Nez à nez. Contemporary perfumers

Open­ing : Thursday, 14 Febru­ary start­ing at 6:00 PM at mudac

In the exhib­i­tion Nez à nez– Contem­por­ary perfumers, we follow the traject­ory and creat­ive processes of those work­ing in the complex and demand­ing world of perfumery. The aim is to give the public access to some of the insider secrets of a creat­ive medium that touches us all. At mudac, the idea of an exhib­i­tion on perfumery was long in the works. Like fash­ion, the creation of perfume is an applied art: a craft that must take into account how the end-product will be used. Perfume-making is a special­ised discip­line that requires extens­ive expert­ise and no short­age of creat­ive curi­os­ity. Perfumers compose, blend, assemble, assess, sniff… and tell a story.

To show just how complex and diverse the world of perfumery is, the exhib­i­tion spot­lights the creations of thir­teen perfumers from vari­ous coun­tries and back­grounds: men and women, at differ­ent stages of their careers, work­ing inde­pend­ently, as head of their own brand or for a perfume house. We teamed up with the perfumers them­selves and the experts from the special­ist magazine Nez to select three fragrances by each creator to feature in the exhib­i­tion.

Nez à nez presents the perfumer’s art at three differ­ent levels: the indi­vidual creat­or’s exper­i­ence, in the form of inter­views; common themes unit­ing the work of two or three perfumers; and general inform­a­tion intro­du­cing the craft. For mudac, the main chal­lenge was how to present some­thing as intan­gible as scent in a museum context where the visual domin­ates. How could we display fragrances without influ­en­cing the public’s percep­tion of them, and keep perfume centre stage? For a solu­tion, we turned to Sarah van Gameren and Tim Simpson of the studio Glithero, who have created six olfact­ory install­a­tions that take visit­ors on a poetic, sensorial jour­ney into the world of scents. Design thus plays an essen­tial role in elev­at­ing the art of perfume.

In paral­lel, Le Musée de la Main UNIL-CHUV will hold an exhib­i­tion entitled What a Nose! Scents and Feel­ings, in which visit­ors will be invited to discover the amaz­ing powers of humans’ often under­ap­pre­ci­ated sense of smell. The exhib­i­tion will include a large array of sensorial exper­i­ences and art install­a­tions and explore the way our sense of smell contrib­utes to how we perceive our bodies and those of others, as well as how we under­stand ourselves and relate to the world. The two museums will host joint events through­out both exhib­i­tions.

The illus­trated book Sentir – ressentir. Parfumeurs, odeurs et émotions is a joint public­a­tion that revis­its and elab­or­ates upon the olfact­ory exper­i­ences presen­ted in the exhib­i­tions Nose to Nose – Contem­por­ary perfumers at mudac and What a Nose! Scents and Feel­ings at Le Musée de la Main UNIL-CHUV. Experts from a range of fields share their points of view on the creation of perfumes and how smell is tied to emotion. Published by Marge Design, Paris, 2019 (in French and English).

List of perfumers and perfumes

Marc-Antoine Cortic­chi­ato (FR) – Parfum d’Em­pire:
Ambre russe, Tabac tabou, Corsica furi­osa

Isabelle Doyen (FR) – Aromatique Majeur:
Turtle Vetiver (Les Nez), Ninféo Mio (Annick Goutal), Nuit de Bakél­ite (Naomi Good­sir)

Céline Ellena (FR) – Nezen:
Mon lys (Fragonard), De Bach­makov (The Differ­ent Company), Spring­pop (J.U.S)

Jean-Claude Ellena (FR) – inde­pend­ent, house perfumer for Hermès from 2004 to 2016:
Cuir d’ange (Hermès), Jardin en Médi­ter­ranée (Hermès), Thé Vert (Bulgari)

Rodrigo Flores-Roux (MEX) – Givaudan:
Monstera (Xinu), Sydney Rock Pool (Arquiste), L’Âme perdue (Le Galion)

Olivia Giac­obetti (FR) – IUNX/Iskia:
Ether (IUNX), Eau Blanche (IUNX), Philosykos (Diptyque)

Pierre Guil­laume (FR) – Pierre Guil­laume:
Le musc et la peau, Cozé, Isparta

Vero Kern (CH) – Vero Profumo:
Kiki, Mito, Naja

Patri­cia de Nicolaï (FR) – Nicolaï:
Cap Néroli, New York Intense, Patchouli Intense

Fabrice Pellegrin (FR) – Firmenich:
Comme une fleur (Roos & Roos), Eau duelle (Diptyque), La fille de l’air (Cour­règes)

Domi­n­ique Ropion (FR) – IFF:
Alien (Mugler), Portrait of a Lady (Frédéric Malle), Jungle (Kenzo)

Maurice Roucel (FR) – Symrise:
Insolence (Guer­lain), Tocade (Rochas), Musc Ravageur (Frédéric Malle)

Lorenzo Villoresi (IT) – Lorenzo Villoresi:
Alamut, Yerbamate, Teint de Neige