In the August 2023 email newsletter, IAO’s Saskia Wilson-Brown takes a moment to think about memory, nostalgia, her grandmother’s return to Cuba, and how it ties in to scent.
The Unfixed Memory
Field Notes from Iceland: Fischersund
The IAO’s Saskia Wilson-Brown recently visited Iceland, and took a moment to check out the iconic perfume brand, Fischersund. Here is a report, from the (cold and drizzly) field!
Announcing the Finalists for the 9th Art and Olfaction Awards
The Institute for Art and Olfaction is proud to announce the finalists for the 9th Art and Olfaction Awards.
Field Notes from Qatar: Perfume Museum by Reem Abu Issa
On a trip to Doha, Qatar organized by the Qatar America Institute for Culture, a group of delegates visited the Perfume Museum in Doha, started by collector Reem Abu Issa. In this post, Saskia Wilson-Brown shares some of her favorite exhibits from the museum.
Field Notes from Qatar: Qur’anic Botanic Gardens
On a trip to Doha, Qatar organized by the Qatar America Institute for Culture, a group of delegates visit the Qur’anic Botanic Garden. In this post, Saskia Wilson-Brown shares some of her favorite plants, and smells, from the tour.
Learnings Report: Musk
Drawn from the diminutive and fanged musk deer in Tibet, generations of Chinese and Tibetan housewives used musk to rid themselves of moths, to heal family illnesses, to strengthen the brain, the heart and the senses. Musk was used to perfume the skirts of women in the Hindu Kush (in Afghanistan and Pakistan), and was witnessed consumed as a flavoring for meat by the world’s greatest fabulist, Marco Polo. Polo believed in the stuff’s market potential, and brought a quantity of it to Venice in the late 13th century, suing a customs agent in his efforts to get it into the city.
William Carlos Williams’ nose
William Carlos Williams (1883 – 1963) was an important figurehead in the Imagist and Modernism movements in American poetry and served as a primary inspiration for the Beat writers. Williams’ poetry is often characterized by his use of humor and his interest in conventional, everyday topics. In addition to writing, Williams had a thriving medial practice in New Jersey, serving as a physician (and pediatrician) for his entire career. Here is a poem that Williams’ wrote about smell.
An Ancient Greek Story About Smell and Animal Sacrifice
Philosopher and poet Empedocles (492 – 432 BC) – to whom we attribute among other things the first conception of the elemental theory of matter (earth, air, fire, water) – was a Pythagorean, and therefore morally opposed to eating or harming animals. He believed animal sacrifice to be a diabolical injustice, even if done in the service of the gods.
April, 2019: Rhetorical Trickery
When we describe something in English, the ordering of our adjectives is very important. It goes something like this: Opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose and – finally – noun. Thus “comely contemporary Cuban counterfeit cologne” sounds more appealing, say, than “pirated Peruvian present-day pretty perfume”. Alliteration, of course, adds the spice.