Radical Perfumery
Photo: Gordon Burniston
Local Heroes
THE SKINNY
Celebrating human connection, we meet Clara Weale – designer, perfumer and the Director of A Library of Olfactive Material in Glasgow, a beautifully designed open access resource for scent education, experience and experimentation Words: Stacey Hunter
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February 2021 – Feature
e want to know more about where the concept for the Library came from – the UK’s first – and to introduce you to Clara Weale’s new perfume brand Early Modern. As this month’s theme is human connections, we begin by asking Weale about the relationship we can have with scent. “Perfume is such an incredible expression of humanity. The act of scenting yourself is so ancient, so ingrained across the world and so innate. Scent is communication, conscious and unconscious. The majority of us have grown up with the belief that fragrance is made by gifted people with superior noses, who are born into it. That these people tend to be white French men is no coincidence. Perfume is marketed and sold to us in a way which upholds this myth and image and the perfume industry protects itself by limiting access to knowledge and materials. It’s super insecure, basically. And so for most people, even those who would say that they have ‘always wanted to make a perfume’ the idea of seeking out the opportunity to be creative with scent just isn’t on the table and so it isn’t sought out.” Putting perfumery materials on display and visible from the street, is therefore, for Weale, a radical act within the world of perfumery. The Library, situated near St Andrew’s Square, exists as a physical and visible presence in order to show people that the possibility exists to create with scent, so, “get ready for a new wave of Olfactive Art coming out of Glasgow,” says Weale. Where did the concept come from? She explains that over the past couple of decades perfumery has undergone significant change. Despite the proliferation of brands and seemingly endless options for perfume, the vast majority have been created by just a handful of companies. But new levels of information sharing, coupled with better access to materials has meant that for
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