The Art of Scent

 Last night I went on a tour of the first ever perfume exhibition with no bottles, no ingredients, no videos in the new olfactory arts department at the Museum of Arts and Design at Columbus Circle.

 The new exhibit, The Art of Scent is the creation of perfume critic and author Chandler Burr. I was enthralled with his The Perfect Scent a few years back.

 "The fundamental goal of the department is placing scent as an artistic medium alongside painting, sculpture and music" Burr said. "The greatest scents are not recognized as works of art, and the artists who create them are not recognized as artists.” Presented in 2 galleries, the first is bare walled except for 12 curved indentations emitting 12 perfumes from 1889 through 2012 by top perfumers like Jicky by Aime Guerlain, Chanel N.5 by Enest Beaux, L'Interdit by Francis Fabron...

 Drakkar Noir by Pierre Wargnye, Angel by Olivier Cresp, L'Eau d'Issey by Jacques Cavallier etc.

 These scent diffusion machines usually found at industry shows. When a visitor leans in an electric eye is set off causing a burst of fragrance that lasts 4 seconds. This highly interactive installation was designed by Elizabeth Diller (The Highline) of Diller Scofidio and Renfro.

 In the next room the same 12 perfumes are available in liquid form

 Labeled touches,the paper blotter strips perfumers use to dip into recessed wells of perfume on the glass table

 Are you dying to dip and sniff?

 It's tremendous fun and educational in the most sensuous way

 A pure experience without distracting glam packaging, glitzy stars or romantic videos we usually associate with perfume. Just your nose and your senses are engaged.

 There's a handy free guide on the perfumes and their creators.

 Plus the limited edition catalog out soon including samples of 11 perfumes on display.

 Chandler told us the US has a population of 300,000,000 and sells 50,000,000 bottles of perfume annually. France, with a population of 60,000,000, sells 60,000,000 bottles of perfume annually. C'est comme ca!

Infused with perfume I stepped out the door of The Museum of Art and Design into Columbus Circle. Everything is glowing including me.

The Art of Scent is on till February 24, 2013.

2 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019

The Perfect Scent

I have on occasion seen macaron flavors listed as parfum at the patisserie. Other times they're called savours.

Don't these macarons look jewel-like?

...like bottles of parfums?

French pastry and French perfume are not unrelated. There is an exotic quality, and an essentially French aesthetic to the visual and sensory experience of both that can not be denied

 

Perfume seems to be the ideal Valentines day gift and yet how to choose?

 

The mysteries of perfume and it's creation are explored in such depth in Chandler Burr's The Perfect Scent, that I can't leave the house without this book. The French invented perfume or perhaps one should say took it to a higher level starting with the reign of Louis XIV and the adventure continues

 

Burr takes you to the flower fields of Grasse and the secretive exclusive factories that produce the rare ingredients of today's perfumes. Jean-Claude Ellena, now chief perfumer at Hermès and creator of the breathtaking Un Jardin Sur le Nil, grew up in Grasse in a family of perfumers. His story is tightly interwoven into The Perfect Scent

I stopped wearing perfume when I started shooting at the James Beard Foundation. I was told scent interfered with the aromas of food

Yet Burr tells of a group of "Gourmand" perfumes that are food related. Perfumes redolent of caramel, French mint, Brazilian cacao, Peruvian pink peppercorn, Indian saffron, fresh ginger, grapefruit, pink peppercorn, even just-baked bread. Burr even hosts 6-course "Scent dinners" where reknown chefs mingle flavors and scents in a new way

Burr says,"Guerlain's legendary 1925 Shalimar is built on vanilla, arguably its greatest example of a gourmand perfume...the velvety, succulent Ambre Narguilé, by Hermès, smells like caramel and subtle, nutty banana; Délices de Cartier, is a delicately fruity confection; and Aqua Allègoria Pamplelune, also by Guerlain, a delicious grapefruit scent." The words alone feed your senses

I promise you will be as enthralled by The Perfect Scent. It helps you go out and experience perfumes in a more knowledgeable, sophisticated way. A how-to for choosing for yourself the best scents

Old style perf bottle.

Choices, choices...but such pleasureable ones. Burr has a wonderful way with words and it's well worth following his Scent Notes at the New York Times.

0*=do not enhale

*=inoffensive

**=nice effort

***=good juice

****=Excellent

*****=Transcendent

BONJOUR PERFECT SCENT!