The Art and Olfaction Awards 2025 finalists and honorable mentions) were announced April 8, 2025 and streamed via Instagram Live. As a media partner from the very first edition, ÇaFleureBon is excited to share the news with our global readership and support the Los Angeles community still recovering from January’s wildfires. A celebration of independent, experimental, and artisan perfumers, this event brings together creators and lovers of fragrance from all over the world. –Rachel K. Ng Editor and Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief
“We like perfume because we like art. And we need perfume because we need art; it’s what will see us through. The reason perfume is art is because: what is art if not an effort to communicate something to someone else? What is art but an effort to comment our experience and share a point of view? What I love about independent perfumery, and by extension what I love about the awards, is how singular the work can be.” –Saskia Wilson Brown, founder and Executive Director
ART AND OLFACTION AWARDS 2025 FINALISTS: INDEPENDENT CATEGORY
The Independent category is open to brands that employed an external perfumer or fragrance house to initiate and create the formula for the submitted perfume, which was then released under the brand’s name.
Bad Lily by TALE Parfum (United States)
Perfumer: Michael Nordstrand, Creative Directors: Chad Hodge, Diandra Barsalou
Cape Wrath by Beaufort London (United Kingdom)
Perfumer: Euan McCall, Creative Director: Leo Crabtree
Ex Manifattura Tabacchi by Floridia (Italy)
Perfumer: Giovanni Festa, Creative Director: Antonio Di Giulio Cesare
Northern by Soulvent 所闻 (China)
Perfumer: Ciny Ye, Creative Directors: Dennis Zhu, Yvonne Guo
Fifty Four by Jusbox Perfumes (Italy)
Perfumer: Julien Rasquinet , Creative Directors: Andrea Valdo, Chiara Valdo, Sebastian Jara
Patchouli by Wamaq Perfumes (Saudi Arabia)
Perfumer: Amer Al Radhi, Creative Directors: Abdulaziz Yousef, Khalid Abdulrahman
Principalities by Caeleste (Romania)
Perfumer: David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi, Creative Director: Stefan Radut
Source by Vallense (United Kingdom)
Perfumer: Pia Long, Creative Director: William Borrell
The Mandala by Param Sara (India/China)
Perfumer: Alex Lee, Creative Director: Ankita Gill
Twin Peaks by Epichron (China)
Perfumer: Michael Wong, Creative Directors: Jerry Luk, Michael Wong
The five Independent Honorable Mentions are:
Búcaro Royal, by nBitor (Spain)
Perfumer: Miguel Matos, Creative Directors: Thomas E. Dennis, Raul Falcon
Pyroclasm, by BeauFort London (United Kingdom)
Perfumer: Euan McCall, Creative Director: Leo Crabtree
Matcha Soft Serve, by d’Annam (Vietnam)
Perfumer: Anh Ngo, Creative Directors: Nick Hoang, Kazuki Yamamoto
Juanillo, by Adamo Parfum (Italy)
Perfumers: Hamid Merati-Kashani, Julien Rasquinet, Christian Provenzano, Michel
Almairac, Creative Director: Antioco Adamo
Tipsy Tuberose, by Annindriya (The Netherlands)
Perfumer: Meabh McCurtin, Creative Director: Tanja Deurloo
ART AND OLFACTION AWARDS 2025 FINALISTS: ARTISAN CATEGORY
The artisan category is open to brands that are owned or co-owned (minimum 35% ownership) by the brand’s primary perfumer, who initiated and created the submitted perfume’s formula in-house.
