Revisiting a scent wheel1:57
Revisiting a scent wheel1:57
What you see is what you smell
Circles and wheels are common formats used for knowledge visualization in different contexts. The color wheel organizes the relationships between primary, secondary and tertiary colors and visualizes color relationships. In the field of music the circle of fifths visualizes the relationships between major and minor keys. Accordingly, wheels are used to highlight relationships, identify families based on fundamental similarities, and illustrate different grades of intensity. In the olfactory domain, wheels were used in the 16th century to classify the smell of urine for medical purposes. Since the early 20th century the wheel has become a popular format in perfumery. In the world of perfumery the fragrance wheel serves as a handy tool for classifying perfumes. However, many questions are more puzzling than a neat visual design might suggest, as Christophe points out in this clip.
Family dispute3:18
Family dispute3:18
This video empowers consumers to challenge the salesperson upon their next trip to a perfume store!
At most perfume stores it is common to classify scents by olfactory families. For instance, a department store perfume salesperson identifies the consumer’s passion for a flowery or spicy note and provides more samples from these olfactory families. In encounters such as this, a consumer might easily feel inferior to the salesperson’s expertise. However, in observing the perfume field, we have noticed that even among experts there are highly personal systems of classification that vary from perfumer to perfumer. We asked Christophe Laudamiel and Christoph Hornetz for a set of sample olfactory materials that could help us to better understand some of the everyday practices in the field. One of the perfumers came up with a list of materials grouped by families. One night, we discussed the list over wine and cheese with the two perfumers. On this occasion we learned how even two perfumers who had closely collaborated for several years can quickly disagree about commonly shared olfactory conventions and classifications. Bear in mind that the perfumers talk about single molecules whereas commercial perfumes are composed of several dozen different molecules. After watching the video the viewer should feel empowered to challenge the salesperson upon their next trip to a perfume store!
