Art & Olfaction Awards 2026: The Experimental Scent Summit Where I Presented ScentDia

 

The Experimental Scent Summit (ESS) is presented as part of an ongoing collaboration between Los Angeles-based The Institute for Art and Olfaction and Berlin-based Smell Lab. The Experimental Scent Summit (whose speakers and subjects of 2026 were presented in the official page) is an annual gathering designed to build community and learning in creative practices with scent. As a rule, through presentations, academic and research practitioners share experimental work in an open and unrestrained environment that facilitates collaboration and inquiry. It is a non-profit community event that brought together researchers to share experimental and academic work on scent in an informal, open setting at the beautiful venue of Impact HUB Athens,right in the city center of Athens, below the Acropolis. 

ESS 2026 was co-curated this year by Julianne Lee, Minetta Rogers, and Saskia Wilson-Brown for the Institute for Art and Olfaction, and Klara Ravat for Smell Lab, and the presentations ranged from research findings in the fields of olfaction, history, culture, botany, sound science, and other related academic disciplines; performances and conversations that inspire new ways of thinking about and working with scent. 

the presenters for ScentDia social robotics

   SCENT DIA, the Olfactory Turn in Social Robotics, an interdisciplinary project uniting robotics, philosophy and olfactory art, which was introduced by me (Elena Vosnaki), followed by the more in-depth analysis by Professor of Logic and Science of Philosophy Luisa Damiano and Manos Gerakinis of Manos Gerakinis Parfums. Working with Mari Velonaki, who developed the robot as the 3rd in line in her Diamandini Robotic Series at the University of New South Wales in Australia, and collaborating with manufacturing chemical plant Vioryl S.A., they translated the social cues of the first social robot into the emission of discernible scent, emitted at the discretion of artificial intelligence in correspondence to human cues! 

Social robots, as we explained, are robots able to communicate through social cues and in social contexts, through emotional expressions, language, and posture, and now for the first time through scent corresponding to human interaction. Thanks to SCENTDIA's revolutionary technological innovation, the audience was informed about the new concept of the "social robot" as a "social connector," which opens new perspectives in the contexts in which such technology finds application, such as health care, education, and personal support, marketing, and entertainment. All in all, a very stimulating and enjoyable experience. To quote the Institute of Art & Olfaction's motto as my closing line, "Be kind, be cool, be honest, have fun."

Perfume Photography: Our Beloved Bottles

 

The huge website/webzine of which I have the honor to be a senior editor and manager of its Greek edition for many years now invited a group of authors to post their favorite photos they personally took of their own bottles (Well, a small selection of them, at least!) The above our my very own, photographed over the years with real love and passion. 

Details are as follows: 

A summer collection (from left to right) of Diorissimo EDT, Y by YSL, Rem by Reminiscence, Passage d' Enfer by L' Artisan Parfumeur, and Fleurs d' Oranger by Serge Lutens. 

 Guerlain L'Heure Bleue Eau de Toilette (bottom left) the 1980's wonder swathed in deep teal and cool waterscape blue-green. 

 Guerlain's Jicky extrait de parfum (bottom center) rests atop Courtesan by Diane Haeger, following the life and forbidden romance of Diane de Poitiers. 

 Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle (bottom right) embraced by Tradescantia Zebrina sword leaves.

You can view the rest of our team's stunningly beautiful shots on this link.

Mementos of Youth: How Cacharel Shaped an Entire Era

 

For many middle-aged women, Cacharel was a cultural phenomenon; their fragrances were offered as assuredly successful gifts to young women en masse. And they used to be really good too! 

photo borrowed via Fetherstone Vintage blog

 

Cacharel's Eden from 1994 is the precursor to neon-green compositions like Mark Jacobs Decadence and Thierry Mugler's Aura, which were introduced as trailblazing in recent years, but they were not. Considering that the latter, with its green rhubarb-gardenia accord in the eau de parfum, has sparked comments like "very herbal mouthwash," "grassy soil," "muddy swamps," "musty cellars," "bugs and bug poison," etc., it's not unfathomable that Eden has also been rather challenging for modern audiences. Back then, nevertheless, it was "the newest Cacharel" and its youth appeal was palpable. Every teenage girl and budding woman has fond memories of everything Cacharel made. There was no frog in sight, only princes. 

