Open Source Smell Culture
Ongoing Project
We’ve launched a dedicated website for OSSC.
+ VISIT OPENSOURCESCENT.COM
Read an article by IAO founder Saskia Wilson-Brown explaining the principles behind the program
+ READ HERE
ABOUT
The Institute for Art and Olfaction has operated with open source principles from its very inception in 2012. In 2018 we formalized our commitment to Open Source protocols in an ongoing program we’re calling Open Source Smell Culture.
Open Source Smell Culture explores alternative attribution and sharing strategies for the perfume industry while expanding visibility for independent perfumers, educators and cultural organizations. True to our mission, we also hope this program will help create more inroads for people who are curious about scent.
The program takes the shape of workshops and working groups, open access data sets helmed by the IAO and community leaders devoted to similar principles, and will culminate with the publication of a set of recommendations for open source methodologies in scent creation, perfumery, and related practices. Along the way, we will be collecting and publishing formulas, sharing data sets and research, sharing resources, and – in so doing – testing the feasibility for a public domain in the field of perfumery.
Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions and ideas. We particularly love to hear from IP attorneys, perfumers working in open source capacities, and potential collaborators.
HISTORY
We kicked off the program with two events in July, 2018, as part of our month-long Art Olfaction Amsterdam program at Mediamatic. On July 21, 2018, we teamed up with groups around the world to facilitate an international Wiki-thon dedicated to updating and creating pages related to olfactory practices and perfumery. Then, on July 28, we hosted an Intellectual Property and Scent round table, where experts in the field of copyright and perfumery will come together to assess the landscape, and create program goals.
Online programs
+ Materials Database: We have made out materials database and supplier information available online to the public, in the belief that materials are the core of how any scent practitioner is able to work with scent. You can view it here.
+ Perfume Formulas Database: We will be collecting and publishing formulas, with their authors’ permission, sharing them in our public perfumery database. In doing this, we are hoping to test the feasibility of sharing with attribution.
+ Scent Culture Resources Database: We are collecting and publishing online resources relating to a more inclusive history of perfumery. You can view it here.
+ Global map of cultural resources and educators. You can view it here.
In-person programs
+ Experimental Perfume Lab: Our Los Angeles based Experimental Perfume Lab is an accessible space where interested parties are able to come experience materials and learn about scent-making. In addition to classes and workshops, our ongoing Open Sessions allow anybody to come tinker with scent materials in an open and information-sharing environment.
+ Perfume Design Challenge: By participating in the design challenge program, participants agree to share their work under a Creative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0 license. This license means that the work will be identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. People can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. We will tracking all formulas here (opens Google Spreadsheet).
+ Work sessions: Wikithons, data-entry sessions, and discussion groups relating to open source principles, and more.
Research
+ This program is part of an ongoing PhD exploration into access, power, and perfumery being researched by Saskia Wilson-Brown. Research and findings will be shared as they develop.
PARTNERS
This program is an ongoing effort that has been propelled by the IAO, with the help and crucial assistance of several vital partners and collaborators. The initiation and conception of the idea as a whole was developed in partnership with Mediamatic, in Amsterdam.
We’d like to extend a special thank you to Jas Brooks for the work they’re doing with
+ Scratch and Sniff book dataset
+ Scent tech dataset
VISIT OPENSOURCESCENT.ORG