It’s been a busy year!

It’s fair to say that this blog is probably no longer active (just in case a whole year with no posts wasn’t a clue) but I may not drop it off the interwebs entirely as it is still being read by many for its existing content. So, why the tumbleweed?

Olfiction happened. It happened at such a speed that we (Nick and I) just went along with it for the ride and let it become the centre of our lives (as growing businesses often become).

We’ve had a whirlwind time – creating fragrances, providing training, travelling, writing, running and participating in events, and of course spending time on all the less glamorous stuff that comes with owning a business.

I’ve also been writing my column for Perfumer & Flavorist every month (bi-monthly from the beginning of 2018 because of… well, see above) and am working on the book about access to perfume industry I’ve been researching for the last couple of years. Allured Business Media (publishers of P&F) were originally going to publish it, but as some of you may know, their book division closed – so I am now considering whether to self-publish or look for a publisher.

The best way to get in touch is via the Olfiction contact form.

 

 

 

Exploring scents in literature at the British Library: 27th of March 2018

Writing good descriptions of smell is hard. Not reducing it to a list of adjectives is tougher than it seems. In almost all languages, vocabulary around smell is lacking.

Additionally, when authors include descriptions of smell in their works, often the smell signifies something else – acts as a trope. Sometimes it is part of magical realism; sometimes an attempt at conjuring a visceral scene; there are many more example of non-literal or multilayered uses of scent.

Literary translator and scent enthusiast Marta Dziurosz invited me to a panel discussion on translating scent a while ago, and we had a really interesting evening around the topic at London’s Free Word Centre. What I didn’t know until I met her and we got talking was that she’d done her MA on scents in literature. Well! That set the cogs turning – I immediately thought it would be extremely cool to do a talk around that, AND have some fragrances created to go along with it.

So, two years later, we’ve done just that.

Come along and see us at the British Library on Tuesday 27th of March.

Perfumers Tim Gage from CPL Aromas and Achille Riviello from Nactis Synarome will join us with their creations which we first presented to the British Society of Perfumers One Day Symposium last year. I am extremely happy that we got to work with such creative individuals, both with a highly individual take on their chosen literary quote which acted as the perfumery brief.

I have also created a fragrance to go along with a third quote – you’ll have to wait until the evening to find out what that was.

Hope to see some of you next week!