Comments (0) Best School of the Senses - 2013
Institute for Art and Olfaction
A trained artist, Saskia Wilson-Brown is the mastermind behind the Institute for Art and Olfaction, where she promotes the use of aroma molecules to make art you can smell. As with any medium, there are purists who advocate natural over synthetic materials, but when it comes to perfumery, Wilson-Brown embraces both. IAO offers weekly, three-hour, perfume-making workshops, where everyone from earthy hippies and serious artists to chic fashionistas chooses four to six ingredients from the institute's hundreds of aroma molecules, blending them together, using pipettes, vials and beakers while keeping careful record of what they've done. Wilson-Brown likes small groups, because if there are more than 12 people, the place can get really funky — literally. Unlike most department stores, IAO doesn't use coffee beans to clear the nasal palate: Wilson-Brown believes that's a myth: "What I tell people to do is just smell their armpits." 1933 S. Broadway, Ste. 1122, dwntwn. hello@artandolfaction.com, artandolfaction.com. —Tanja M. Laden
