As the transgressiveness of perfumery gives way to “celebuscents” to boost the multibillion dollar fragrance industry, contemporary visual artists are increasingly turning to it as an expressive medium. Shigenobu Twilight is the creation of artist Anicka Yi and architect Maggie Peng.
I was able to get my first sniff of Speakeasy at the Frapin presentation at the recent Elements Showcase in New York City. Mark-Antoine Corticchiato has made a fragrance in Speakeasy which is very Frapin but also has much of the aesthetic you find in the Parfum D’Empire line, as well.
Joseph Quartana’s Six Scents series is ingenious in its simplicity and thrilling in its execution. The basic premise of each series is Mr. Quartana plays matchmaker with a rising fashion designer and a perfumer. I have had Series Four for a few weeks now and have once again been struck by the breadth and quality of the collection.
I chatted with Joseph Quartana, beaming like a proud father, as he filled me in on his much-awaited Six Scents Series Four, subtitled, Characters. “We had all of the designers create a fictional muse. We have some new territory to explore,” he explained.
The dictionary defines impromptu simply as: done “in the moment”, without any preparation). This perfume truly lives up to its name. Created on the spur of the moment, while cleaning her drafting table off to do some painting, Roxana Villa combined a series of notes, essences and accords to create something truly beautiful also called Impromptu.
I don’t remember the year, exactly, of my first real perfume lemming and subsequent quest. My father had given me a little stack of mini perfumes for Christmas, and one of these was a tiny black bottle. I opened it and smelled it, and I was reborn. The scent was the mighty Habanita, by Molinard, with its fabulous black Lalique-designed bottle.
