.jpg)
“Very few people in the world are authentic experts on the aesthetics, the artists, and the artists’ historical times and professional achievement. Elena Vosnaki is one of this very small group, and her knowledge is jaw-dropping, detailed, art historically contextualized, and encyclopedic on the natural raw materials that make perfumes such compelling works of art. Moreover, she writes about scent masterfully and elegantly, and we are lucky to have her.”
~praise by Chandler Burr, the New York Times scent critic, author & curator of Department of Olfactory Art at the Museum of Arts & Design New York
THE PERFUME SHRINE
As selected by the Huffington Post in Best Perfume Blogs, in Top 3 Arts Blogs by Chandler Burr, in Top 10 Perfume Links as chosen by G.Osborne (of Basenotes.net), and as recommended on The Good Web Guide.
Elena Vosnaki has been the Perfume History Curator of the Be Open Foundation exhibition The Garden of Wonders, A Journey in Scents in Milan, as well as a guest lecturer at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
She currently acts as editor/author for top fragrance webzine Fragrantica.com and as the managing editor for Fragrantica.gr She was Fragrance Expert on About.com. Her writing has been twice shortlisted in the FIFI Editorial Excellence Awards, is extensively quoted by authors. She is an evaluating expert on Osmoz.com. Interviews of the author regarding her status as perfume historian & writer appear in VOGUE Hellas, ICON Magazine and Queen.gr
The Perfume Shrine project is an award-winning independent online publication offering articles on perfumery including fragrance reviews, essays on the science of fragrance and aroma raw materials, articles on perfume history, interviews with perfumers and industry professionals, trend-watching, practical tips for shoppers and fragrance advertising evaluation, as well as flavor articles and musings on sensual pleasures & the arts.
Its aim is to provide an Epicurean resource for anyone interested in scent, flavor and the arts and to offer an independent assessment of products on the market. But its most important goal is to share the passion for scents, pose interesting questions and ignite a genuine appreciation for the art of living!
About Elena Vosnaki, the Editor
I grew up in a family of scientists and artists, which instigated an inquisitive spirit in me with a passion for the finer things in life. My academic degrees are in History, History of Art and Archaeology, as well as Classical Music Studies and my scent hobby resulted in perfumery training as time allowed.
Scent and the sense of smell have been of high interest to me since I was a small child. Playing with my mother's and my very elegant grandmother's perfumes as a toddler, I soon progressed to reading whatever I could find on fragrances: magazine clippings; books on perfumes and essences, some from authors of classical antiquity; heavy volumes of chemistry and perfumery later on. The fascination with its history prompted me to collect & study a large sum of vintage fragrances, essential oils and synthetic materials for several years. As time and opportunities allowed, I studied formally attending perfumery seminars while pursuing my other academic interests, meeting people who were willing to teach me and travelled on places which presented aromatic challenges ~some of those I have recounted here, some are left to be told.
In 2000 a non-profit website was created that contained some of the perfume information I had been collecting for years, including a list of fragrances endorsed by the rich and famous. In 2006, after writing numerous reviews online on other venues, I created the Perfume Shrine ~my personal glimpse into the cosmos of perfumes: the materials that enrapture me, the perfumers who are responsible for the creation, the process of creation itself and the marketing & presentation of the finished product.
Fragrance writing progressed to fragrance consulting and my articles featured in various publications around the world (Harper's Bazaar, art magazines Iconofly and Soup, Basenotes in print and webzine Sniffapalooza Magazine among them). Several venues mentioned my work, ranging from the Financial Times, the Washington Times, Lucky Magazine, Allure, The Wine & Food Magazine and Tilar J.Mazzeo's book "The Secret of Chanel No.5" [Harper Collins 2010]. Perfume Shrine has made it to the "Best Perfume Blogs" list on the Hufffington Post. I was also interviewed by Vogue Hellas in regards to my unique position as a fragrance historian and writer in Greece.
My writing was recognised in the Fragrance Foundation (FiFi) Awards for Editorial Excellence in Fragrance Coverage twice, in both 2009 and 2011. In 2010 I became the editor in chief of the independent, non-commercial platform for perfumery discourse Perfumism.com, hoping to open up a dialogue between industry professionals and the perfume-loving audience at large, while fragrance consulting with indie brands and individuals. I'm currently a contributing editor at Fragrantica, the biggest online perfume platform and developing a book on scent.
This path has enriched me as a person and I am very grateful for it.
About Copyright on the Perfume Shrine site
All original content, personal photos and translations herein copyright © 2005-2012 Elena Vosnaki/PerfumeShrine, All Rights Reserved.
The contents of Perfume Shrine are protected by applicable copyright laws, which prohibit any usage of the original material appearing on this site for commercial purposes without explicit written consent from the editor of Perfume Shrine. You are however welcome to provide a link back to the posts on this site as long as you explicitly mention their authorship, recognize the original source of the information you give, and acknowledge the site of origin.
If there is anything from your own site that is already copyrighted or you object to being published here, please let me know by email and I will take it down immediately.
Contact The Editor
Please email the editor Elena Vosnaki: perfumeshrine AT yahoo DOT com
Follow Me on Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
NB. The shops on EBAY and AMAZON using the Perfumeshrine name are NOT in ANY way affiliated with Perfumeshrine.com