The Art and Olfaction Awards
April 25th, 2014 at The Goethe Institut, Los Angeles

2014 brought us a new award model for independent and artisan perfumers called The Art and Olfaction Awards. These awards were established to:

celebrate creativity, innovation and excellence in global independent and artisan perfumery.

– The Art and Olfaction Awards

There were two categories; Independent and Artisan, with two awards for each category.

The awards went to:

Independent Category

ASHOKA, by Neela Vermeire Creations
Created by Neela Vermeire and Bertrand Duchaufour

Here is The Fragrant Man’s review of Ashoka; Fig in a Floral Forest, as well as links to the following reviews:

Kafka – feels like a mother’s loving caress
Chemist in The Bottle – 14 hours of Ashoka
CaFleureBon – Mark Behnke says Ashoka is better than those three earlier fragrances. A lovely journey.
Bois de Jasmin – Patricia Thomas thinks powerful and vivid opening… quiet and contemplative drydown.
Olfactoria’s Travels – Ashoka makes me feel calm and contented, patient and kind. Letting go of resentments, envy, anger, hatred and sorrow is not easy, I feel Ashoka is the kind of perfume that encourages me to do just that. To let go of the negative and focus on the good in my life. It sounds like a tall order for a mere perfume, but we all know of the power a scent can have over us.
The Non-Blonde – the new fragrance doesn’t open a window into a colorful outside world as much as it places a mirror in front of you and allows you to reflect on all that’s good and of the incredible gifts that are all around. As far as I’m concerned, Neela Vermeire’s Ashoka is one such gift.
Val, The Cookie Queen on Australian Perfume Junkies – a fulfillment…

Independent Category

KÖNIG, by YOSH
Created by Yosh Han and Olivia Jan

Artisan Category

CALLING ALL ANGELS, by April Aromatics
Created by Tanja Bochnig

Artisan Category

JOHN FRUM, by Aether Arts Perfumes
Created by Amber Jobin

Facebook photos of the event are here

The list of the Artisan Finalists is here.

The list of Independent Finalists is here.

The Art and Olfaction Awards are organised by The Insitute of Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles. I spoke with the founder of the institute, Saskia Wilson-Brown…

The Art and Olfaction Awards are not intended to compete or replace other awards. I come from a film background, and in the film world people submit to many different festivals or awards. We are applying that model to perfumery, so are not trying to be exclusive or competitive with other awards and events. We’re creating a space devoted to independent and artisan perfumers.

Saskia Wilson-Brown
The Institute of Art and Olfaction

Last year there was a lengthy discussion in the comments on Kafkaesque about the FiFi awards. By Jove there were a lot of opinions everywhere about the FiFi award received by By Kilian. There was even a discussion about setting up another series of awards which was cognisant of the differences between niche, indie and artisan categories within the perfume industry. Thankfully this has now happened.

Definitions of Indie and Artisan for the purposes of these awards are here. The awards cleverly transcend any natural vs synthetic categories and gender perceptions of perfume by defining the entrants by business type rather than by type of perfume.

The judges this time around for The Art and Olfaction Awards were:

Preliminary Judges
Marcos Lutyens – Artist
Brent Leonesio – Perfumer
James McHugh – Historian
Sherri Sebastian – Perfumer
Ashley Eden Kessler – Perfumer
Daniel Krasofski – Natural Perfumer
Hank Jenkins – The Plant Provocateur
Carlos Alvarez – Scent Bar / LuckyScent.com
Laura Johnson – Scent Bar / LuckyScent.com
Rachel Sondag – Scent Bar / LuckyScent.com
Steven Gontarski Scent Bar / LuckyScent.com
Koan Jeff Baysa – Institute of Art and Olfaction
Yvettra Grantham – Scent Bar / LuckyScent.com

Final Round Judges
Mandy Aftel – Perfumer
Luca Turin – Perfume Critic
Stefan Sagmeister – Designer
Sarah Horowitz-Thran – Perfumer
Christophe Laudamiel – Perfumer

The judges looked for an X factor as well as technical skill, first impressions, dry down performance and the ability of the perfume to be memorable.

The awards were produced in partnership and with the support of:
Odelab
Olfactif
Happily
Scent Bar
Fragrantica
Lucky Scent
Beski Projekts
Goethe Institut
AutumnSeventy
The Fragrant Man
The Standard Hotel
L’Artisan Parfumeur
The Miniature Perfume Shoppe

Further Reading
Art and Olfaction Awards – website