Osmothèque

Exterior view of Osmothèque (2013 )

The Osmothèque ( composition of Greek οσμή osme, smell ' and θήκη bar, storage place ') is a perfume archive in the French Versailles.

History

Concept and preparatory work

After the perfumer Jean Kerléo was appointed President of the Société Française des perfumer (SFP ) in 1976, he suggested to the members the implementation of an archive for odors. In addition to archiving known fragrances Kerléo also planned the reconstruction of lost fragrance compositions based on ancient formulas and descriptions.

Kerléo pursued the project against numerous forms of resistance in the next two decades. Many companies and perfumers had reservations to confide their secret formulas an archive.

In the 1980s Kerléo succeeded reproduction no longer available perfumes of the house Jean Patou. In 1986 his team from the administrators of the estate of the former perfumer F. Millot several formulas, including the unavailable classic crepe de Chine Jean Desprez of the perfumer from the year 1925. Kerléo vouched that the formulas would be kept safe in the archive.

The active implementation began only in 1988, after Gérard Delcour, President of the Comité Français du Parfum ( CFP), and Didier Simond, President of the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Versailles Val -d'Oise - Yvelines, had signaled its support.

Opening

The Osmothèque was opened on 26 April 1990. Together with perfumers such as Jean -François Blayn, Raymond Chaillan, Jean -Claude Ellena, Yuri Gutsatz, Jeannine Mongin, Raymond Pouliquen, Guy Robert, Henri Sebag, Philippe Lepage, André Gerber and Yves Tanguy Kerléo was initially 400 perfume formulas, including the of 70 perfumes no longer available, put together.

In 2005, the collection had already grown to 1,200 perfumes, including 300 obsolete. In 2013, the archive already saved over 3,000 fragrances, of which 400 were no longer available. One of the oldest preserved archival material includes a description of a perfume for the Parthian kings, which was written by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia of 77 AD.

The collection also include perfumes from the time of the Roman Empire, the scent of water to the Queen of Hungary from the 14th century and the perfume of Napoleon Bonaparte in exile on St. Helena. In addition, modern classic by Chanel or Christian Dior part of the collection.

On the website of the archive all recorded fragrances can be searched in a database. To Osmothèque include a library of perfume and a bookstore. The Osmothèque published studies and a magazine and organize conferences and symposia.

Since 2008, the perfumer Patricia de Nicolaï is president of the Osmothèque.

Storage of fragrances

The scents are in a basement, which is constant cooled to 12 degrees Celsius, kept. To protect the perfume before exposure to light, they are stored in tinted glass bottles. After each time you open a bottle of the perfume is overlaid with argon gas, which is heavier than air and thus puts on the fluid and prevents its oxidation.