Life in Scents

The olfactory rebel. Los Angeles-based Killian Wells, pop musician turned perfumer turned millennial entrepreneur, represents less a relaxing of the rules of perfumery and more their ripping up. His fragrance house Xyrena pays homage to the retro culture of the 1980s and to the smells we risk losing in the march of modernity. Wells’ first job was a cinema projectionist and this colours the format of the range; each perfume is packaged in a VHS case, with the invitation to display and reminisce over a movie library of scents. Dark Ride, which features in Perfume, is an olfactory snapshot of a log flume ride - Wells’ references are Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain rides. Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent continues until 23 September at Somerset House. #perfumepioneers See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Perfumer Andy Tauer is a hobbyist turned professional, inspiring many to try their hand at perfumery. Tauer describes the creation of L’Air du Désert Marocain, which features in the exhibition Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent, in cinematic terms as though standing in a desert scene receptive to the odours carried in the breeze. No perfumer has done more than Andy Tauer to communicate with perfume enthusiasts, and to bridge the knowledge gap between creator and consumer. Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent continues until 23 Sept. https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/perfume #perfumepioneers See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lyn Harris has brought a new relaxed confidence to British perfumery, promoting the role of natural materials. Trained in Paris and Grasse, she emphasises the quality of her ingredients which are allowed to shine through using pared down formulations. In Charcoal, Harris has found beauty in a material usually considered prosaic. The perfume holds the tension between hot, rough smoke and a smooth green translucency, and is built around two grades of juniper oil. Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent continues at Sommerst House until 23 Sept. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Free from European perfumery heritage, musician and self-taught perfumer David Seth Moltz is at the vanguard of a thrilling and unorthodox scent movement. His Brooklyn based house D.S. & Durga, co-founded in 2008 with his wife Kavi Durga, uses perfume to tell stories of offbeat landscapes and folk histories capturing places in time and space. David shares his story behind El Cosmico, the perfume created for the eponymous trailer and teepee campsite in the city of Marfa, in the remote high desert of West Texas. Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent continues until 23 Sept. #perfumepioneers Podcast produced by Jo Barratt, commissioned by Somerset House. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Daniela Andrier's perfumery is about evolution, not revolution. Her creation Purple Rain for Prada Olfactories (2015) is an exquisite, seamless layering of iris effects. Daniella introduces her philosophical approach to perfumery and gives insight into how our sense of smell can play an important role in memory, and our understanding of time and space. Purple Rain is designed to prompt a sense of deja vu by smelling distinct yet somehow familiar. Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent continues at Somerset House until 23 September. #perfumepioneers https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/perfume http://perfume.digital/ Podcast produced by Jo Barratt See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Antoine Lie talks about love and bodily fluids as he introduces the concept behind Sécretions Magnifiques, perhaps the most provocative scent within the Perfume exhibition. Recalling the height of sexual pleasure with the smells of semen, sweat and milk, the perfume has been highly divisive since its launch a decade ago, labelled as both attractive and repulsive. Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent continues at Somerset House until 12 September. #perfumepioneers perfume.digital See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The latest Perfume Pioneers podcasts features German entrepreneur Geza Schoen who introduces his elusive perfume Molecule 01, containing just one material known as Iso E Super. The molecule has been used in the making of perfume since the 1970's. Geza explains how his perfume, containing just one synthetic ingredient and a scent that many are unable to smell, became a pop culture phenomenon. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mark Buxton's Comme des Garçons 2 changed our perceptions of what perfume could be. In the first episode of the Perfume Pioneers series Mark gives insight into his madcap entry to the perfume world and Comme des Garçons 2 which features in the exhibition. It was created in response to a one-line brief to create the smell of a swimming pool of ink. Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent, invites you to go on an olfactory journey through some of the most important perfumes over the last 20 years. https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/perfume See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tom Chatfield has written six books on digital culture and technology, and he's also got something to say about smell. In the light of his latest publication, Live This Book, he's urging us to reclaim the quality of our time including the relationships we hold with our environments. Join us for a fascinating, challenging discussion on the value of stopping to sniff in this edition of Life in Scents. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This time on Life in Scents we’re at the home of footballer Jay Tabb. Currently with Ipwitch, Jay has also played for Coventry and in the premier league with Reading. In this episode he talks to us about the smells which have accompanied throughout his career. From spending his weekends at the local rugby club with his dad, to the smell of his part in Readings 2012 Championship winning Campaign. Sweat, mud, fresh new boots and some other smells you might not expect. