Barnes Fragrance Fair
Barnes Fragrance Fair
20th May 2023
10.00am to 5.00pm • Barnes Green Centre, London SW13 9HE
Start Talking Scents
4160 Tuesdays Workshops: Making Sustainable Scents
For her workshops at the Barnes Fragrance Fair, artisan perfumer Sarah McCartney will be introducing you to sustainable materials:
upcycled natural essential oils, traditionally produced attars and - the greenest of them all - newly developed molecules made using white biotechnology.
With Sarah's guidance, you will be invited to create a pocket sized fragrance of your own, and to ask all the questions you have about how perfume is made. In two hours everyone will create a very wearable scent. What if you create the fragrance of your dreams? As long as you keep your formula, Sarah will be able to make more of it in future.
MORNING SESSION
AFTERNOON SESSION
How to Pick Your Perfect Fragrance… and Know How to Wear it
Fragrance has been around for so long its been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs, but even today it’s a bit of a mystery how to discover the perfect scent for yourself.
What goes into a bottle of perfume?
How do you pick the one meant for you and your personality?
What is a perfumer and what do they do?
Our expert panelists include Catherine Mitchel from International Flavors and Fragrances, Maya Njie, perfumer and brand founder and Chris Yu, superstar brand builder and co-founder of Ostens. Hosted by Festival organiser Amanda Carr, we will help debunk many of the myths and rituals around fragrance and let you inhale some of the most beautiful and interesting fragrance ingredients.
The Mood Busting Powers of Fragrance
Scent and self-care: the feel-good power of perfume!
"Did you know that fragrance has been proven to change your mood? Or that 75% of your emotions are driven by what you smell?
In this interactive smellalong panel talk, our team of experts will uncover the amazing ways in which perfume can have a fabulous positive impact on your mood - from boosting your confidence and fueling you with empowerment and work focus, to soothing the day’s stresses and worries.
Hosted by award-winning fragrance presenter Alice du Parcq, get ready for a fun and immersive discussion with On The Scent podcasters Suzy Nightingale and Nicola Bonn, along with superstar perfumer Pia Long, who together will decode some beautiful fragrances to unlock their feel-good potential.
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Scented Revolutions
The link between music and fragrance is strong and listening to music when trying scents can create a remarkable connection between the brain and the nose.
The team from Olympic Studios Records and L'Orchestre Parfum will demonstrate how sound can connect to scent and help you choose your next fragrance. Plus, Scratch and Sniff Vinyl anyone?
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Award winning fragrance writer, blogger and podcaster Haydn Williams, Olympic Studios Records founder Roger Miles and L'Orchestre Parfum founder Pierre Guguen will investigate what happens when scent and music collide.
MORNING SESSION
AFTERNOON SESSION
Our Speakers
Catherine Mitchell
Catherine’s long career with International Flavours & Fragrances (IFF) started after she studied languages at University. She was working as a Graduate Trainee in the textile industry when she read ‘Perfume’ by Patrick Süskind. It was a eureka moment and she moved to London to join IFF in 1990.
Catherine has worked across all areas of the business from Fabric Care to Fine Fragrance, she is also a Board Member of the Fragrance Foundation and is Chair of the annual Jasmine Awards Judging Panel, which nominates awards for the best fragrance writing in the UK. Her passion for spreading the education and joy of fragrance to a wider audience is infectious.
Haydn Williams
Haydn is a freelance writer, blogger and podcaster. He writes regularly about fragrance, grooming and gifting for titles such as Grazia and Closer. He has his own website and Instagram page called ‘You smell great! What is it?’. Last year he launched a podcast about fragrance, grooming and self-care aimed at men called ‘Man In The Mirror’ - guests have included perfumers, brand founders and Oscar-nominated actor Richard E. Grant. Haydn was the recipient of the ‘Rising Star’ award at the 2022 Fragrance Foundation ‘Jasmine' Awards.
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Alice du Parcq
Alice du Parcq is a fragrance presenter and content creator on a mission to decode perfume in a fun, relatable and objective way through her Instagram channel @aliceduparcq, and hosts customer events for fragrance brands in store and online.
She was a magazine beauty journalist for over 15 years before specialising, and has since won 3 prestigious Jasmine Awards for her fragrance writing and creative projects. She won one in 2022 for her 'Desert Island Spritz' InstaLive show, where Alice interviews high profile perfume-lovers about their most beloved scents, with past guests including Richard. E. Grant, Sali Hughes and Caroline Hirons.
Alice grew up in Barnes and lives locally, with over a dozen family members still in SW13! After years spent helping her mother-in-law Diane du Parcq on the catering and Pimms tents at Barnes Fair and the Barnes Food Fair, she's thrilled to bring her own passion and expertise on stage.
