ABOUT
Being amazed by complexity of the human senses, I naturally grew interest in chemistry behind the smells and researched the topic deeply. Studying the isomers (compounds that have identical composition but different structures) I found a fascinating phenomenon about unique pairs which have the same formula but have two different smells. Only change in the position of the atoms structure makes them generate different smells.
The project is about converting smell into a physical form and constructing visual interpretation. My initial interest was to reveal invisible and make it visible and even tangible. I used two different approaches.
First approach, I’ve created forms to provide tangible experience of the smell, each contains two relevant smells. The scientific approach was used behind the form creation. I placed a molecular representation of the smells together and used the method from chemistry to create a 3D visualisation of smells. The forms were 3D printed and have holographic coating over them.
The А0 poster is made to visualise the primary research and bring the structure to my first insights. I used it as a base/platform for the idea development of the project
The video with the visual explanation how the forms were created
Second approach was to create still life layouts where I contrasted smells in their juxtaposition to each other. The set design of the layout was built on the basis of chemical arrangements of these smells. I visualised the smell through its placement (‘mint’ is always mirrored by the ‘caraway’; ‘onion’ is always under the ‘grape’).