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Carla Valentine is the technical curator of the Bart's Pathology Museum, founded in Smithfield London in the nineteenth century to conserve and document human specimens. Surrounded by death, whether restoring what are called 'pots' of remains, carrying out autopsies, excavating plague graves, or running a dating night for those working in the death industries, Carla shares with us the olfactory worlds of death and decay in an utterly captivating and sensitive way, from the funeral parlour-inspired scents of her personal perfume collection, to smells that most of us, fortunately, will never encounter. Contains content that is unsuitable for those aged under 18. Music by Kai Engel See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Everything's Coming up Roses. Ellie Jauncey and Anna Day are The Flower Appreciation Society, who have been revitalising the world of floristry with their unstuffy arrangements celebrating seasonal British flowers, and recently published their first book. Early one morning, they took us round New Covent Garden Flower Market to sniff around the sea of blooms, and find out how to buy flowers from the trade. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A walk with Loredana. Encounter lucid, vivid scents, smells, colours and be present in this ancient place. Meet Salvatori, the last of his kind, who dances for us in his home. Feel the earth that produces fruit not tasted for a thousand years. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With over 300 scents in its catalogue, The Library of Fragrance (known as Demeter), has become the place to go for perfumes inspired by the everyday, the nostalgic and even the banal. In our only interview directly in the fragrance industry, Life in Scents chatted with lawyer-turned-perfume-company-founder Mark Crames about stopping in his tracks when he encounters smells that he simply has to get translated into sprayable form , whether it’s the perfect vanilla cake batter, fresh air in Alaska, and rotting fish. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Life in Scents takes an unexpected turn this month; instead of discovering the smells of one person’s world, we travel back to the scents of a place and time: 18th Century England, with PhD researcher William Tullett of King’s College London. Moving between the aromatic pleasure gardens habituated by fashionable, scent-obsessed Macaronis, the perfume shops of London purveying the ubiquitous lavender water, and the crowded assembly halls with their assorted putrid miasmas, it’s time to inhale the fragrant (and not so fragrant), airs of the past and discover how a historian goes about using smell as a source material. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pedro da Costa Felgueiras is a specialist in historic paint techniques. In this episode we talk to him about the smells of his craft from turpentine and pigments to the objects and buildings he painstakingly restores to their former glory. We also travel back to with Pedro to his childhood and the scents fish, sea, vegetables and growing up in Portugal. And we visit him on site at the restoration of Twickenham’s Georgian Gothic Revival Villa, Strawberry Hill House. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Life in Scents heads into the inspiring, energising and cacaphonous world of London's Science Museum this month, as we meet Inventor-in-Residence Mark Champkins to talk all things smell. The founder of Concentrate Design, Mark is tasked with solving problems into useful, patentable products. He pitches the concept of the anti-smell spectrum, the odour absorbing school gym kit, and the olfactory world of the inventor, while Jo and Odette pitch him some real and fake smell-invention ideas to see if he bites... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Shonagh Marshall is a curator at the cultural centre Somerset House, home of London Fashion Week and the Courtauld Gallery. As a cataloguer and archiver of fashion collectors, she has worked on internationally renowned exhibitions including Alexander McQueen’s collection for the Costume Institute in New York, Tim Walker: Story Teller and Valentino: Master of Couture. Most recently, Shonagh was asked by Daphne Guiness to catalogue the personal collection of the late Isabella Blow, and co-curated the subsequent exhibition, Fashion Galore!, which has been running for the past four months in London. Shonagh joins LIfe in Scents to talk about how scent and clothing are connected, the Fracas effect, and an abhorrence of the aroma of oranges. This episode features original sound design by MAKEWILD. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Darren Rook is the co-founder and CEO of the London Distillery Company, the first to open it’s doors in London for over a hundred years. Darren speaks about how his team create their Whiskey and Gin using high quality ingredients and an attention experimentation, process and the latest technology. He also takes us back to recycling plants in Newcastle, and to Islay, the island which sparked his passion for the magic of distilling. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hawthorne and Pink May Sniff and Scream with James Craven: Episode 3 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Patchouli and The Incredibly Strange Bed Sniff and Scream with James Craven: Episode 2 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sniff and Scream with James Craven: Episode 1 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our guest on Life in Scents this month is His Excellency Williams Nkurunziza, who is the High Commissioner of the Republic of Rwanda to the United Kingdom and non-resident Ambassador to Ireland. With a diplomatic career that follows years in industry, His Excellency is also a poet, and his recent volume ranges across Rwanda's painful recent history and the drive towards rebuilding the country in the aftermath of genocide. We talked with him about the olfactory scentscapes of his home, from coffee plantations to gorilla-spotting at altitude. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this special edition of Life in Scents, we map the smells and stenches of the city, as Dr Victoria Henshaw, Lecturer in Urban Design and Planning at Sheffield University, shares her work in understanding the olfactory character of the urban. Victoria's talk, hosted at Angela Flanders' perfumery in East London to a public audience, was recorded immediately following a smell tour round Spitalfields which Odette had organised. From the scent implications of urban zoning to the creation of scents for perfuming town centres and the ethics of whiffy street ads, get ready to resniff your street. Victoria's book, Urban Smellscapes, was recently published by Routledge, and her website is: smellandthecity.wordpress.