How do we react to fragrance, respond to it? How do we describe it? What’s the interplay between scent and memory? And what is its role in our everyday lives? Well, at Molton Brown, a different route has been taken to figuring out those fragrant conundrums because the London-based beauty brand decided that fragrance is now well served by language. Instead, who better to express some answers than artists. So, Molton Brown has asked three artists (for now, as this is an ongoing creative project) to interpret one of its fragrances in their own medium. Not only does it show one artist interfacing and another artist’s work (in this case a nose) but it also highlights that there’s no right way to feel about a fragrance – everyone will react differently and every reaction is valid.
The Artists of Note campaign kicks off from September and begins with three artists who have each been assigned one fragrance to be inspired by. Poet Dr John Cooper-Clarke has written an ode to Coastal Cypress & Sea Fennel (senior perfumer: Carla Chabert). Fashion designer Nicholas Daley created a hand-knitted hat and perfume holder for Re-Charge Black Pepper (master perfumer: Jacques Chabert). And new contemporary talent, jewellery designer Gala Colivet Dennison created a brooch for Rose Dunes (senior perfumer: Philippe Paparella).
At the launch event, we secured a few minutes with Gala who talked about her approach to Rose Dunes. The fragrance was inspired by Paparella’s childhood memories of living in Dubai and experiencing the intense heat and harsh desert environment, one he’d heard stories about from his grandmother who lived in Nigeria; it mixes rose with oudh and saffron to evoke the hot sands. In response, Gala brooch, that’s also a wall hanging, incorporates different tactile materials.
What was your response when you were approached about the project? Strange? Or did you think fragrance is wearable art, and my work is too so there’s a marriage there?
Yes definitely. And I was worried it could be very corporate and inauthentic. But actually, they were amazing and weren’t controlling. So I sat back and thought ‘I’m gonna have fun with it and enjoy it’. I really started to think about the smells around me, which I’d never thought about as much before – I was driven more by music and sound. So, weirdly, it’s made me rethink a lot of my own work.
What did you first think of the fragrance?
I thought it would be very sweet and floral, but as soon as I opened it and wore it, I realised it has a lot more density as it evolves, it’s musky, it’s spicy. And genderless. I realised that I didn’t want to take a literal approach to the work – and I’m not a huge pink fan.
Gala Brooch by Gala Colivet Dennison
What was the start of the process like?
Philippe and I had a conversation but neither of us told each other what we wanted. He told me about his life, I told him about mine. We went off on a tangent about our upbringings, the women in our lives, what scent means to us, how we work when we’re creating, restrictions in the materials that we use – there are lots of parallels between two very different worlds. I decided to create an oversized brooch, which I thought was empowering, and reminded me of my mum and the way that his smells are very bold and also represent the women in this life. Then I went on a journey thinking about landscape texture, the desert, and different meanings with interwoven parts of the piece.
So the woven part represents the textures of the dunes?
it was more about the infinity and that the desert becomes endless – Philippe talked about how you never really find an end to it. I wanted to have a piece of that. I enjoyed weaving it in in the same way he would test his materials and how they marry with each other.
I thought about the idea of representing sand, leather, saffron, all these things – so, incorporating copper in the woven textures was part of that. If you add heat to it it’ll go bright red so that is probably the most literal part of the design.
It feels Dali-esque.
Thank you. There’s always a touch of a Bauhaus-y thing with my work. I never draw or plan anything, I just go with it and see what happens. It’s very intuitive, I go where it takes me, and the metals will tell you when they’ve had enough. You only get one shot, at bending the metal once you heat it up. I think it’s similar with Philippe: if you add something you could ruin the whole potion. I thought that was interesting, you’ve got to work with this relationship with the materials.
How long did the process take?
I worked on it solidly for a few days with some trials and errors. I initially made a literal brooch, but it didn’t feel right. The final result is a little like a painting but made out of metal.
Do you wear Rose Dunes now?
I do. And I’ve given one to my mum as well, because I thought of her immediately (when I smelled it).
A quick jewellery question: you started in sculpture and your jewellery is very sculptural. What made you switch?
It was to do with scale. When I came out of university, I couldn’t afford a studio to store everything because I was welding and they were quite big sculptures. So, I did a jewellery course then set up a studio at home. I realised I could bring sculpture to a smaller scale. I quite enjoyed the restrictions as well – it has to be wearable, a certain weigh – and I think I needed them as otherwise everything was too free, and I struggled with that. But it wasn’t the plan.
Photography courtesy of Molton Brown.
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