Museums now target visitors noses

KMSKS smells like museum spirit

Some people adore the smell of old books. But what about old museums? Would that ring your bell? Imagine a fragrance inspired by the Flemish masters, the unique architecture of a 19th century European museum or a painter’s studio? You don't have to imagine any more, as perfume-maker Laura de Coninck has created it.

The idea comes from the Antwerp Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA) director Carmen Willems and Paris-trained Sonia Constant, who has created fragrances for Narciso Rodriguez, Jean Paul Gaultier, Nina Ricci and Tom Ford.

“When I worked for Marie-Claire, I realised how much I was captivated by the world of perfumery,” said de Coninck, a former journalist with a master's degree in arts. “I interviewed a lot of perfume-makers and then one day I met Sonia Constant.”

Constant introduced de Coninck to perfumery and helped her secure an education at the Givaudan perfumery school. After meeting Willems, they came up with an idea for the perfume. The KMSKA set up a multi-disciplinary team, including a perfume historian and a curator of collections. It identified themes such as chiaroscuro, Rubens’ gardens and studio or a walk among the museum’s works.

An "experience" fragrance

The result is "KMSKA", an "experience" fragrance made from natural ingredients, intended to capture the soul of the museum.

The fragrance comes at a price: €145. The ingredients include vetiver from Haiti, patchouli from Indonesia, cedar-wood from Texas, sweet myrrh from Somalia, centifolia roses, Bourbon geranium, cinnamon bark oil, bergamot from Italy, and black pepper from Madagascar.

Other museums such as MoMA in New York City and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam have also created their own perfumes.

(ML. Source: The Bulletin. Photo: Pexeles by Pixabay)