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Benjamin Hebbert, a London-based dealer in stringed instruments, is one of the world’s foremost experts on violins and instrument making. A former curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and European Specialist for Christie’s auction house, Benjamin how buys and sells for a client base of professional musicians, for whom he helps find the perfect instrument. The world of strings is unexpectedly, one where an absence of smells is a mark of quality and authenticity. Odour is a sign that something might not be quite right, as Benjamin explained to us…. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Developmental psychologist, Professor Uta Frith takes the hotseat in the latest edition of Life in Scents. One of the most formidable neuroscientists of her generation, particularly in the field of autism, she also loves perfume - taking listeners on a tour of her garden, lifting the lid on her box of German ointments and unguents reminiscent of childhood, and sharing the importance of spending time to enjoy beautiful scented objects and fragrances. By the end, you may well be keen to try her recipe for Maibowle, an aromatised wine made with sweet woodruff... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We take an olfactory walk into the life of the flaneur in this month’s Life in Scents, as we meet Matthew Beaumont, an academic at University College London who specialises in the cultural history of the city. Matthew gives his take on some fragrances of the Flaneur, the difference between day and nighttime smells, and the smells encountered by the walker as they go about the metropolis. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With his acts ranging from CAMP - a celebration of variety showpresenting - to Hamburger Queen, a fat beauty pageant, Scottee is a truly unique performance artist, journalist and director who has collaborated with the Barbican, the Royal Opera House, the Royal Festival Hall, and even the X Factor. Scottee also happens to be a perfume-fanatic, and in Life in Scents he discusses why he thinks perfume and class (that British sticking point…) are wrapped up in each other, and how he uses particular fragrances with each of his shows, often bringing some unusual audience interactions… See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Get a cup of coffee ready before listening to our latest edition of Life in Scents, as we meet Ben Townsend, one of the UK's most respected barista trainers. Ben's tiny coffee shop in London's Bloomsbury is a mecca to lovers of the bean, and we took a trip to Ben's basement to learn the art of cupping to experience the complex aromas in properly brewed coffee (our noses were truly put to the test!). We also hear about his Life in Scents - a childhood spent with craft glue and making models in his bedroom onto collecting vinyl... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Life in Scents Jo Barratt speaks to Gabriel Stebbing, the man otherwise known as Night Works, ahead of the release of his debut album Urban Heat Island. Gabriel recalls the cooking smells growing up in the homes of his respective parents. We hear of Lynx Africa (Axe to International listeners) in suburban... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Richard Wentworth has been a major player in New British Sculpture for over thirty years. His work often focusses on the idea of objects and questions our understanding of them within the context of our daily lives. In this episode of life in Scents he talks to Jo Barratt about his relationship with smell. Chemical, glue and workshop smells sit alongside a consideration of how we think about and relate smell in a wider sense. As well as many other things Richard muses on the meaning that humans ascribe to that moment after a thunderstorm and how ideas of ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ relate to how we see ourselves within the world, as well as his hatred of perfumed candle shops. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Scissors and tape-measures at the ready for this episode Life in Scents, as tailor Timothy Everest MBE shares some of his favourite smells. For over two decades, Timothy has designed bespoke suits for prime-ministers, musicians and screen icons from his workshop in Spitalfields, East London - including costumes for the recent film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. From the workplace smells of hot irons and chalk to his impressive wardrobe of fragrances, and the patchouli wafts of his time training with Timmy Nutter (outfitter to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones) Timothy brings to life the olfactory world of the sartorialist, whether the perfect cologne, or the scent of a good tweed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Astronomer Marek Kukula is our guest on the latest episode Life in Scents. Based at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, Marek’s role is as public astronomer, translating and communicating the latest in space discovery for the public. Marek shares with us some theories on what the planets or inter-stellar gas might smell like (if we could survive the experience to tell the tale). He talks about the aromas he associates with the eerioly remote, high-altitude observatories at which he has spent nights watching the stars, and jolts us back to earth when remembering the scents of butterfly hunting in the English countryside as a child, or the smells of the Rock gigs he was dragged along to as a student in Manchester. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This time on Life in Scents we sit down for a cup of tea (or five) with Henrietta Lovell, founder of The Rare Tea Company. Henrietta quit her job in packaging to find and import fine teas made by hand, and is utterly passionate about the subject and its associated smells. We hear of her memories of sitting by Lapsang Souchong smoking-huts and of swooning from the scent of jasmine flowers mingling with tea on Chinese mountain tops. Outside of tea, we hear about her love of all sorts of organic scents, of hidden bits of parks and of her grandmother prescribing her first perfume. