The scented route: Exhibition celebrates olfactory design and innovations

The exhibition, which opens this spring, is a journey through the synthesis of scent. Visitors will wander through a maze of clustered clouds in the gardens of Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) between seven scent stations, each housing a synthetic scent molecule that tells part of the history of scent design.

Each synthetic scent molecule is paired with a major work of design, or perfume, in which that molecule is a vital design element, beginning with the first molecule created in the 1850s up until the sophisticated molecular scents of today.

‘Hyper-Natural shows the way new synthetic scent design materials had a huge impact on the way olfactory works were designed.’ Burr said in a statement. ‘Synthetic materials were increasingly used in the 20th century in all mediums, from architecture to painting, and they brought strange and wonderful new beauty to scent.’

Read our Mix Masters microtrend for more on why brands are opening the once secretive world of scent creation to consumers.