M/MINK | NYC The Center of Olfactory Art | John Chandler

M/MINK Eau de Parfum | M/M Paris | Inez & Vindooth Anne of Carversville

In a reversal of the usual development process for a new fragrance, Swedish perfume company BYREDO PARFUMS developed their M/MINK fragrance, inspired by art and imagery, not a scent in nature, food, or even an abstract concept like ‘sensuality’ or ‘joy’.

M/MINK is created to first smell like ink, but then to become the spirit and soul of ink, so that the fragrance is writing messages under your skin. It’s very conceptual, we know, but understanding this process may become easier with the first-ever museum exhibition on perfume as an art form at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design’s ‘The Art of Scent’.

‘The Art of Scent’ | NYC MAD The Center of Olfactory Art | Chandler Burr

The Art of Scent highlights major stylistic developments in the history of olfactory art, beginning in the late nineteenth century—when the use of synthetic materials ushered in the modern era of fragrances—through the present day. Visitors will experience the work of leading scent artists, among them: Thierry Mugler, who created Angel, considered to be the paradigmatic gourmand work of the twentieth century; Jacques Cavallier, who introduced a more minimalist olfactory design in L’Eau d’Issey; and Alberto Morillas and Annie Buzantian, who in using a carbon dioxide extraction in their influential Pleasures mainstreamed a major technological advance in the art form. via MAD website

Chandler Burr will become first curator of Museum of Arts and Design’s Center of Olfactory ArtThe exhibit will be housed in a new exhibition space at MAD, called The Center of Olfactory Art. Today Media Bistro announces that ‘The Art of the Scent’s’ curator Chandler Burr will leave his position as the NYTimes perfume critic to join the center full time. Chandler will remain as GQ’s scent editor.

Burr has an ambitious agenda at the Museum of Arts and Design: “To place olfactory art within in the mainstream of art history and to show that scent is a legitimate artistic medium, the equal of painting, sculpture, architecture and music,” he’s quoted in WSJ.