Perfume’s Most Notorious Book and Its Scents: Smelling Session (In Person)

The library at the Institute for Art and Olfaction contains a perfume archive of over a thousand fine fragrances, pieces of olfactory art, and more.

Smell through the pages of perfumery’s most notorious book as we smell aromatics mentioned in and perfumes inspired by Patrick Suskind’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. The novel follows super-smeller Jean-Baptiste Grenouille as he travels through France in the 18th century, honing his sense of smell as he becomes a perfumer and a murderer. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a worldwide phenomenon, inspiring multiple adaptations into film, television, music, and fine fragrance, and influencing decades of enthusiastic readers to enter the world of perfumery — and vice versa.

The Institute for Art and Olfaction team leads a guided smelling session of notable aromatics discussed in the novel, as well as several fine fragrances created as an homage to the work. Scent strips will be handed out by your instructors, before we spend time smelling and discussing our impressions of both the materials and perfumes.

Our discussion will focus on the impressions of aromatics, perfumes and their concordance with the accompanying text. Familiarity with both the original novel and the movie adaptation is not necessary but is highly recommended!

This smelling session will be a special opportunity to smell aromatics and fine fragrances from our library archive that we otherwise do not allow everyday access to.

This session will be guided by Minetta Rogers.

Location: We are located in Los Angeles’ historic Chinatown neighborhood, on a pedestrian street that also hosts galleries, souvenir shops, production companies, design studios, and two very cool parrots. The IAO is wheelchair accessible.

Street Address: 932 Chung King Road Los Angeles CA. 90012 (213) 616-1744 [email protected]

To find us: Chung King Road is a pedestrian-only road that runs parallel to Hill Street, between Hill St and Yale St. See more information here: http://artandolfaction.com/visit

Attendance and Cancellation Policy: Please note that you must reserve your space in advance. If you just show up without reserving a spot, there is no guarantee we will be able to accommodate you. This sessions is 18 and up.

This is an in person class that will take place at the Institute for Art and Olfaction. Unfortunately, we cannot offer refunds or credit for this class. Note also that event tickets are non-transferable. Thank you for understanding!

Image credits: Valeria Smirnova on Unsplash / The Institute for Art and Olfaction

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