New scent creation for the Médard Museum

Since the end of October 2022, the Musée Médard in Lunel has been presenting a new exhibition on typography entitled "Quels caractères!" in which I am participating with a scent specially created for the occasion.

As one can read in the introductory text of the exhibition: " The history of the book and of the printed text is intimately linked to the creation as well as to the aesthetic evolution of characters."

The Museum team, with whom I already had the pleasure of collaborating on a previous exhibition, called on me again to add an olfactory dimension to this exhibition as well as to the mediation activities.

The commission this time was for the smell of printing ink, and more specifically, the ink used at the beginning of the 20th century on the letterpresses.

I set to work, first looking for information on the components of ink at that time. Many sources speak of the strong smell of solvents and resins mixed with a base of carbon black and/or ferric salts.

The creation “Printing Ink” is inspired by this description. It is a blend of metallic notes (for the ferric side), burnt wood (carbon black from burning wood), and very volatile and flying notes of solvents (acetates, phenols).

The exhibition can be seen and smelt until March 25, 2023.