2024 en revue
2024: ups, downs, stresses, joys, raw from being oversocialised, desperately lonely, failures and rejections, successes and achievements, stagnation, inspiration.
This year the perfume industry had scandals, from price gouging by the Big 5, to modern slavery in L'oreal's supply chain, to society wars in the niche fragrance landscape.
I was eating popcorn and minding my business watching the whole thing play out, and congratulating myself on being far outside the sphere… however, I’m not. I also purchase products made by L’oreal and the Big 5. It is a nightmare of mine to get swept up in an indie perfume war but at the same time, the proliferation of falsely advertised “sustainable/clean/green/non-toxic” perfume brands that exploit the concept that natural perfumes are somehow angelic and pure whereas synthetic ingredients are made from acidic lava from hell (or that brands that don’t position themselves as “clean” are somehow out to poison people and funded by some sort of mysterious dictator who wants to take over the world) is worrying. They reek of cultish, pyramid-scheme rhetoric and do not use falsifiable evidence. In this essay I will…
Okay enough of that. What good came out of perfumery this year?
So many great new brands, so much more exploration into olfactive expression - Korea’s exhibit at the Venice Biennale was scented, for example, and there were some scent exhibitions in fine arts galleries (which is a good sign for me!)
As for me, I started 2024 absolutely time-ravaged by the set-up of the Asia Perfume Foundation Awards - the inaugural event. I constructed everything, from the overarching concept, to the proposal and framework, the protocols and criteria, the judging forms and the candidate entries, fielded every single email from candidates, decanted entries and sent out anonymous samples… it was so, so much work. Gary Chin, the founder of the Asia Perfume Foundation, did everything on the Hong Kong side of things - organised the event, helped get judges on board, communicated with the stakeholders, and got the actual awards to happen. As a two-person team, we did a LOT. Gary’s energy is outrageous and he somehow treads the line between being exceptionally driven and also very risk-averse.
I went to Hong Kong for Lunar New Year and we put on the awards at the Perfume Culture Festival. It was exhausting but so so delightful. The only dampener for me was calculating the winning scores - I hated knowing how disappointed the finalists would be when they didn’t win. I felt physically ill for a day or two as I tallied the judge’s scores. However, I cheered up when I sent out the judges’ feedback comments, as they were overwhelmingly positive. It was wonderful to meet the businesses who came to the Perfume Culture Festival - such a creative bunch! Like Gyroscope who prints out cute little zines, and Arte Polé who make fragrances for every weird and wonderful situation.
In April I packed up my olfactory art installation at Eden Unearthed, and then went on to do the Artist Residency at the Ethics Centre in May which you can read about in detail in previous posts. It was an honour to be part of both of those organisation’s embrace of art, particularly as I was the first olfactory artist for both.
July had me go to Vietnam for the Olfactory Odyssey exhibition, and Metropolis Oasis was shown in Saigon and Hanoi (and subsequently expanded on to include 4 near paintings + perfumes!). I made new and creative friends, I discovered beauty in new places, I stripped my mind bare on the balcony of an Old Quarter hotel on the warm humid nights to see what I was really made from. I came back to Sydney in August with the notion that surely the year must be ending soon - I had done so much, yet felt like I had achieved nothing. Writing this out I realise that this notion cannot possibly be true, however, I can’t shake the feeling that it all wasn’t enough, somehow. I spent the rest of 2024 moving house and preparing to make changes in 2025, amongst which I went on the Paperback Perfumes podcast to talk about everyone’s secret favourite book, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. It’s now 2025 and I have no idea if the wheels I tried to put in motion last year have started turning - I will have to keep pushing and find out.
In 2025 I am in a lovely new home, I have new friends to add to my circle of legends, and more art adventures to come: starting with my collaborative exhibition with the brilliant perfume artist Naoko Kusunoki held in Tokyo in March. Everyone is welcome! Details on my instagram. Then it’s off to Hong Kong for Art Basel and celebrations with loved ones.
Something I want to do this year is bring more people together - I’d love to host dinner parties, have perfumer/perfume appreciator meet-ups, and connect people from all walks of life through scent. As I always repeat ad nauseum, to me perfumery is an art, and art must be shared to exist. Please, reach out if you are curious about anything at all. And let’s meet in this Year of the Wood Snake, 2025!