 Some perfumes were shaped to be gifted as an entry into womanhood, on the other hand. Who could imagine a blockbuster perfume being promoted through porcelain-skinned beauties in soft focus, showing no inch of skin, beyond their necks, set to a baroque soundtrack, in this day and age? And yet Anaïs Anaïs, the first perfume by Cacharel (1978), was advertised exactly like that and became THE reference scent for the early 1980s for droves of young women who still reminisce fondly of it 40 years later. I can tell you right off the bat that it was my first proper, owned bottle of perfume, bought as a gift and offered with the requisite ceremony. The actual scent of Anaïs Anaïs defies the notion of erotic elixirs as something that is warm and sensuous, relying on a rare for today's standards combination of prim lily of the valley (and a few other lilies) with the dusting of whisper-soft leather in the drydown.

After the Victorian oppression, at least as far as the public life of ladies was concerned, women now claimed their sexuality. They took off their restrictive corsets, which were a means of sexual "control" by their spouses. And they cut their hair short, in a bob, as a sign of their unconformity and modernity. Let us recall Fitzgerald's 1919 short story, Berenice Bobs Her Hair. They wore Charleston dresses ending at the knee, often with a deep neckline and a low plunge at the back. They made themselves up with dark, thin lips and dark eyes on a pale face, with thin eyebrows like a stroke of calligraphy. In short, they looked like a vampire, a harbinger of the goth trend. Cacharel used this to great aplomb with their Loulou fragrance, following closely the script which Louise Brooks immortalised as Loulou in the Pabst classic film Pandora's Box. It was an oriental scent, but for young women. Heliotrope, musk, and an abstract heart of flowers touched by a whisper of aniseed from another planet, heaved and sighed in it. As the gloriously musical score of the campaign commercial implied, it was a poignant love story, possibly tragic. Gabriel Fauré's Pavane is immortal. And oui, c'est moi (i.e. "yes, that's me") answering a young man questioning after Loulou, became an indelible memory in our collective memories.

Spring Overjoy: My 2026 Scented Picks

There is something to the concept of spring cleaning. It makes for a renewed desire to put order into chaos. It not only pertains to homes but also to academic interests, the books and playlists we enjoy and -you guessed it- our fragrance wardrobes too. This spring I picked a couple of old favourites alongside a couple of newer discoveries. 

borrowed via pinterest

Old Favourites

 The most obvious scent I picked this spring is Lanvin's Oxygène. The olfactory reception I get in Oxygène is quite something, as it recalls and depicts vividly one of my favourite flowers, the wisteria, or glycine in French. It's an early spring flower and, therefore, associated with cool air, dewiness, and a certain hesitant expectation. The heat and the sun have not come in to orgiastically lavish upon it. Its peppery spiciness, inherent also in mauve lilacs, is due to eugenol. A fusion of spicy goodness reveals itself from the core: a middle ground between a peppery twinkle, a clove-y note, and carnations, with a side of a somewhat oily green nuance reminiscent of hyacinth and lilacs. It's first and foremost FRESH. 

borrowed via pinterest

 Rose fragrances that I had put aside when winter came include Paris by YSL and Rosarine by Parfums Dusita. Rosarine is like a breath of fresh air, rose-tinged clouds of sweet dawn - a beautiful and refined rosy fragrance that is so much more than just roses. Sweet and fruity greens mingle. It's cooling yet warm, not just a morning scent, but an evening one too. It consists of two varieties of roses: Bulgarian rose and Rose de Mai from Grasse. Bergamot, jasmine, frankincense, ambrette, iris, and coriander emphasize their aromatic qualities, lending a rich and lasting aura. Paris by Yves Saint Laurent, on the other hand, especially in the EDT version, which is the one I prefer, has a massive violet note that engulfs me into a mauve tinge of silent dusk. 