1747 by Rivendare (Australia)
Perfumer: David Clarke
Alice by Element Experimental Aroma Lab (N. Zealand)
Perfumer: Emily van Oosterom
Blue Marble by St. Clair Scents (United States)
Perfumer: Diane St. Clair
Grandma’s Closet by Yenchi Lin (Taiwan / Grasse)
Perfumer: Yenchi Lin
Mekha Aranya by SIAM1928 (Thailand)
Perfumer: Nutt Wesshasartar
Meraura by NUSA Art of Scent (Malaysia)
Perfumer: Abdullah Al Roman
Mint Rose by OrdioLab (Taiwan)
Perfumer: Jerry Lin
Pine by Stora Skuggan (Sweden)
Perfumer: Tomas Hempel
The Space Between by fūm (United States)
Perfumer: Miss Layla
You & I (Will Die) by House of Mammoth (United States)
Perfumer: Benjamin Esposito
The five Artisan Honorable Mentions are:
Jasmine Dragon by Sifr Aromatics (Singapore)
Perfumer: Johari Kazura
Nébuleuse Bleu by Chouette Vierge Parfumée (Vietnam)
Perfumers: Hoang Nguyen
No Mow May by 4160 Tuesdays (United Kingdom)
Perfumer: Sarah McCartney
Provenance by Qhue New York (United States)
Perfumer: Quentin Hernandez
Rampai Noir by Fuse Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
Perfumer: Arfan Ramli
ART AND OLFACTION AWARDS 2025 FINALISTS: EXPERIMENTAL CATEGORY
The award is for creative or experimental practitioners who make use of scent in an unconventional or experimental manner that takes it out of the domain of traditional perfumery.
Buscando Alma
Artist | Perfumer: Nina LaMaison
The search for the soul when technology has eclipsed what is essentially human.
New Olfactory Molecules (Hyperflor, E12)
Artist | Perfumer: Sean Raspet
Scent molecules are presented in an unmediated olfactory experience.
Recollection
Writer: Georgia Ketels
Director: Cathy Hunt (Potkettleblack)
Perfumer: Erin Adams, Smell Art
Custom scents fill the theater in a theatrical production exploring loss.
Schmerzh, Memories Don’t Evaporate
Project Lead: Olivia Wiederkehr, Live Lab AG, Fachstelle KiöR
Perfumer: Andreas Wilhelm
Addressing unspoken societal wounds through scent, as a strategy for inclusive remembrance.
Sfumato
Artist: Karola Braga
Incense maker: Theo Bibancos
A land art installation where smoke recreates the aromatic trail of an ancient Incense
ART AND OLFACTION AWARDS 2025 DISCRETIONARY AWARDS (announced May 29, 2025)
ART AND OLFACTION AWARDS 2025 NEWCOMER AWARD
This award honors the next generation of excellence and vision in perfumery. The Newcomer Award is for perfume brands that are new to the market (first fragrance released to the market in 2024), and whose perfumer is either employed in-house or hired externally.
CONTRIBUTION TO SCENT CULTURE AWARD
Launched in 2017 at the fourth Annual Art and Olfaction Awards, this discretionary award is given on an annual basis to one outstanding person who makes significant contributions to public awareness of artisan, independent and experimental practices with scent, on an international scale.
ART AND OLFACTION VISIONARY AWARD
Launched in 2019 at the sixth Art and Olfaction Awards, this discretionary award is given on an annual basis to one outstanding person who shows proof of exceptional vision in artisan, independent and experimental practices with scent.
Golden Pear, Art and Olfaction Awards, courtesy of the IAO
The Art and Olfaction Awards’ Golden Pear statuette is presented annually and held in different cities across the globe. The announcement of the winners will take place in Los Angeles at Cicada Club, on May 29, 2025. The events will be proceeded by Scent Week 2025, slated in Los Angeles and including the Experimental Scent Summit, now in its sixth edition. The ESS is designed to build community and learning in creative practices with scent.
More details about each category, the judging, and Scent Week can be found at thegoldenpears.com
The Art and Olfaction Awards 2025 will be held in Los Angeles on May 29th at Cicada Club
MORE INFORMATION:
http://artandolfactionawards.org/
http://artandolfaction.com/
Via Press Release and our own synopsis, all images via Art and Olfaction
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