Perfume poetry project

by Grant Osborne, 28 March 2008

14 perfumers have contributed to a project organised by Heather Ettlinger, in which they have been asked to imagine a perfume based on the poem, In a Station on the Metro by Ezra Pound.

Ettlinger gave the poem and following brief to each perfumer, "You might think of it as a "perfume brief" from a client who only communicates in published poetry. If you find the idea thought-provoking, perhaps you could send your thoughts on how you might go about creating this particular perfume, what notes you would be inclined to use, and how you feel your own individual artistic sensibility would be reflected in the final project. I'd be delighted with a few sentences or paragraphs; really - any participation at all would be greatly welcomed."

The perfumers involved in the project are:

Mandy Aftel - Aftelier
Lisa Fong - Artemisia Natural Perfume
Yosh Han - Yosh Olfactory Sense
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz - DSH Perfumes
Rachel Jones - Virtue and Valor
Vero Kern - vero.profumo
Christophe Laudamiel - IFF,
Anya McCoy - Anya's Garden
Ineke Ruhland - Ineke
Ayala Sender - Ayala Moriel Parfums
Michael Storer - Michael Storer Fine Fragrances
Andy Tauer - Tauer Perfumes
Roxana Villa - Illuminated Perfumes
Liz Zorn - Liz Zorn Perfumes

Visitors to Ettlinger's Memory & Desire website have the chance to win an exclusive prize (pictured) by leaving comments on the blog. Six of the perfumers (Fong, Spencer Hurwitz, McCoy, Sender, Storer and Tauer) actually made the perfume, which is part of the prize.

Read about the project at Memory & Desire