 Incense scents are another beloved genre that reads well in springtime for me. Santa Maria Novella's Incenso is one such. In Incenso, we have a great fusion of personal introspection and pleasurable outward accountability; the composition reads as both zen for a spiritual mood, but not too ecclesiastical or sombre. Beginning with a dense myrrh and rosy-spice mélange that is not very distant from the chord in Messe de Minuit, it is already ripe and airy, with juniper and patchouli, as well as woody, serene, and earthy, evoking soil and plants growing in a cloistered monastery. It feels buoyant and airy, like a pigeon's feather traveling on the wind, blowing in some secret garden, hiding beneath the walls of the Florentine city. 

 Newer discoveries: 

  

Bijou Zafran by Ormonde Jayne, the 2026 offering by the British niche brand, spice (a golden saffron) that is paired with quite sweet pear, rendering it into fire spun in silk, with suede leather, and unearthly woods. It's a novel fusion of compote gourmand with Middle-Eastern themes of saffron. 

borrowed via pinterest

 Alhambra Bakhoor by Ricardo Ramos is a way of showing how Andalusian Muslim society allowed itself freedoms that were unthinkable for the Muslims of the caliphates of Damascus and Baghdad. . Alhambra Bakhoor isn't a spicy fragrance per se, with wine and spices mingling in order to render an abstract, creamy feeling of contemplation with a sensuous, hedonistic heart. Shockingly, but in a good way, there is a whiff of brand-new-objects made from leather and woods (specifically soft, buttery woods like sandalwood). It is akin to the experience of unboxing something brand new.

  Iris Bianco (L'Erbolario) is a newer iris to the collection and to me is piquant, delicate and at the same time melodious, as if made of wind chimes, a canon that is reprised by angelic voices on a crisp sunny morning. The complex air under a bitter orange tree (with its neroli and citrus effect), full of clarity, and beside it a blooming rose bush, with just a soupçon of spice. It comes off as "clean girl aesthetic", not particularly ground-breaking. The iris in the name is potentially fodder for disappointment for those who seek a powdery cosmetics smelling fragrance.

Springtime Incense: Santa Maria Novella Incenso (short fragrance review)

photo borrowed via pinterest

Incense scents are a beloved genre that reads well in springtime for me. Santa Maria Novella's Incenso is one such. In Incenso, we have a great fusion of personal introspection and pleasurable outward accountability; the composition reads as both zen for a spiritual mood, but not too ecclesiastical or sombre. Beginning with a dense myrrh and rosy-spice mélange that is not very distant from the chord in Messe de Minuit, it is already ripe and airy, with juniper and patchouli, as well as woody, serene, and earthy, evoking soil and plants growing in a cloistered monastery. It feels buoyant and airy, like a pigeon's feather traveling on the wind, blowing in some secret garden, hiding beneath the walls of the Florentine city.

The scent in Santa Maria Novella's Incenso begins with a dense myrrh and rosy-spice mélange which is not very distant from the chord in Messe de Minuit. It is already ripe and airy with juniper and patchouli as well as woody, serene and earthy, evoking soil and plants growing in a cloistered monastery. Both facets are evocative of the traditional uses of incense and protective amulets for the body, the way that perfume worked as a prophylactic tool before the sanitation of Western cities. It then dries down to pure frankincense, yet still spicy, with a hint of cloves and cinnamon alongside the officially noted nagarmotha (cyperus) and cool, earthy vetiver. This furthers the attractive, deep quality of the blend, instead of the chillingly cold facet, reminiscent of the crypt, as presented in the astounding La Liturgie des Heures.

To me it seems that the fragrance has not benefited from much positivity in the perfume sphere because it is a strange, unusual beast; a pleasant incense which is not indicative of haute tastes. But there is no reason to snub one's nose on something that marries centuries-old traditions with contemporaneity. One can enjoy things our milieu enjoys as well. I will take my book and gallivant the caliginous gardens of the Medicis next time I travel, wearing Santa Maria Novella's Incenso. Sounds like a plan.

Incenso by Italian niche brand Santa Maria Novella from Florence was launched in 2024. Top notes are Cardamom and Pink Pepper; middle notes are Frankincense and Cypriol; base note is Vetiver.