Puttin’ on the spritz at Paris museum of perfume
Discover story of France as world’s leading scent maker
PARIS— I’m standing on my tiptoes in the Garden of Scents, craning my neck under the hood of a bell-like flower, waiting to be hit full in the face with what’s sure to be a bouquet of fragrant aromas. Wait for it. Wait for it. Nothing. Patience being no virtue of mine, I regain my footing and stretch myself higher, bracing myself for a spritz of heady scents from the olfactory art installation at the recently opened Grand Musée du Parfum in Paris. Still nada. “You have to wait 30 seconds,” says one of the guides who, no doubt having noticed my disappointment, has approached and come to my rescue.
Motion sensors on the bells illuminate the flowers, explains the young, friendly guide, which then diffuse dry oil into the air.
“For the best experience, try closing your eyes and breathing it in,” she advises.
I strain to detect the first scent, which comes at me faintly, like the first few notes of a song when the volume is low.
“Ah, that one is very subtle,” says the guide who sees my quizzical expression. “Not many people get it.” It’s a clean scent, with nuances of sweetness that are frustratingly faint and hard to pin down.
I’m reassured when she reveals its identity: white sugar.
Unfortunately, I’m no better at guessing the other rather arbitrary bell-flower scents that make up this olfactory exhibit — hazelnuts, a burning fire, soda, madeleine sponge cake — but perhaps for good reason.
Because as curators aim to emphasize at the Grand Musée du Parfum, that’s what distinguishes a master perfumer, also known as “the nose,” from the average person: their finely tuned sense of smell.
Located on one of the toniest streets in Paris on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in company with luxury boutiques and a five-star hotel, the museum opened in December to fill what developers saw as a glaring omission in the narrative of the city and of France.
As the world’s leading exporter of perfume, France holds 25 per cent of the world market share and, at last count in 2014, generated € 25 billion ($35 billion) in sales. French perfume companies — dominated by luxury conglomerates such as L’Oreal, Chanel and LVMH — launch about 400 new products a year. But how do you build a museum that hinges on one of the most intangible, elusive and underdeveloped of the human senses, and bring the story of perfume to life?
In the classic French way, you do it with a lot of poetry.
Linear and straightforward, the exhibit takes visitors on an olfactory journey that begins in the basement of a 19th-century mansion.
After teaching visitors about the origins of perfume in ancient Egypt, the exhibit continues to the Gallery of Seduction, revealing how perfume was used to weave spells in some of history’s greatest love stories (Napoleon I is said to have used 40 litres of perfume a month).
Visitors also learn about its evolution as a protective balm and remedy against illness in the Middle Ages, to the luxurious accessory it is today.
Then when you climb out of the basement and to the upper levels, the visit becomes most interesting, with interactive exhibits that test visitors’ sense of smell and offer behind-thescenes glimpses into the art of perfume-making.
In keeping with the tenor of the mansion, which most recently belonged to the French fashion house Christian Lacroix, the collection is as much an art exhibit as it is an olfactory one: No cartoonish graphics to illustrate the connection between smell and olfactory memory. No lowbrow, infantile smell test games.
Instead, a row of elegant droplets suspended from the ceiling cuts a curve down the middle of the room, cradling bronze spheres that serve to better acquaint visitors with 25 of the finest materials and ingredients used in the luxury perfume industry.
When held under the nose, each orb diffuses a scent — bergamot, tuberose, tonka bean or ethyl maltol.
When held up to the ear, the orb doubles as an audio guide, providing more information on the ingredient in one of seven languages.
The exhibit “Blossom” pays homage to the rose, inviting visitors to pluck a sphere from the flowerlike display, each of which houses a different interpretation of the classic rose fragrance from luxury perfumers.
“Oh, I love this one,” gushes one woman as she holds up a sphere to her friend’s nose. “Oh no, that’s too sweet for me.” “Smell this one,” says another, as orbs are picked up, sniffed, and handed off in rotation between friends.
Conversation about favourite perfume brands ensues (one prefers Annick Goutal, another Guerlain) — a fitting topic as the next exhibit leads the women to a series of short videos which pull back the curtain on the creative process of some of the world’s master perfume composers.
If a smile is the first volley in the art of seduction, all it takes is two seconds to throw the first charm, suggests Jean-Claude Ellena in a video, who has created fragrances for Hermès, Bulgari and Frederic Malle among others.
Says Ellena: “I put the smile in perfume.” Vivian Song is a Paris-based writer.