Saskia Wilson-Brown

The Institute of Art and Olfaction, headed by Saskia Wilson-Brown, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate  creativity, innovation and excellence in global independent and artisan perfumery.  The First Annual Art and Olfaction Awards Ceremony will take place in Los Angeles this April 2014. According to Ms. Wilson-Brown,”We decided to launch The Art and Olfaction Awards in order to fill a perceived gap in the industry, allowing access to a well-produced and fair competition specifically designed to celebrate the work done by artisan perfumers and independent perfume houses. We're hoping to accomplish this by implementing and improving upon some existing awards structures, including blind, multiple-phase judging and a clear set of judging parameters”.

There are two categories: Artisan and Independent.

The criterion is that the perfume submitted must have been composed in 2013, by a business or individual that operates independently (e.g. not owned by a larger corporation);  each Company can submit two fragrances.

The perfumer/company can be any size, so long as they fit into that 'independent' category (they define this fully on the site).

The judging is blind, so there is no  brand bias and will occur between February 1 and March 15. The finalists will be announced in mid-March, and the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony itself at The Goethe Institute in Los Angeles on April 25th.

Ms .Brown has assembled an impressive panel of judge drawn from the fragrance and fine arts and design communities, including Fragrance Critic Luca Turin, artist Marcos Lutyens, independent perfumers Sherri Sebastian, Sarah Horowitz-Thran and Brent Leonesio, Christophe Laudamiel and Mandy Aftel.  Additionally, the team from Scent Bar and Luckyscent.com will serve as judges, led by Steven Gontarski.   For a list of Judges and Sponsors click here

Submissions close: Postmarked by Jan. 24, 2014 and for instructions and how to apply for submission, please click here. The entry fee is $45.00, which opens the awards to new and emerging perfumers no matter their finances.

Whether you are an established Indie perfumer or just beginning, CaFleureBon encourages you to be part of this exciting initiative.

–Michelyn Camen, Editor, in Chief