Making scents
As you pass through the front door of the Institute for Art and Olfaction on a Wednesday night, the molecules of hundreds of scents, making up a complex blend of florals, bounce through the air and enter the nose. A diverse group of people sits around two long tables, with strips of paper set before them. Their hands are busy. Their faces are bright. Everyone seems happy and engaged. Big smiles welcome newcomers and it’s relaxing – the complete antithesis of the high-stakes atmosphere of the corporate perfume industry. Perfumers, also known as noses, concoct the aromatic compounds used in everything from classic colognes to laundry detergents.
Artist Saskia Wilson-Brown opened the Institute for Art and Olfaction as a lab for the scent curious and as an open-source, DIY laboratory. The fragrance world tends to be a closed club with a labyrinthine structure to protect the trade secrets of the perfume-producing mega-companies. An education in the art and science of perfumery is expensive, elitist, and guarded. Not so at the Institute for Art and Olfaction. Weekly sessions are open to all, from novices to experienced blenders, for a nominal fee. Attendees are welcome to draw from the scent organ – a repository of more than 400 scents contained in vials neatly placed on shelves – and carefully craft fragrances while learning the art and chemistry of blending. For those interested in a more structured education, intensive courses as well as beginner classes are also available.
Info
Address 932 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012, +1 213.616.1744, www.artandolfaction.com, hello@artandolfaction.com | Public Transport Gold Line to Chinatown Station, then a .3-mile walk | Getting there Paid lots and metered street parking | Hours Wed 3pm–8:30pm (open session starts at 5:30pm , by reservation only); Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri by appointment; closed Sat & Sun| Tip Visit Tin Bo Co (841 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012), a traditional Chinese herbal medicine store just a short walk away. Herbs and teas are beautifully stored and displayed in glass jars on shelves lining the walls.
The Institute for Art and Olfaction collaborates regularly with other Los Angeles creative institutions, such as the Hammer Museum and the Getty. It also holds a highly competitive annual award event honoring five independent artisan and experimental perfumers out of a pool of hundreds from more than 20 countries.
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