The reminiscence of an odor
Among all the five senses, the sense of smell is the most mysterious and fascinating. Poets are well aware of this, as well as lovers and nostalgic people. Meo Fusciuni has dedicated his life by exploring the olfactory dimension, and becoming all the three things from time to time: a poet, a lover, a nostalgic. We had a very deep conversation during an event dedicated to the olfactory memory, organized by O2N Lab. Through our talk, I entered his world in order to understand the invisible mechanics behind the odors. I have listed all these thoughts in four fundamental points:
1. Memory
You are walking in a city. Suddenly you smell an odor. An imperceptible scent hidden among the smell of smog and all the noises. And then we are no longer among the noise, the crowds and things to do. The olfactory memory has led us away. An odor is capable of re-emerging feelings and events that we thought had been lost.
Nothing awakens a reminiscence like an odor.
― Victor Hugo
The remembrance of Sicily (his native land) and the smells that evoke childhood have been a central point of his imagination. During the event about olfactory memory, all the participants were tasked to sniff several boxes, in order to see the reactions and the sensations, because every reaction to an odor is capable to drag metaphysical parts of ourselves; a broken love, an unpleasant experience or an emotional condition. Meo Fusciuni collaborates with the department of psychiatry at the University of Bologna in touch with schizophrenic sufferers trying to bring the patients to a mental state of their own past, through the typical childhood odors.
2. The emotions
Nietzsche correlates the sense of smell to the instinct. Indeed, we don’t have any power on the olfactory memory, it always captures us totally unprepared. I told Meo Fusciuni how some odors that I perceive by chance during the everyday life, are able to make me immediately think of a love that I lost, and suddenly I am dragged away to the emotional state of when I was with her. Meo was silently smiling while looking at me; he was not surprised because he is well aware that love and odors are strictly connected. This is where his work starts, exploring the connection between odors and soul. He told me several times that they are not just products, they are emotional states in the life of a man. In fact, every emotion has a particular odor (anger, for example, has an acid smell), not just for metaphysical reasons; it is also a matter of chemistry, since each emotion produces a specific hormone within our body.
Although hormones are responsible for some sensations, a mysterious and inexplicable magic still remains linked to the emotions. A spell that doesn’t need to be explained. Sometimes remaining silent and smiling is everything.
3. The journey (the research)
He talked about his trip to Cambodia like an experience that has enlightened him forever. The local smells and colors, the people moving and the sounds of the surroundings are the archetype of life itself. Every man has to take some trips. This does not mean that everything is easy, because every trip involves risks. He told me the example of gas masks: you can choose to be exposed emotionally to every odor, or you can live wearing a mask to be protected. The choice is always yours, but life needs life. The risk is a fundamental part of every beginning. In this sense, every perfume is a journey. A journey that is not only physical. You might travel just across a memory, a feeling, or a dream. Each trip is a route, a quest. This is why the sense of a trip is not in its destination. Meo Fusciuni created the journey trilogy moving from Turkey to Morocco, with a stop in the middle of Sicily. Through this journey he enclosed an emotional, nostalgic and poetic path, in search of aesthetic emotions, through odors.
4. The time
Time is a necessary dimension. The creation of each fragrance requires at least a year. A year that is spent between inspiration, research, maturation and birth. Time is a dimension that doesn’t have to be undervalued. Even if other people may create a fragrance in a shorter time, Meo Fusciuni prefers to be focused as much as he can, for all the time that he needs. By the word time he also means the idea of “atmosphere”. For example, in order to create “Notturno” (his fourth fragrance) he had to work for seven months exclusively by night, between 23:00 and 5:00. Time is a breath, and every breath pretends to be true.
It is surprising to discover that through an odor our brain remembers something that even our memory can’t define. The olfactory memory tells the most intimate part of us. Maybe our unconscious is composed of odors. Following the trail of an odor while walking in the city looks so much like the life of a person while chasing his desires. Desires are often undefined, but in the midst of all the chaos they remain there, well present and they are calling you. While the research goes on, and you let yourself be seduced by the scent, you start to understand what it is that is attracting you. Meo Fusciuni knows very well that our choices are less rational than we think, because sometimes simply an odor can make us fly away.
Written by Davide La Rocca
