Journey to the Moon, 2019.

An olfactory installation taking you on a scent-filled odyssey from the earth’s orange trees to the moon’s powdery surface while evoking some of the aromatic memories of July,1969.

 

A. Top Notes:

of Citrus trees and orange blossoms conjuring up rich memories of the sweet yet slightly sour air surrounding NASA headquarters, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Top Note Blend: oils of Sweet Orange, Yellow Mandarin, Blood Orange, Orange Blossom, Petitgrain and Lime

B. Middle/Heart notes:

of Tobacco within the walls of NASA headquarters. Anxiously smoked cigarette clouds filled the air while the crew awaited the safe lift-off of Apollo 11. Scents of Spruce wood were detectable within the spacecraft. Neil Armstrong’s “personal preference kit” contained a piece of wooden propeller (made of Spruce wood) of the Wright Flyer, the craft flown by the Wright brothers when they succeeded in taking the first powered flight on Dec. 17, 1903. Siberian Fir oil is added to the blend to represent The Space Race against the Soviet Union as well as the more recent Vostochny Cosmodrome…The Russian Rocket Launch Centre built in Siberia in recent years.

Middle Note Blend: oils of Tobacco, Black Spruce, Siberian Fir, Cedarwood, Black Pepper and Cabrueva

C. Base Notes:

According to NASA records, the astronauts recalled Moon dust as smelling like spent gunpowder, ashes from a fireplace that had been wetted, silver, ozone, musty dust, honey. This aroma has been composed using woody/smoky notes with a drop of grapefruit to bring about a slight metallic finish. Siam wood oil from the Vietnamese tree reminds us of the Vietnam War. Apollo 11 and Woodstock epitomised a stark cultural divide, peaking in the summer of 1969. Patchouli symbolises this.

Base Note Blend: oils of Vetiver, Balsam of Peru, Gaiac Wood, drop of Grapefruit, Patchouli, Siam Wood

 

All of these blends are made with essential oils and blended together with Perfumers Alcohol to make one Olfactory Portrait in the form of a Perfume.

Perfume Title: PORTRAIT OF A LANDING

Artist: Erin Quinn

Email: EQfactories@gmail.com