The Aroma Inquiry Lab

In 2014, I conceptualised a theoretical and methodological framework for  the Aroma Inquiry Lab, a satellite project within Toronto Metropolitan University’s Responsive Ecologies lab, intended for collaborative research on tacit, inquiry-based learning with-and-through aromatic materials. The lab, while small, is home to a collection of varied aromatic reference standards in a variety of forms (raw, processed, natural, and synthetic), aromatic cultural artifacts that is not limited to a single domain of aromatic practice.

Why “aroma” (rather than olfaction or fragrance?)

My deliberate choice of the cultural term aroma, as opposed to the scientific ‘olfaction’ or commercially oriented ‘fragrance,’ reflects my interest in the pedagogical affordances of aromatic materials and environments as a resource for learning, communicating, and making.

The aroma lab is focused on literacy and learning with and through authentically situated ecologies, materials, and applied practices that are specific to individual learners rather than any one-size-fits-all curriculum or program of study. This focus reflects an extra disciplinary orientation to aromatic learning and making that is not tethered to specific disciplinary, trade, or commercial interests. 

The use of the term inquiry reflects my research focus on informal and inquiry-based learning practices associated with authentically situated environments and communities of practice. This is in contrast with traditional paradigms of “sage-on-the-stage,” teaching-as-transmission (i.e., didactic instruction) and curriculum as ‘content delivery,’ which reduce students to passive audiences, rather than active participants, in learning. This critical pedagogical orientation reflects my several decades of professional experience teaching in secondary and post-secondary classrooms and my academic study of informal learning inquiry, multimodal literacy, and play in non-institutional digital affinity spaces and communities of practice (CoP).

Accordingly, the Aroma Inquiry Lab is neither a ‘perfumery studio’ (for ‘fragance’ applications) nor is it a sensory psychology/olfaction lab. Unlike many other “olfactive,” “sensory,” or “fragrance,” related labs and projects elsewhere, this lab is NOT underwritten by functional and ‘affective/emotional’ orientations to scent favoured by industry that reduces the sense organs to ‘playback’ devices for memories and emotions (an orientation that my work explicitly critiques).

Instead, this lab is concerned with the material, ecological, and structural “contingencies” of learning ‘with and through’ aromatic environments and substances, which are afforded through a physical proximity that is bound to place, space, and specific resources to access, perceive, and use in practice. These material contingencies, and the costs associated with them, also reflect the political economies of aromatic practices that are often concealed or obscured by a relation with scent that begins and ends with consumption (rather than production).

From a pedagogical standpoint, the focus of the lab reflects the development of literacy and learning with and through authentically situated ecologies, materials, and applied practices that are specific to individual learners rather than any one-size-fits-all curriculum or program of study. This focus also reflects an extra disciplinary orientation to aromatic learning and making that is not tethered to specific disciplinary, trade, or commercial interests. 

Following my research on aroma as a ‘missing modality’ of learning and communication, my own practice with aroma is focused on the creation of custom learning and ‘reference standards,’ outdoor inquiries of scent, and custom scent design for research interactions and exhibits. Accordingly, I refer to myself as a researcher-practitioner with a focus on mixed media scent design, rather than perfumer or ‘olfactory artist.’ This is closer to a craft practice, which is focused on process (versus products) involving a class of related raw materials (i.e., woodworking), rather than the formulation and marketing of “fragranced” products for consumers (I do not make commercial fragrance for the body/skin).

My orientation to aromatic learning and scent design engages multiple ways of knowing with-and-through aromatic environments and materials that I term “aroma inquiries.” I characterize my aromatic practice as ‘extra-disciplinary’ in that it is not tethered to a specific discipline but informed by varied forms of practice that do not necessarily ‘belong’ to a particular industry or academic field. My practice draws on experience as both a collaborator on a sensory research project led by Dr Kate McLean in Marseille  and as a facilitator of my own custom smell walks in Toronto and Vancouver. I have created “aromatic inquiry” workshops for  academic symposia, and Master Classes for the wine and spirits trade, wine education certification courses, and university oenology and viticulture programs. I have also designed custom scents and scent ‘features’ for collaborative research projects, conference workshops, prototypes, and exhibits. Most recently, I collaborated with the Art Gallery of Ontario to create four unique and historically-themed scents for the Making Her Mark Exhibit, which you can read about in my interview with Foyer Magazine.

Aroma Practice + Scent Design 

Following my research on aroma as a ‘missing modality’ of learning and communication, my own practice involves the creation of custom ‘reference standards’ for aromatic learning/training, outdoor aromatic inquiries, and custom scent design for exhibits [note: I do not create ‘fragrance’ products for consumer use/sale]. In addition to my research and independent studies on aromatic environments and practices, I am also trained in natural perfumery. Accordingly, I refer to myself simply as a researcher-practitioner with a focus on mixed media scent design, rather than perfumer or ‘olfactory artist.’ My orientation to aroma creation is closer to craft practices that are focused on process (versus product) involving a class of related raw materials (i.e., woodworking), rather than the formulation and marketing of “fragranced” goods for sale to consumers (i.e., perfumery). I do not make commercial fragrance for the body/skin.

My orientation to aromatic learning and scent design engages multiple ways of knowing with-and-through aromatic environments and materials that I term “aroma inquiries.” My practice is inspired by varied approaches to aromatic understanding, including experience as a collaborator and facilitator on sensory/smell walks in Toronto, Marseille, and Vancouver, custom aroma literacy and making workshops for academic symposia, Master Classes for the wine and spirits trade and oenology and viticulture programs.

While I work in mixed media (i.e., natural/organic materials and man-made molecules), I have trained in artisanal perfumery with American natural perfumer Mandy Aftel, from whom I have certification to teach her basic natural perfume making class and continue to study with mentors in the sciences, arts, and humanities. My work is featured in varied applications and collaborative research projects, conference workshops, prototypes, and exhibits. Most recently, I collaborated with the Art Gallery of Ontario to create four unique, historically-themed scents for the Making Her Mark Exhibit, which you can read about in my interview with Foyer Magazine.

Press
My work, ideas, perspectives are cited in scholarly articles and books, television, radio, and print media, interviews, and trade blogs.  Please see my speaking page for further detail, or visit my contact page for inquiries related to my research and practice. 

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