Aroma lab workbench, glassware cabinet, and materials fridge. There is a safety eye-wash station on the right of my workbench, a laminated WHMIS pictogram poster, and a lock on my fridge and cabinets.
The research-informed design and infrastructure of the Aroma Lab reflect insights developed from my site-specific doctoral field work research on aroma-focused learning ateliers and scent-themed features in the built and natural environments that are unique to the UNESCO-Heritage site of Grasse, France [described in my dissertation], and other similar environments I have researched in North America.
A materials-centred focus
Raw materials used to teach the public about scent in Grasse, France, include two giant pieces of vetiver, passed around to visitors during tours.
The intentional choice of the word aroma, rather than smell, reflects an earlier definition of aroma that referred not only to the scent, but also the source of fragrant materials. The term inquiry invokes the inquiry-based learning that occurs in non-formal learning environments, in contrast with didactic methods of teaching-as-transmission associated with subject-specific institutional education. To this end, the naming of the Aroma Inquiry Lab implicitly specifies its purpose as an extra-disciplinary environment for learning and making that isn’t tethered to a particular disciplinary paradigm. In contrast with educational schemes that are driven by specific disciplinary or commercial interests, the aroma lab is concerned with a more general emphasis on the pedagogical and tangible affordances of aromatic materials, objects, and environments as modal resources for more open-ended and extra-disciplinary learning, literacy, making, and communication.
Infrastructure
Full body safety wash station.
While the aroma lab is not designed for purposes of commercial manufacturing or business operations, it features a research-informed and purpose-built infrastructure that includes the types of features and affordances required for practices involving chemical mixtures. This includes a full-body safety wash station, several mobile eye wash stations, targeted ventilation, flammable materials safes, downdraft tables, locking cabinets and drawers, a dedicated dishwasher (used only with aroma materials), a dedicated refrigerator with a locking system (used only for aroma materials), and WHMIS labelling for materials.
While my role as operator of the aroma lab’s infrastructure is not a full-time occupation, my labour maintaining the lab is supported indirectly through the in-kind support for my research activities and collaborations on knowledge mobilisation projects with internal and external researchers, industry partners, artists, and public institutions. While the majority of material resources in the lab consist of my own resources and archival materials, I also manage small collections of materials that are provided by collaborating researchers and knowledge mobilisation partners for the creation of specialised workshops, learning and training standards, scent-themed research prototypes, and cultural heritage mediation.