our sense of smell can play an important role in memory, and our understanding of time and space. Purple Rain is designed to pr

Antoine Lie talks about love and bodily fluids as he introduces the concept behind Sécretions Magnifiques, perhaps the most provocative scent within the Perfume exhibition. Recalling the height of sexual pleasure with the smells of semen, sweat and milk, the perfume has been highly divisive since its launch a decade ago, labelled as both attractive and repulsive.Perfume: A Sensory

The latest Perfume Pioneers podcasts features German entrepreneur Geza Schoen who introduces his elusive perfume Molecule 01, containing just one material known as Iso E Super. The molecule has been used in the making of perfume since the 1970's. Geza explains how his perfume, containing just one synthetic ingredient and a scent that many are unable to smell, became a pop culture p

Mark Buxton's Comme des Garçons 2 changed our perceptions of what perfume could be. In the first episode of the Perfume Pioneers series Mark gives insight into his madcap entry to the perfume world and Comme des Garçons 2 which features in the exhibition. It was created in response to a one-line brief to create the smell of a swimming pool of ink.Perfume: A Sensory Journey Throug

Tom Chatfield has written six books on digital culture and technology, and he's also got something to say about smell. In the light of his latest publication, Live This Book, he's urging us to reclaim the quality of our time including the relationships we hold with our environments. Join us for a fascinating, challenging discussion on the value of stopping to sniff in this edition