Eight scent-based workshops at Fort Saint-André

This July, I had the pleasure of conducting eight scent creation workshops at Fort Saint-André in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon (France) as part of the "C'est mon patrimoine" operation. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, these events aim to have children visit heritage sites during the school holidays by offering them fun activities.

This year, the Fort Saint-André, a 14th century fortified enclosure built on Mount Andaon overlooking Villeneuve-lès-Avignon (close to Avignon, France), offered workshops on the 5 senses in which children aged between 6 and 11 from leisure centres in the Gard French department took part.

The activity I conducted was called "My Smell of Fort Saint-André". It consisted of introducing children to the profession of perfumer by creating their own perfume from scents that can be smelled at Fort Saint-André.

In the preparatory phase of this collaboration, I went to the Fort to visit it and note down smells that could be part of the palette of our little perfumers, such as the smell of the majestic cedar present in the enclosure, the smells of mint, strawberry and sage from the educational garden, ...

Each workshop began with a short presentation of my practice combining photography and perfumery. Then we smelled together each of the ten materials made available to the children.

This allowed them to identify the materials they preferred and consider the possibility of using them in their creation.

Once all were smelled, the creation phase began by first noting on their formulation sheet the number of drops for each of their favorite ingredients.

Once the formula for their trial was defined, they counted the number of drops in small bottles made available to them, and I smelt the result with each child on smelling strips.

If they were not satisfied with the result, I would guide them on what changes to make to their formula. If they were satisfied, I would encourage them to try other blends.

After several trials, everyone chose their favorite formula which I weighed with my precision scale in a 15ml spray bottle that they would take home at the end of the activity.

Once all the weighings were completed, one per participant, we smelt each of the creations together, the creator telling us the ingredients used in the formula.

Some participants also had time to draw the ingredients of their formula, others to draw themselves with their little perfume.

This experience of transmission was incredible for me. It reinforces my idea of ​​the importance of making perfumery and the profession of perfumer accessible to everyone. Who knows, perhaps vocations were born from this first experience!

And what a joy to see them go home happy with their first perfume!

Radio Sommières surprised us with a visit during the workshops and interviewed the children and me. To be listened to here.

You are a cultural and heritage site, a school and you would like to offer such a workshop to your audience? Contact me!