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Gerhart Jenne is the konditormeister behind London bakery Konditor & Cook, who’s famed confections include Magic Cakes, over 3,000 of which will be put together to create a giant ‘cake’ portrait of the Queen for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Together with partner Paul Cons he oversees a small empire which now occupies 6 distinct locations across central London. Gerhardt recalls the nostalgic, and not always pleasant, smells from his childhood in rural Germany, as well as many more from a career spent immersed in food. We also hear of Paul’s childhood smell recollections as well as those from his time running Flesh, at Manchester’s legendary nightclub, The Hacienda. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This time on Life in Scents, we meet legendary bartender Tony Conigliaro, whose drinks grace bar menus around the world and who loves nothing more than to introduce techniques from perfumery and science into his work, developing new ideas at his London-based research centre, Drinks Factory. Tony talks about why Soho to him will always smell of violets (and not in a good way), how he once used camphor to create a Narnian wardrobe moment, and how he managed to turn a memory of walking in a peaceful Portland forest into a drink. Tony also reveals an early interest in fragrance, starting with miniature-scent-bottle collecting in his teenage years. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This time on Life in Scents, we welcome landscape designer Cleve West who has won an incredible six RHS Gold Medals and Best in Show award at the Chelsea Flower show for his beautiful and innovative gardens. Naturally, Cleve gets stuck into the scent of manure, forests and sniffing out deer through the park, reveals why he has a thing for plasticine, and shares his Anglo-Indian Heritage, including the unforgettable aromas of curry leaves and how to make the perfect cup of aromatic Chai. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this special seasonal edition of Life in Scents Jo Barratt and Odette Toilette speak to Father Christmas. Known by several names around the world this legendary elusive figure is the man perhaps most associated with This time of year. We hear about the smells that have punctuated his life, from his childhood in central Asia to his current home in the north of Europe. It is a life drenched in the warming Christmas smells that we are all so familiar with. We also learn what an elf smells like, that time travel smells of coconut and the connection between Old Spice and the Northern Lights. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our guest on this edition of Life in Scents is S.J. Watson, a new writer whose novel, Before I Go to Sleep, has been a huge bestseller in 2011. Winner of best crime novel in the Galaxy National Book awards, it has been translated into 30 languages and acquired for film by Ridley Scott’s production company. S J Watson’s vivid scent memories which he shares in this episode include the Bonfire Nights of his childhood, the unmistakable smell of an ear infection from his days working in the National Health Service, and his penchant for unusual fragrances, including a scent that smells of dry cleaning and another of garages. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, legendary electronic music-producer Martyn Ware talks us though some of the most memorable smells from his life. He tells us about the industrial odours he remembers from growing up in working-class Sheffield, before heading to Italy, where he takes us on a journey stopping at road-side cafes and aromatic lemon groves. Martyn's experience touring the world has given him insights into how our relationship to the world of smell is beginning to change.Martyn is a founding member of both The Human League and Heaven 17. He has featured on recordings totaling over 50 million sales worldwide, working with musicians including Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, Erasure, Marc Almond and Mavis Staples. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the third interview for Life in Scents, playwright and screenwriter Marcella Evaristi speaks to Jo Barratt and Odette Toilette about some of the smells that have punctuated her life. From fish suppers on wet winter evenings to the metaphysical joys of turpentine, her sensory experiences are divided between the 'electric greyness' of her home city Glasgow, to the vivifying scents of her ancestral Italy where choosing the perfect white peach marked a poignant ritual for father and daughter. We hear about being chased by Vicks VaporRub, the magic of sofrito, and why Marcella can't walk past an art shop without sticking her head in and having a good sniff.

As a special addition to our regular monthly interviews, we are pleased to offer you this portrait of James Craven, the resident archivist at Les Senteurs, London's original specialist perfumery shop, and a world authority on fragrance.In many ways this piece was the starting point for Life in Scents. After... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the second edition of Life in Scents, comedian, writer and broadcaster Amy Lamé speaks passionately about the perfumes and smells that mean something to her. She explains why some perfumes were banned at school, the attraction of the barnyard, how she identified the body parts of Debbie Harry though smell and why an open sewer will always hold a place close to her heart, and nose. We also hear how smell can tell the story of Amy’s understanding of her sexuality, from teenage snogging by the sea to finding true love. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the first edition of Life in Scents, Jo Barratt and Odette Toilette speak to the writer Lavinia Greenlaw about the smells and scents that have been significant in her life. The poet recalls the comforting English smells of bonfire, rain and bread which evoke memories of her parents and children. She shares the experiences of growing up though the exaggerated synthetic smells of the 1970s disco scene, into the cigarettes and jumble sales of punk. We hear about dockside warehouses haunted by the smells of clove and cinnamon, and of the scents that as a writer, Lavinia has now lost as digital replaces the analogue. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.