Perfumerys Future: A Bloggers Perspective

Presented by Michelle Krell Kydd Editor of Glass Petal Smoke

Blog: http://www.glasspetalsmoke.blogspot.com Email: glasspetalsmoke [at] gmail [dot] com

How I Got Here

Integrated marketing and communications consultant to the beauty and food industries. Discovered at a Montblanc fragrance training; identified 18 out of 23 raw materials in a blind evaluation. Learned what the word sillage meant after being chased down the street by a four-star French chef who insisted on smelling a perfume I was wearing. Fragrance educated by life, Givaudan and FIT. Co-produced the first flavor and fragrance event at The James Beard Foundation with White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses in 2006. Founded Glass Petal Smoke, an award-winning flavor and fragrance blog, in April 2007. Contributor to Perfumer & Flavorist magazine.

I Have a Credo: I Smell Therefore I Am

I fell in love with my sense of smell in the Fragrance Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I was 10-years-old and discovered Lemon Balm, thanks to my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Longert. The first perfume I ever owned was Coty Sweet Earth Rare Flowers. (I pine for Max Factors Khara, a discontinued fragrance I wore in my teens). I am interested in the art of perfumery, the science of olfaction and neurogenetics, and advances in the diagnosis and treatment of anosmia. I have learned more about the sense of smell by studying its absence. This has led to meaningful interaction with anosmia groups on Facebook, and individuals on Twitter. I am known as an olfie in these circles; one who has a fully functioning olfactory system and can smell.

Why Do I Blog?
To share my passion for smell and taste while educating, inspiring and empowering others. To help readers find a way to understand and express what they experience when they smell, and to help bridge the gap between sensory emotion and objective experience. Fact: Bloggers create havens for like-minded individuals to assist each other in the olfactory discovery process, while validating their passion and experience. Few if any bloggers work in the industry which allows me to bring expertise to the blogosphere.

A Philosophical Smell Insight

It is the familiar that usually eludes us in life. What is before our nose is what we see last. William Barrett

A Scientific Smell Insight

Twenty-five years ago, the physician and writer Lewis Thomas predicted that the progress of biological research would be measured by how long it took to gain a complete understanding of odor. "It may not seem a profound enough problem to dominate all the life sciences," he observed, "but it contains, piece by piece, all the mysteries.
--February 2007, HHMI Bulletin

A Neurogenetic Smell Insight

In the past seven years, the Vosshall Lab at Rockefeller University has been carrying out a number of studies with healthy human volunteers in an effort to understand how people detect smells and how they can tell very similar smells apart. If there is a genetic basis for smell preferences, this could have profound implications for perfumery.

I Was a Neurogenetics Lab Rat

I participated in Dr. Vosshalls study on the Genetic Basis of Odor Discrimination. I was required to smell hundreds of samples, in pairs and trios, comparing and contrasting what I smelled. The ingredients I smelled, in varying dilutions were: (-) carvone, (+) carvone, isovaleric acid, isobutyric acid, androstenone and androstadienone. Without Givaudans fragrance training under my belt I would have quit after my first whiff of isobutyric acid. Olfactory education teaches objectivity in the evaluation process. This gives one perspective, so personal likes and dislikes dont get in the way of experiencing something for its own sake; a life lesson indeed!

The Case for Olfactory Education

The most highly read articles on Glass Petal Smoke are educational in nature. Readers are interested in culture, history and science as told through the sense of smell. Glass Petal Smoke Twitter followers retweet educational tweets most. (Twitterspeak for repeat) The social space allows consumers to share sensory impressions with like-minded peers and develop olfactory/gustatory vocabularies, but they cant do it

without the help of true experts.

The industry has an incredible opportunity to fill the educational void that exists today! Without expert guidance, notions transform into truth by virtue of repetition, (like the childrens game of telephone where a message is passed in whispers from ear to ear, and is often comically distorted when it gets to the last person).

Rethinking Competition for the Sake of Education

Competition thrives on concealing communication. Cooperation, by contrast, gains from its open source approach to sharing. Manipulation, imitation, deception and silence are not effective forms of communication. Authenticity, dialogue and a willingness to inform are the hallmarks of cooperative communication. Whats the net-net? Share what you can in an authentic and engaging manner so customers will want to know more about your products.

The Future of Perfumery

Great creations are inspired by artistry that pushes boundaries, imagination that riffs on common notions and shatters them, reconfiguring the fragments so that every finished fragrance released resonates with another; not in sameness, but in thoughtfulness that engenders respect for the art of perfumery and results in a consumers desire to purchase fragrance.
*From The Geometry of Perfumes Future, on Glass Petal Smoke

The Future of Perfumery: Specifics

The inspiration for future fragrances will be born out of carefully orchestrated synesthetic experiences that complement the sense of smell and reach beyond the gourmand approach of mixing appetizing aspects with aromatic ones. New accords and fragrance families will enter the olfactory palette enhancing emotion via the five senses. Fragrance will literally touch the consumer utilizing warming, tingling, and cooling sensations. Believable storytelling will infuse fragrance marketing with elements that are authentic, timeless and educational. The art of perfumery will inspire all! Lastly, the paradox of collective individuality will be explored against a global canvas that encourages and respects cultures of difference; an extension of the effects of social media.

Use Social Media to Nurture the Future of Perfumery

To do so effectively: Stay focused on education and listen to your customer. Social media is about dialogue versus monologue. (No one likes a narcissist.) Engage with questions and responses, sharing what you know with others; that is social behavior on and offline. Let consumers see perfumery from a perfumers point of view so they can understand the creation process and the sense of smell. Design online tools to help consumers develop an olfactory vocabulary; on your website or as an open source industry project among IFRA members.

Use Your Nose to Discover the Future of Perfumery

Now we will play a game of smell and tell! With the paper and pencil provided write down your gender, age and favorite smell memory. You will be given a blotter dipped in a perfume created as the result of an online perfume brief on Twitter. Write down your impression of the scent; what you smell, how it makes you feel, etc. After the cards are returned you will learn what anosmia has to do with what you have just smelled. I will share some of the responses, time permitting. The pencil you have been given also contains a clue about perfumerys future which I will also reveal.

Some Scent-tastic Revelations!

The fragrance you smelled is called Eau Pear Tingle. The brief was presented to Glass Petal Smoke followers on Twitter. Independent (aka, indie) perfumers were asked to create a trigeminally sensed perfume that could be detected by anosmics. The trigeminal nerve in taste allows one to detect texture, temperature, the spiciness of cayenne, the cooling effects of mint, the tingling of carbonation, etc. (it is a form of sensation orientation). Kedra Hart, owner of Opus Oils has a mother who suffers from anosmia due to a head injury. Ms. Hart took the challenge and created what you have just smelled. It was created out of love for her mother. The only other person to have smelled this in the professional community is Dr. Leslie Vosshall and YOU.

The Future of Perfumery Doesnt Stop Here

Youve had a whiff of the future of perfumery; you also wrote with it! The Rhodia pencil is an example of how an ordinary object can be designed to create new experiences; just like Eau Pear Tingle. The Rhodia pencil is made of Incense Cedarwood; the same ingredient used in perfumery. Like Apple, Rhodia found a way to improve user experience while make something aesthetically pleasing. They did this by elevating form and function; honoring customer experience and their brands heritage. Now that youve had some new experiences of your own, share what youve learned with colleagues and give me something to talk about at a future fragrance event!