Aromata is an international contest and exhibition event dedicated to artistic
perfumery.
The focus is precisely on the artistic adjective. We have envisioned an event
dedicated to master perfumers that could complement the other important
national events in the industry which have a more trade fair aspect. We want
it to become a complementary and synergistic event where the artistic
creativity and sensitivity of perfumers is highlighted and appreciated on a par
with that of a great painter or a famous composer.
Il progetto, il cui focus è sull’aspetto artistico della profumeria, punta a valorizzare il patrimonio materiale ed immateriale di quest’arte secolare e a diffonderne la cultura con varie attività quali concorsi, esposizioni, workshop, conferenze, presentazioni di libri. Aromata si rivolge non solo ad un pubblico specializzato, ma anche e soprattutto ai non addetti ai lavori ai quali intende far conoscere ed apprezzare il mondo affascinante e ricco di storia e competenze della profumeria di nicchia.
The project was born with the aim of enhancing the material and immaterial heritage of this centuries-old art and to spread its culture with various activities such as contests, exhibitions, workshops, conferences, book presentations aimed at a industry audience but also and above all to raise awareness and appreciation of the fascinating world rich in history and skills of niche perfumery even to non-experts. The event, promoted by the Roman cultural association LiberoStile, stems from an idea of Laura Amato, founding member. The creations of the master perfumers will be on display in Rome, from 16 to 18 May 2024, inside the historic Palazzo Cavallerini Lazzaroni, a splendid baroque building a stone's throw from Largo di Torre Argentina, now home to the SpazioSette bookshop.
The evocative power of a perfume is eternal, like the city of Rome, and its consolidated artistic vocation of the Capital makes the Capital an ideal venue to promote the culture of niche perfumery. This, born 50 years ago, is now considered the spearhead of the industry and has opened up new spaces for the possibilities of composing fragrances.
With the term Aromata the Romans indicated the spices whose aromas were the basis for the creation of perfumed ointments such as the Regale unguentum composed of a long list of ingredients including cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, and myrrh. At the time, the perfumers were gathered in the Collegium aromatarium corporation and their shops were grouped near the Velabro, in particular in the Vicus thuriarus and Vicus ungentarius. It is therefore no coincidence that Rome immediately appeared to us as the ideal place to host the initiative conceived as a format which, during future editions, will see the creation of multiple events. The 2024 AROMATA Prize “Perfume: expressive code” is an international contest inspired by the Call for Art in which artists are invited to create a themed work. In this case, the master perfumers who present their creation will be the protagonists of what can undoubtedly be considered a centuries- old art. For this first edition the chosen theme is inspired by literature: "The invisible among the lines": a journey dedicated to the link between writing and perfume, among the scripta manent and the narrative power, albeit evanescent, of a fragrance.
There are many books in Italian and world literature whose plots revolve around perfumes. Authors of every time and place, starting from Pliny the Elder, who dedicated to Vespasian an extensive scientific assay on the production and social destination of oriental perfumes, to the Arab culture in which smells and perfumes occupy an important place, The perfumed garden by Muhammad An-Nafzawi, 15th century, manual of erotic literature is an example of this. “Perfumes become words, they enter the expressive arsenal of many writers: where language is not enough to express eros or yearning, a fragrance makes up for it” (Giovanna Zucconi -La sua voce è profumo) Even further east we have The Story of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu which highlights the great value attributed to perfume by Japanese culture in the Heian era. Returning to Europe, one can think of the evocation of perfumed smoke that persists in the sixteenth-century religious poetry of Jean de La Ceppède up to the Sicilian 19th century with Profumo, a realist novel by Luigi Capuana. The sources of inspiration can therefore be the most different. Not only the perfume in literature, but also the reverse process: literature that becomes fragrance. We are interested in the possibility for the invisible, told or imagined, that dwells among the lines of a certain literary excerpt, to come to life in a fragrance thanks to the creativity of the master perfumer. Participants are therefore asked to present their own creation inspired by the scents described in the chosen literary text, or a fragrance that embodies the emotion aroused by the charm of a character in a story, by the atmosphere of the environments of a novel, by the text of a poem, by the mark left on their heart and the intimate change that reading those lines made possible. The master perfumers will translate the sensations and mood aroused by reading those words into olfactory notes. Their literary choices will constitute the stages of a sensorial experience: an olfactory journey, a tour of the world, a journey through time.
For further information please write at aromata@liberostile.org
Marketing: Manuela Campea aromata.relazioniesterne@gmail.com
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