Perfumery's Future: IFRA Fall 2011 Presentation

Today I had the privilege of giving the keynote speech at the International Fragrance Association 2011 Fall Meeting and Luncheon. I chose to focus on the same platform I have promoted on the blog for nearly five years: education. Many of you have expressed a need for tools with which to develop your olfactory vocabulary and so today, I asked the regulatory industry to respond to this need while sharing my perspective on perfumery's future and social media.



I could not have done this without the help of Twitter, which allowed me to create a social media fragrance brief asking independent perfumers to create a perfume which could be sensed by those who have no sense of smell (anosmia). Kedra Hart of Opus Oils decided to take the creative challenge and created "Eau Pear Tingle". She accomplished this by using ingredients that stimulate trigeminal nerve V which transmits sensations of heat (cayenne), coolness (mint), tingling (Szechuan pepper) and texture when we taste food. The response from IFRA attendees was enthusiastically positive.

Ms. Hart's mother has anosmia which makes the story of "Eau Pear Tingle" quite poignant. A future post detailing the development of the fragrance will be presented on Glass Petal Smoke in December. If only there was smell-o-vision...