The World Perfumery Congress was held in Monterey, California June 23-25. Honors go to exhibitors Mane, Givaudan and Pura who were recognized for innovation in fragrance ingredients, technology and sustainability, all of which will shape the future of perfumery.

Will we finally see movement in getting perfumers credit for their work? Indie Perfumer Michael Nordstrand is not the first to want to bring change to the industry. Proposing the implementation of a development fee is just one of the tenets which will be detailed on the group’s website coming in September.

One man’s obsession with fragrance bottles led to establishing the world’s largest museum of factices, fragrance bottles used in the recent past for display purposes. In this article he talks about his passion for flacons and why he feels it’s important to preserve this element of fragrance history.

Innovation in fragrance creation, personalization and even training were on show at VivaTech, Europe’s largest annual startup and technology event. From creating your own fragrance to custom layering to creating a scent from environmental cues, olfactory innovations were numerous at this year’s fair.

We often say one of the challenges in describing a fragrance to the public is trying to use common language shared by all brands, all sources, all users. Jo Malone is testing a new system that puts the words aside to focus visuals instead. It will be very interesting to learn how successful the tool is: does it convert? Are people more comfortable with photos vs descriptions? Time will tell.

Brand founder Douglas Little is not one to shy away from controversial ideas or non-mainstream collabs. In this article he talks about how fragrance can set an atmosphere, transporting the wearer inside a film or a story, and how his projects have converted non-fragrance wearing consumers into loyal clients.

Vanilla as a fragrance ingredient is holding its own while showing versatility beyond its sweet reputation. Here is a raw material that works well with others, that can be multi-faceted and can cross genders to deliver a mature and mellow result. Discover some of the recent niche launches where vanilla has a prominent role.