@aliceduparcq
Pia Long
Pia is the perfumer behind all of our fragrances, expressing their stories in original olfactive forms. Having worked with fragrance since her teens, her route to perfumery was as creative as her perfumery is today. She made the move from fragrance retail to behind the scenes in 2009 and worked for three companies and through them, several brands, until co-founding Olfiction in 2016. She is a member of the Société Internationale des Parfumeurs-Créateurs and a Council Member of the British Society of Perfumers.
Suzy Nightingale & Nicola Bonn
On the Scent podcast @onthescentpodcast, hosted by Nicola and Suzy, began as a scented segment on the Outspoken Beauty podcast, soon proving so popular that it began its own show during lockdown. First monthly, then weekly, public demand now has two weekly episodes entirely dedicated to fragrance, with celebrity guests, ingredient themed shows and answering listeners’ Perfume Prescriptions.
Suzy Nightingale is a fragrance expert and multi-award-winning journalist, writing for publications such as The Perfume Society’s magazine, The Scented Letter; Grazia Middle East, Elle online, Boots magazine, and trend reporting for Stylus. Having originally appeared as a guest on Outspoken Beauty, Suzy now co-hosts the twice-weekly On the Scent podcast with Nicola.
Nicola Bonn is a broadcaster and beauty writer. She has presented on radio stations including Classic FM, Heart, Smooth and Magic. She is the host and creator of The Outspoken Beauty Podcast and co-hosts The On the Scent Podcast.
Amanda Carr
Amanda is a multi award winning fragrance writer, fragrance trend forecaster and co founder of We Wear Perfume (with her friend Tamara Fulton). After decades in the fashion industry, Amanda swapped to fragrance, captivated by the extraordinary talent, boundless creativity and mind-blowing smells she discovered in the fragrance world.
She writes for both business and consumer magazines and occasionally pops up on BBC Radio4 talking about scent. She is co founder of The Barnes Fragrance Fair.
Maya Njie
Born in Västerås Sweden, Maya moved to London in her late teens. Her background lies in surface design and photography, which she studied at the University of the Arts London. To further communicate her work, she began experimenting with the sense of smell as an added medium. After graduating Maya spent the next few years working for The Laundry, an arts hub situated in London Fields.
During her time there she delved further into the olfactory world, experimenting with different raw materials and teaching herself perfumery. As she wore her perfumes to work, visitors and tenants alike showed a particular interest in her creations. Her androgynous notes left compelling trails behind to be coveted, and a band of devotees grew organically over time. Maya Njie Perfumes was founded in 2016 soon to be followed by placement in a handful of UK based independent shops.
The range of modern artisan fragrances are inspired by Maya’s Swedish upbringing and West African heritage. Her fragrances reconstruct nostalgic moments in time through perfume, those elusive moments which otherwise may have slipped quietly away.
Christopher Yu
Having worked in the perfume industry for more than 20 years, industry expert Christopher Yu is widely considered to have the ‘Midas touch’ when it comes to perfume.
As co-founder of United Perfumes and having spent years working alongside some of the world’s most-renowned perfumers (Diptyque, Francis Kurkdjian, Olivier Polge to Lyn Harris, Sophie Labbe and Dominique Ropion to name but a few) it was “only a matter of time,” before he decided to pour his knowledge and passion for fragrance into his own creation.
That creation is Ostens, the exclusive fragrance brand born out of a desire to “rip up” the perfume rule-book in the pursuit of beautiful fragrance without rules, limitations, briefs or budgets.
Crafted by some of the finest noses in the business, the brand’s debut collection includes six carefully crafted Eau de Parfums, each of which is paired with an ingredient ‘inspiration’ - captured within an oil - allowing the user to experience the raw material in its purest form.
The brand is currently available direct to consumer at Ostens.com and through its exclusive London showroom where customers are invited to join an intimate one to one appointment and a true journey of discovery.
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Roger Miles
After 32 years as an accountant at Deloitte, Roger retired in June 2009 to pursue a new career in the Arts. After graduating from Chelsea College of Arts with a BA in Fine Art he then completed an MA in Sculpture at the RCA.
Roger's art practice is a combination of immersive installations, performance and the memorialisation and cannibalisation of found objects.
He's completed several unusual residencies over the years as a source of new ideas and exciting found objects. The residencies include a three month stint at Townmead Road Recycling and Re-Use Centre- SW London, a mannequin factory in Walthamstow, North London and in a sixty year-old thrift store, called Elsewhere, in Greensboro’, North Carolina, USA.
His latest and most long lasting installation is as archivist and manager of the Olympic Studios Records vinyl record shop, located opposite and funded by the famous Olympic Studios. He is gradually building its iconic archive of music and stories, helped by the residents of Barnes who remember the original Studio. But he has also been curious about the role of music and scent. The Record Shop stocks L'Orchestre Parfum, a fragrance collection which creates beautiful scent around music and musical instruments, and the Scented Revolutions talks will discover how music and our sense of smell are very closely linked.
