What does it take to create a multi-sensory event? How is it conceived and what considerations need to be taken into account? Later this year the Mauritshuis museum in the Hague will be hosting a unique exhibit entitled Fleeting – Scents in Colour in which fragrance will enhance the visitors experience. Intrigued by this meeting of art and scent, I contacted the curators and their fragrance partner at IFF to get the full story.

Almost 4 years ago I started working with a team of passionate experts on a portal project dedicated to Artistic Perfumery. After many meetings, exchanges of ideas, evaluations on the complexity of the project and the resources that needed to be put in place, we came to the conclusion that it was time to take an extra step: add to our web listening and survey activities to monitor the sector in support of the educational and analytical activities that we managed for Esxence (and which in 2018 gave birth to the "whispers about artistic perfumery" survey), the website www.essencional.com which was born a year ago when the pandemic exploded.

Recently Michael Edwards and his team released the launch updates and trends from Q1 2021 along with a summary of activity in 2020. The good news is that there are indications that Fragrance is experiencing a renaissance, coming back stronger in the luxury segment. Let’s take a look at the past year for some key learnings before diving into 2021.

Enjoying a perfume and sipping a delightful cup of tea trigger an intense experience of the senses. All of them are at play and in vibrant colours. Various geographies, West and East, and different times, past and present, mix to bring harmony. Will you care for some tea? Catherine Laskine-Balandina is your passionate guide. Beware, she will magnetically take you to an unknown destination, happiness.