New York City’s Museum of Art and Design recently housed an exhibit entitled “The Art of Scent, 1889 – 2012”. This exhibit highlighted twelve groundbreaking perfumes and fifteen artists. It was the first major exhibit to focus on scent as an artistic medium.
Each fragrance was chosen to emphasize major advances in the perfume industry, such as the introduction of synthetic ingredients, first seen in the late 1800’s. Until then, only natural ingredients were used, and the option of using synthetic ingredients opened up new doors to the perfumers. Iconic scents like Chanel N° 5, from 1921, and more recent perfumes like Untitledwere featured in this amazing exhibit.
In the video above, perfumer Jean-Marc Chaillan, creator of scents like Euphoria Men by Calvin Klein for men talks about finding inspiration and his love of working with fragrances. He compares perfume to music in the sense that you cannot touch them or see them, they just float in the air. Yet they both have huge influence in your life. The exhbit closed in March 2013, so for those that missed out, we invite you to please watch the video above. In the link below you’ll find four additional videos featuring other major players in the perfume industry.
“There are no bad smells, there are no good smells. Everything is interesting.”Jean-Marc Chaillan
For more videos, please visit the Museum of Arts and Science website.