Olfactory scenography: how one can stage fragrances, from museums to retail

This phenomenon is nothing new, but it surely tends to develop into extra widespread as technical options develop and diversify. “On the Cognacq Jay museum in Paris, we wanted to stop any molecule from deciding on the artworks, so diffusing fragrances by micro-nebulization was a no-go,” recollects Isabelle Ferrand, CEO of Cinquième Sens. In 2015, she perfumed the exhibition Espresso, Tea or Chocolate? utilizing a cloth manufactured from polymer beads.

Tailor-made specs and options

Right this moment, Scentys gives two patented applied sciences tailored to scenography. “The solvent-free, dry diffusion know-how prevents any lingering impact and might nearly intimately pair a fragrance with a murals, with out the odor getting too heavy, as a result of the scent from the capsules may be perceived for less than 15 seconds. For residence fragrances with a diffusion as much as 5,000 m2, the micro-nebulization know-how transforms a liquid perfume right into a dry fog. As soon as the diffuser is off, the perfume lingers for half-hour,” explains CEO Pierre Loustric.

In partnership with Givaudan, Scentys lately responded to a request from Maison Monet, close to Paris: they needed to breed the impressionist painter’s olfactory world all through the customer route, with the smells of his workshop or of a ship on water. “Some fragrances aren’t featured in our catalogue. They require tailored creation which cultural venues don’t at all times take into consideration beforehand,” explains Loustric.

La Guilde makes use of a polymer gel that’s nearly 70% biobased. It’s impregnated with perfume, after which inserted right into a cartridge which may be put in in a venue’s air remedy techniques or in high-capacity and moveable diffusers. Sébastien Heylliard, the founder, highlights that one ought to at all times take note of most of the people’s notion. “On the immersive exhibition Sensory Odyssey, on the Paris Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past, in 2022, the place Nez was the olfactory curator, we used 21 scent projectors. Nonetheless, expertise confirmed that guests might determine as much as seven smells. So, we diminished the variety of fragrances used for this immersive idea, which is at the moment touring globally.”

For the exhibition of Finnish painter Pekka Halonen on the Petit Palais in Paris, Daphné Bugey, perfumer at dsm-firmenich, crafted three perfumes to echo the work. They’re subtle at eye degree utilizing Olfacom’s dry diffusing know-how, which is triggered by a presence detector. This totem is related to Le P’tit Sniff, a lightweight, easy-to-handle further gadget accessible to children and other people in a wheelchair.

As for Magique Studio, they developed a extremely versatile olfactory spatialisation know-how. “We are able to diffuse one or a number of scents in small or giant areas, both in a localised means or throughout a wider area, with out scents mixing,” explains Mazen Nasri, the founder and Inventive Director of the company. The corporate used these completely different setups on the Oriental Perfumes exhibition on the Paris Arab World Institute. “We work on diffusion and on the scope of every scent, and attempt to anticipate whether or not guests will probably be passive in terms of reception, or energetic, by way of a gesture. We really handle the space-time dimension in every multisensorial route.”

Rising demand within the luxurious sector

Over the previous two years, Scentys has noticed a rising demand for perfuming all kinds of venues. “We have now acquired many requests from main fragrance manufacturers for occasions in airports or pop-up retailer inaugurations, in NYC, Tokyo…,” says Loustric. “As occasions at the moment are meant to be shared on social media, the olfactory dimension contributes to growing the affect of an expertise.” Inside this context, the hole with vogue reveals is of course bridged. Scentys was contacted for the Tom Ford present in September 2025. “The Scentys Field resolution makes it attainable to arrange a sequence of 4 fragrances by combining them with movies, for instance. Our function consists in pushing the boundaries of applied sciences so far as attainable,” explains the CEO.

La Guilde confirmed its enlargement into retail, for instance by diffusing a signature perfume created by Julien Rasquinet (then at IFF), when division retailer La Samaritaine reopened within the coronary heart of Paris, in June 2021. “Then, we scented the French Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2022 with IFF’s Dominique Ropion’s fragrance, additionally obtainable in a bottle,” says Heylliard. In 2023, in partnership with Ruinart, La Guilde helped arrange artist Eva Jospin’s Promenade en Champagne.

Enhancing a perfume’s picture

Fragrance is an artwork kind like another. And it’s now making its means into main museum establishments. An ideal instance is the USOs (for Unidentified Scented Objects) imagined by Mathilde Laurent for Cartier. In 2022, The Panther was unveiled in a poetic, luminescent, immersive evocation: The Scented Delusion. In 2023, Chanel invited the general public to the Grand Palais Éphémère, on the Le Grand Numéro exhibition, the place various experiences intertwined with its perfumes subtle with Scentys’ completely different typologies.

Perfumes are at all times extra fascinating when they’re staged on the centre. At Artwork Basel Paris 2025, Fréderic Malle arrange the exhibition entitled Portrait(s) of a Woman, a visible tribute to artist Adeline Mai with an iconic perfume within the ambient air. On the Palais de Tokyo, the occasion devoted to Francis Kurkdjian, Fragrance, Sculpture of the Invisible, ended with The Alchemy of Senses, a polysensorial expertise primarily based on the 2025 Baccarat Rouge 540 Édition Millésime.

Experiential ideas improve storytelling. Olfy labored on the Olfactory Symphony crafted by Maison Guerlain in 2025. Exhibited at a Chinese language museum, the mission was centered on sound and fragrance synaesthesia. By combining a digital actuality headset and scent diffusion, the startup designed the Olfactive Panorama, as soon as once more with Guerlain, to make folks uncover the Artwork and Materials perfume assortment in a dialogue between imaginative and prescient, olfaction and narration, with the perfumers’ voices. VIP shoppers are supplied these artwork contents in some Guerlain shops. “Proper now, we’re engaged on different polysensorial experiences that may interface with factors of sale. This time, know-how will probably be hid in decorations,” explains Clothilde Dubernet, Olfy’s founder.

The inventive lens as a lever

It appears there are infinite prospects. For the reason that begin of his profession, Francis Kurkdjian has explored an awesome variety of media: fountains at Grandes Eaux de Versailles, on the Palace of Versailles, cleaning soap bubbles, kaolin’s porous paste for Sparks of Roses in 2024, but in addition the V-Scent know-how, which creates a dialogue between digital actuality, motion, and 6 pure scents within the Eden expertise…

On the Villa Botanica, dsm-firmenich’s inventive residency, the principle perfumer, Fabrice Pellegrin, labored in shut collaboration with visible artist Mohamed Azeroual, who focuses on optical phenomena. Past perfumes, Pellegrin aimed to create an olfactory diffusion system with an inventive imaginative and prescient. With a Vallauris ceramic disk, impregnated and heated with an infrared lamp below predefined frequencies, mild turns into the revealer of the perfume. The idea was showcased on the Vertige de la Couleur exhibition on the Galerie Binome in Paris, in late 2025.

For the exhibition Et Gaultier créa l’Homme. Le Male : Passé, Présent, Futur, Magique Studio selected to breathe life into this iconic perfume with an olfactory conflict of supplies subtle by way of glycerine sculptures. “Past technical options, design and exchanges between disciplines are key to the inventive course of,” explains Nasrin. Such sensorial innovation dynamics undoubtedly create worth.