Well I had it all planned out didn’t I? I declared but a few weeks ago that I’d use this blogging space to assess and appraise each of the three planets I’m going to devise a scented experience for in order to devise a strategy going forward. Only problem is in the middle of last week I decided exactly what I was going to do, and what I’m going to do doesn’t need the assessment of each planet. What it needs is consideration of how these planets are related from the context of Greek Mythology.
You see, the planets of my choosing are Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. When Greek Mythology is applied to these planets, they become Ouranos, Kronos and Zeus. They become Gods. Moreover, Ouranos is Kronos’s father, and Kronos is Zeus’s father. Therefore a direct family line can be traced between all 3. albiet a Godly one.
So what to deduce from this, as a fine art perfumer? Well a there’s certainly something to explore within the concept of the family, especially the capacity families have for history, memory, nostalgia and how such notions link to scent. Often, the first perfume someone experiences is owned by a family member, and this perfume becomes revered due to the trappings of nostalgia.
Informed by this, My work will comprise 3 perfume portraits that represent each God. Each portrait will constitute nominally the same composition, but altered slightly in line with the narrative of each God and their relationship to each other. For example, Uranus will house a musky quality, referencing sex and masculinity; but that will disappear in Saturn’s composition, referencing how Saturn castrated Uranus within Greek mythology. This will highlight the capacity fragrance has for narrative.
The work will also constitute a tension between the domesticity of perfume and the vastness of the cosmos. This will be referenced in the visual aesthetics of each perfume.
In fact, the eagle-eyed amongst you would have noticed that I have included no visual imagery within my blogs recently. This is because I wanted to firm up the conceptual side of things before I committed to any visual design. Now the concept is in mind I will return next week with livery ideas.
Until next time then!
