That's what I learned in the seminar I attended today. Carolyn, one of the speakers, works at IFF - a company that provides fragrances for a range of products. This is the 2nd seminar we've attended together, and it was nice to catch up with her again. She always brings new things to the table, and today, she brought something amazingly new: a book of scents!
What's amazing about a book of scents? Well, this wasn't an ordinary book of scents. It didn't have the usual vanilla, sampaguita, rose and bergamot (which Mark likes). Instead, it had a range of scents representing different experiences.
Each scent represented a human emotion and experience. Things like hunger, violence, noise, and mildness. At first we thought the entire concept was odd and a bit impossible, but once she passed around the scents, we realized how experiences can indeed be captured in a smell. For example, the smell of "hunger" was something like yeast or unwashed rice. The smell of "mother" was like Noxema on skin.
There was also the scent of "sadness." First, I took a whiff, then the 4 other Filipinos in the room did the same. And we had the same reaction: "It smells like La Funeraria Paz!" The smell of sadness had that floral yet hospital-y smell that really evokes that feeling. Most of the people in the room started talking about lost loved ones after Carolyn passed around this scent. That's how effective her book of smells was.
She talked about a Russian perfumist who created the smell of "fear" and painted it on a wall and put it on exhibit in New York. Apparently, the people who stood close to the wall for a few minutes started to cry and cringe. Others just stood close to the wall, afraid to leave it. It sounded like an amazing experience, but one that you have to experience yourself in order for you to appreciate it.
They say scents affect a person's mood. After this seminar, I believe that a bit more.
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