Osmothèque
Encyclopedia
The Osmothèque is a perfume museum and conservatory in Versailles
located near ISIPCA
as a repository and conservatory for the formulae of perfume
s. It was founded in 1988 by Jean Kerléo
and several perfumers with the goal of reconstructing the formula for perfumes that have been lost and preserve the formulas of influential perfumes that shaped trends in the perfume industry. The name "Osmothèque" comes from joining two Greek
with osmo for smell theque for storage. In 2008, Patricia de Nicolaï
, the great-grand-daughter of Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain
, became the President of the Osmothèque
Many of the perfumes may have been trend-setters in their time but are at risk of being lost due to changes in fashion and tastes, bankruptcies of the perfume company, or changes in the perfume formulations. For instance, François Coty
's 1917 Chypre bears little or no resemblance to its current version. This museum also played an important role in re-creating Marie-Antoinette's perfume in 2007 due to the scientific and technical expertise of its perfumer
s and technicians.
The perfumes that have been recreated from their formulae are conserved in aluminium flasks with its headspace
flush with argon
and then stored in the museum's basement air conditioned room at 12 degree Celsius. The Osmothèque holds regular lectures on its grounds towards public understanding of the industry, trends, and art of perfumery.
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
located near ISIPCA
ISIPCA
ISIPCA is a school for post-graduate studies in perfume, cosmetics products and food flavor formulation, with an apprenticeship period in the industry. It was originally founded in 1970 by Jean-Jacques Guerlain as ISIP...
as a repository and conservatory for the formulae of perfume
Perfume
Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...
s. It was founded in 1988 by Jean Kerléo
Jean Kerléo
Jean Kerléo is a perfumer who worked in-house of Jean Patou and is the also the founder and director of the Osmothèque, a fragrance museum and conservatory in Versailles. Kerleo was born on February 24, 1932 in Brittany, France. At age 22, he began making perfumes for a New York company, Helena...
and several perfumers with the goal of reconstructing the formula for perfumes that have been lost and preserve the formulas of influential perfumes that shaped trends in the perfume industry. The name "Osmothèque" comes from joining two Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
with osmo for smell theque for storage. In 2008, Patricia de Nicolaï
Patricia de Nicolaï
Patricia de Nicolaï is a French perfumer who works as the head of her own perfume company Parfums de Nicolai. She is also a member of the technical committee of the French Society of Perfumers and the president of the Osmothèque perfume conservatory...
, the great-grand-daughter of Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain
Guerlain
Guerlain is a French perfume house, among the oldest in the world. It has a large and loyal customer following, and is held in high esteem in the perfume industry...
, became the President of the Osmothèque
Many of the perfumes may have been trend-setters in their time but are at risk of being lost due to changes in fashion and tastes, bankruptcies of the perfume company, or changes in the perfume formulations. For instance, François Coty
François Coty
François Coty was a French perfume manufacturer, newspaper publisher, and founder of the fascist league Solidarité Française...
's 1917 Chypre bears little or no resemblance to its current version. This museum also played an important role in re-creating Marie-Antoinette's perfume in 2007 due to the scientific and technical expertise of its perfumer
Perfumer
A perfumer is a term used for an expert on creating perfume compositions, sometimes referred to affectionately as a Nose due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions...
s and technicians.
The perfumes that have been recreated from their formulae are conserved in aluminium flasks with its headspace
Headspace
In firearms, headspace is the distance measured from the part of the chamber that stops forward motion of the cartridge to the face of the bolt. Used as a verb, headspace refers to the interference created between this part of the chamber and the feature of the cartridge that achieves the correct...
flush with argon
Argon
Argon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table . Argon is the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.93%, making it more common than carbon dioxide...
and then stored in the museum's basement air conditioned room at 12 degree Celsius. The Osmothèque holds regular lectures on its grounds towards public understanding of the industry, trends, and art of perfumery.