About this Event
About Storycraft: Twelve Olfactory Narratives
In the summer of 2025, twelve perfumers were invited to explore storytelling during a residency at Craft Contemporary, in Los Angeles. Every Saturday, an invited perfumer spent six hours exploring a curated set of materials provided by MANE, deploying them to create an olfactory interpretation of a myth, a cultural memory, or an artwork. Sometimes delightful, sometimes troubling, the resulting scents each convey a narrative that can be uncovered with patient, thoughtful smelling.
The IAO is thrilled to present these olfactory explorations in an exhibition at IAO Gallery. Expanding on their work at Craft Contemporary, the perfumers participating in Storycraft were asked to further contextualize their work with an image or small object. The resulting exhibition thus presents their olfactory work in a new context, exploring fundamental questions about scent’s creative capacity. Does scent benefit from being paired with visual and textual forms? How does imagery impact our perception of an olfactory narrative?
Storycraft: Twelve Olfactory Narratives is produced in collaboration with Craft Contemporary, and is exhibited in tandem with the ongoing residency and installation, IAO Storylab at Craft Contemporary on view through October 26, 2025.
Participating Perfumers:
Dana El Masri (Jazmin Saraï)Daniel Krasofski (The Institute for Art and Olfaction)Debbie Lin + Na-Moya Lawrence (Samar)Joe Merrell (The Eyes are Always There)Julianne Lee (The Institute for Art and Olfaction)L’lia ‘Tizzle’ Thomas (Aromakaura)Maxwell Williams (UFO Parfums)Minetta Rogers (The Institute for Art and Olfaction)Miss Layla (fum Fragrances)Persephenie (Persephenie Botanicals)Saskia Wilson-Brown (The Institute for Art and Olfaction)Terry Carter (Travertine Atelier)
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About our Raffle Drawing!
We’re having a raffle with over $4000 worth of prizes! Ticket sales for the Institute for Art and Olfaction 2025 fundraising raffle end on the evening of October 24th when we will draw the winning tickets. Come join us that night for the raffle drawing and a closing party for the exhibition Storycraft in the IAO gallery space. There will be good things to drink, including margaritas from @olecocktails
Raffle tickets are available for purchase at the IAO at the Christopher Brosius exhibition closing party on Sept. 5th from 6-8, the Storycraft exhibition opening on Sept. 26th, the IAO Lab Sale on Sept. 27th and the night of the raffle drawing on Oct. 24th and during IAO open hours.
A special thank you to our raffle donors who gave the following fabulous prizes:
Beverly Hills Perfumery: Gift box of classic and vintage perfumes, retail value $250
Distributed Art Publishers (D.A.P.): Stack of coffee table art books, retail value $240
Eden Botanicals: Essential Oil treasure box, retail value $1000
Institute for Art and Olfaction: $150 gift certificate for classes
Oliver McCrum Wines and Vendome Liquors: wines and spirits party gift basket, retail value $300
PCA (The PCA Companies): Contemporary perfume gift basket, retail value $750
PF Candle Co.: $250 gift certificate
Studio Sentir/Eden Ashley: $500 gift certificate for private perfume creation/consultation
Thought Forms Studio: Boutique perfume gift basket, retail value $258
This event is free and open to the public.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Institute for Art and Olfaction, 932 Chung King Rd, Los Angeles, United States
USD 0.00
