Scentfest, a revolution starting this Friday , and the 8 reasons it was inevitable As my lucky fellow fragrance reporters are packing their bags and preparing their nostrils for the sensory debauch at the Fort Mason Center, I find myself observing the landscape from a very different vantage point this year*: as an analyst and critic sharpening my focus at the precise intersection of olfactive anthropology, human resistance, and the rapidly encroaching frontiers of artificial

New series: (olfactive, ofc) AInthrophology: short ruminations at the intersection of human meaning, smell, and the world of AI Anemoia Device. ©cyrus clarke Recently I ranted about the LinkedInfication of our CVs. To shut me up, knowledge karma landed me at the other end today and got me going (again, this is not a new thing) on the gridification of our memories—enter the Anemoia Device from MIT Media Lab. It takes a flat, analogue photograph—the ultimate linear artifact—and

A few illnesses and affections we can identify by smell.

A short recap of emerging trends from Esxence 2023 As my lucky fellow fragrance reporters are packing their bags on the way to Milan (including, rumor has it, Luca Turin, after a long and dire absence), let’s take a look at what emerged—at least for my hyperlexic brain—as a pattern in last year’s exhibit. (Not sure yet how this fits in with perfumery journalism; documentaries are few and far between, reviews are increasingly harder to distinguish from paid ads, and trends se