Symrise’s Perfumery School recently took its current trainee class on an art safari to Berlin.
The safari was guided by two artists, Pia vom Ende and Christian Kölbl, who translated their impressions of the forest and city into watercolors; these paintings were translated by the trainees into fragrance creations.
Art workshop of the Symrise Perfumery School f.l.t.r. artist Pia vom Ende and the trainees Shangyun Lu, Alicia De Benito Cassadó, Gabriela Gerbi, Attiya Lebogang Setai, Christopher Pickelcourtesy of Symrise
In a release, Symrise shared that in this year’s curriculum, the Symrise Perfumery School has offered a selection of art workshops to learn about inspiration techniques.
On the first day, the five trainees explored the forest. For a stark contrast, the second day provided a look into the bustling city. The combination of both days with their impressions formed the basis of a complete watercolor series.
The trainees used these impressions to create five fragrances:
- Alicia De Benito Cassadó from Spain calls her fragrance “Saturn 100101.” Her accord combines the scent of outer space with that of new technical devices in the form of cold amber notes.
- Christopher Pickel from the United States drew his inspiration from the contrast between nature and industry. In “Pig Sneaker,” the scent impression of new sneakers mixes with animalistic gourmand notes of a street food vendor.
- Gabriela Gerbi from Brazil combines elements of nature and city in her fragrance “Ash Garden.” For her, the opposites come with something unifying – nature as a source of energy for urban life.
- Attiya Lebogang Setai from South Africa emphasizes the soft powder notes of the lilac in the Spandau city forest in her fragrance “Lilac in the Forest of Berlin.”
- Shangyun Lu from China dives into poetry with his fragrance “Forget-Me-Not.” The scent of lilac on a gloomy day reminds him of a poem by Dai Wangshu, a Chinese proponent of the symbolist movement.
“Artistic activities, such as painting, can augment a special gift,” explains Marc vom Ende, senior perfumer at Symrise and head of the Perfumery School in Holzminden.
“We wanted to achieve this effect with our art workshop for our budding perfumers. They learn to develop their special gift, i.e., the ability to draw inspiration from very different sources. That will help them come up with creative ideas for our customers in their creative work to come.”
Guided by two artists, they translated their impressions of the forest and city into watercolors, and these in turn into fragrance creations.courtesy of Symrise
