BIOCHEMIST & ALCHEMIST - INTERVIEW WITH PIERRE BENARD

 I am extremely glad to have such an interesting guest on Scentimentalwords. Pierre Benard is the spiritus movens behind Osmoart, a distinctive olfaction project.  

 

Visual art property: Pierre Benard

Marin: Pierre, could you tell us a few words about yourself. How a biochemist ends up being a perfumer?

Pierre: During my studies in perfumery in Grasse, Jean Garnero, former director of research and scientific director of the Robertet establishments, told me that there are two models of perfumer, one is a technical perfumer who masters the sciences around perfume, and the other, a sui artist draws his inspiration from the arts.

Then, he ends up asking me the question in order to know which one I wanted to become; I answered: both. My professional background is quite eclectic. It is above all made of beautiful encounters. These precious encounters transmitted to me knowledge in various disciplines intimately linked to olfaction and perfumery; allowing me to carry out innovative projects.

Biochemist, alchemist passionate about smells, I was propelled into a sensational journey into the world of scents.

 

Marin: Apparently, you are behind the project Osmoart. Could you share with us the concept of Osmoart?

Pierre: The concept of OSMOART is based on multidisciplinarity and knowledge in the field of olfaction and the perfume industry which makes it possible to provide concrete answers to the various olfactory projects of artists, entrepreneurs, institutions, students, or individuals in the fields of education, natural raw materials, olfactory creation and the odorization of places and events.

  

Marin: I have noticed you popularize a new profession, an olfactory manager. What is the importance of giving public spaces "custom made" scents?

Pierre: For more than 20 years, I have specialized in olfactory design adapted to cultural projects such as concerts, theatrical performances, dances, exhibitions and other indoor or outdoor shows.

Supporting this concept is also the prospect of seeing the emergence of a new profession, that of olfactory manager who, through olfactory scenography, prepares, coordinates, and executes the odorization of places and events.

 

Marin: Currently I am enrolled in your program "Systematic of Scents".  I must admit I have so much fun learning about scent families and their cultural backgrounds. In your class, every scent family has its own color. How did you manage to choose a color for each family?  

Pierre: From a scientific point of view (or nose), there is no intrinsic relationship between this chemical sense of smell and the physical sense of sight; but each inspires the other, vibrates with the other. We know that many marketing relationships have developed strongly with each other. Why not associate a simple smell of mint with a red color rather than green, or the scent of an orange with a blue color?

For this classification, I was inspired by the spectrum of white light framed by the infrared and ultraviolet rays, and it works rather well, at least for my interpretation, for the seven classes of this systematic. As an example, red for the spicy area. It could just as well have been blue because there are scents of cold spices, terpenes, head like peppers. The blue will have finally been attributed to the sylvan area, of the forest, of the woody notes. A dark purple color for the animal area, this color reminds me of the polyphenols of leather tanning, castoreum or a pyrogenic birch.

 

Marin: You are an expert in raw materials. What is your favorite material?

Pierre: Natural raw materials have always guided my journey. I have an unconditional love for tuberose. For the perfumer that I am, tuberose represents all the flowers. And for the man that I am, she represents all women.

 

Marin: I am always curious if perfumers wear fragrances. Do you wear fragrances, and if so, which do you prefer?

Pierre: I don't know about the other perfumers. Yes, I obviously don't wear fragrances when I work. I have many references and preferences. Right now, Costume National Homme. I appreciate the compositions written by Dominique Ropion.

 

Marin: What is an olfactorigami?

Pierre: An olfactorigami is a neologism that I gave to a manual scent diffusion system that I created last year for the olfactory and multisensory exhibition "From Matter to Spirit". Inside a form of folded paper, one can smell an odorous material, a scent, a perfume.

 

Marin: Did you make a thousand cranes? :-) 

Pierre: Senbazuru is the name given to this Japanese legend which says that if you fold a thousand paper cranes held together by a link, you can see your wish for health, longevity, love or happiness granted. This origami-bird garland is for me a symbol of volatility. She invites us to peace. Not even being able to make a paper casserole, I aspire to achieve happiness :)

On the other hand, for the second edition of the olfactory and multisensory exhibition "From matter to spirit", I am working on an olfactory "orizuru" project with an artist who has made thousands of these paper cranes.

Marin: Thank you, Pierre, for taking the time to participate in this interview.