BARNABÉ FILLION: SCULPTING THE INVISIBLE
The ANEST COLLECTIVE universe encompasses art, architecture and design of all disciplines, committed to presenting the creativity of others as well as its own. In this collective spirit, here we introduce The Plant Encounters, a collaboration series between ANEST COLLECTIVE and The Plant magazine featuring conversations that explore the work and inspirations of contemporary artists in their workspace. Barnabé Fillion wears Anest Collective’s Summer 22 collection.
French perfume designer Barnabé Fillion describes his workspace in the Parisian suburb of Pantin as his “creative refuge”. It’s here, in the secluded space of his studio-laboratory, that he dreams up fragrances for Arpa, an ambitious personal project that blends the boundaries between perfumery, music and the visual arts. Over Hojicha tea, Fillion – who has also collaborated with the likes of Aesop and Le Labo – tells us about the art of sculpting the invisible.
Can we think of perfumes as olfactory sculptures – of them having a presence without a body?
I was working as a photographer when I got into perfumery via stints in homeopathy and phytotherapy. I’ve long been fascinated by the work of Karl Blossfeldt, whose photographs show the architecture of nature in macro form. It’s that feeling of entering into a plant that I’m looking to recreate in my perfumes too. This perhaps explains why I’m still always starting from an inspiration from the visual world, even when sculpting something as invisible as a scent.
Is there room for chance in perfumery or is it a science of precision?
The name Arpa is partly inspired by the artist Hans Arp, who described sculptures as vertical perfumes. His work is based a lot on accidents, “the laws of chance”, as he called them. I don’t want to control everything in my fragrances. About 80 or 90 percent of my perfumes are determined by the formula, but for the rest, I like to let myself be surprised by what can come out of an accident or mistake, even. I see perfumery a bit like a piece of chamber music being performed by various instruments in a conductorless orchestra. I usually combine my ingredients without having too much of an idea of what they will give in the end.That’s why I rarely work from briefs.
Art is so powerful in triggering emotions. Can we sculpt feelings and memories through perfume too?
I love when people smell a perfume and tell me that it reminds them of something, but they can’t quite pin down what it is. I can feel them digging into their memories, which creates a sort of space between my experience and theirs. Because after all, associations to smell are highly subjective. For artist Anicka Yi, I explored the theme of memory loss through scent. Our project was based on the idea that conditions like Alzheimer take people back to an almost birth-like state. I recreated that first odour of the mother’s womb, the vanillin and the warmth. And then I also tried to recreate the sense of void that patients experience. What drives me the most in my work is this collaborative process with artists.
How do fragrances fill the volume of a space?
I think of perfumery as sculpting a space of inspiration, as crafting sensorial experiences. It’s an invitation to perceive more things in reality, in this volume that a fragrance fills. Because of this, music plays a key role in Arpa. Every perfume comes with a music download because the audio element – together with the olfactory – further helps to amplify this perception of reality and the space around you. It’s the idea of synaesthesia, which allows you to experience one sense through another. This sense-blending approach influences everything I do in Arpa.
Do you have a favourite ingredient?
There are so many. I like everything related to the forest – moss, nuts and wood – which remind me of long country walks. Then I love things that bring back souvenirs of travels to India, Mexico and Japan, such as shiso, all sorts of tea and incense used during religious ceremonies. And, since discovering small Japanese hydrangea flowers, I’ve even grown fond of working with floral essences.
WORDS: ANNICK WEBER
PHOTOGRAPHY: FRANÇOIS COQUEREL
