Making Sense of Scents

The Society of Chemistry is based in Piccadilly, in the same courtyard as the Royal Acadamy, and every month, they put on a public lecture which is normally free, although you do have to book.  

The hall opens at 6.00 p.m., with tea, coffee and biscuits, which is rather nice, since a lot of people will have rushed there straight from work, and a chance to relax and chat beforehand with fellow enthusiasts adds to the enjoyment of the evening.

The topics they cover are varied, although always related to chemistry, and normally take the form of a lecture, with an opportunity to ask questions of the expert speakers - they get some very high profile speakers, many of whom are world expects in their field.

This evening, however, the programme had a different format.    Entitled "Making Sense of Scents, it was organised in conjunction with the British Society of Perfumers, and instead of a lecture, there was a panel of six leading figures in the world of perfumes, who answered questions from the audience.   The panel, under the chairmanship of John Bailey, President of the British Society of Perfumers, included Steve pearce, CEO and Founder of Omega Ingredients ltd and Maverick Innovations Ltd., Penny Williams, Perfumer, Development and Training Dorector of Orchadia, Grant Osborne, Founder of Basenotes, Lisa Hipgrove, Director of IFRA UK, Ruth Mastenbroek, former President of the British Society of Perfumers and now marketing a range of designer perfumers and Will Andrews, Fragrance Scientist, Gragrance Design Team, P&G Prestige.    Quite a line-up of experts, and one was pleased to see that 50% of them were women - so often there is a dearth of women on panels, despite the number of able women out there.

The questions were many and varied, as were the answers, with some being addressed to individuals whilst others were directed more generally.     At the end of the session, which lasted for an hour and a half, I felt I knew just slightly more about perfumes than I did earlier in the evening - and was also more aware of just what an amazing and fascinating subject it is.   Never will I look at a bottle of perfume in the same way again.

Afterwards there were more refreshments, this time wine and nibbles, and a further chance to chat to people both about the event and a wide variety of other topics.   The people who tend to go to these sort of events also tend to be very interesting to talk to, whatever their daytime occupation, and it's always a pleasure to stay and chat to everyone.