Memory

There has been a lot written on the sense of smell in recent years. Some of it in relation to perfume. Some interesting quasi-facts have been reported. Coffee beans do not neutralize the olfactory receptors, scent (perfume) is not an aphrodisiac, or related to sexual gratification. Body chemistry is hoo hoo...
You can believe this if you like.  Personally I have seen and sniffed first hand stark differences in how scent smells on different people. So I do believe that body chemistry plays a roll. I can't speak for certain on the other two, but know that even if the coffee beans work as a placebo, a placebo is better than nothing.
My main interest in the human relation to scent is in how it is tied to memory. Almost all of my childhood memories are tied to smells. Like the smell of paste wax my mother used on our hardwood floors, or my grandparents basement in summertime. My grandmother had a little cot in the basement where she would go take a nap. It was cooler down there, but a bit musty with the smell of coal. I also remember the scent of Prell and Breck shampoos. Aquanet hairspray and shoe polish. When I was a kid we polished our shoes.
So many of the things that connect the dots to our lives are directly related to our sense of smell. And sometimes when we think we are smelling something, we are actually tasting it and vise versa. Particularly when the body has already begun to metabolize whatever it is.
For the most part the memories triggered by smell are vivid and seemingly precise. Yet science tells us that memories, even clear ones, can be false. It is this gray area the nebulous haze of memory that often peaks my interest when I am working on a new scent related project. Like the art pieces (soivohle boxes) in the previous post, there is something a bit transient about memory. Spooky even, in some instances. Particularly when a memory is fragmented and all of the pieces do not fit. I have several of these memories and have tried over the years to fill in the blanks through meditation and by using visualization techniques. But for the most part I am selective with my scent memories and how I use them in my work.
Once I get all of my changes in place with our Soivohle line, I may take some time off, when it comes to new things. I have been moving ahead at such a pace over the past few years, I am due for a little break. But then again, I have no control over how things come to me, or when, and often I must capture the essence of a memory before it floats away...