“Every time we breathe, we show a little trust in the universe.” – Yuval Noah Harari This full interview is very much worth watching, but for our purposes, this is a profound reflection on what it means to breathe, smell, taste.
Feed upon the dainties that live in a book
Dear book nerds, you who drink ink, you who smell pages, you who love books as physical objects: I don’t know how it took me so long to find this TED talk. You will love this.
Nose Dive, by Harold McGee
“In his detailed survey of scents, food writer and cooking scientist McGee elegantly explains olfaction… His exploration of our smelly world includes the odors of flora and fauna, soil and smoke, food and fragrances, but also the unexpected: primordial earth, rain, and the whiff of old books. Pungent and even rancid smells—skunk spray, ammonia, manure—are…
Can a New Perfume Rekindle Eroticism? (Vanity Fair)
“It has been a strange couple years for scent, and for attraction. The pandemic has upended the usual rhythms around fragrance: the date-night spritz, the misted cloud before a work day; the heady little vial packed along for vacation. Mask-wearing muffles the chance encounters with someone else’s doused cologne: waxy tuberose at the opera, department-store…
Meet a Nose: Mandy Aftel
Natural perfumer, writer and iconoclast Mandy Aftel joins the Institute for Art and Olfaction founder Saskia Wilson-Brown in a conversation about her practice. … Books