Odette Toilette – Making sense of scent

Odette Toilette, founded by Lizzie Ostrom, continues to attract fragrance aficionados and novices alike to its unique events, while its perfume inspired projects have been met with great success, as Lucy Copp reports

Up until a few years ago, consumer engagement with fragrance was a limited concept in the UK. With consumers largely restricted to learning about scents through advertisements and in perfume aisles, little else was offered in terms of the discovery of fragrance. That is, until Lizzie Ostrom, founder of fragrance events company Odette Toilette, put her long standing vision into practice – to create a space for individuals to discover fragrance, learn about its history and discuss their opinions in a relaxed, fun and honest environment.

The main event

Since debuting her first event series, Scratch+Sniff, at The Book Club bar in Shoreditch, London, in February 2010, Ostrom hasn’t looked back, as demand instantly took off – an impressive 50 people attended her first session, despite relatively little promotion. Today, Scratch+Sniff is just a part of what Ostrom offers under the Odette Toilette umbrella. Ostrom, who herself goes by the host name of Odette Toilette, runs a wide variety of fragrance events in and around the capital, ranging from her original Scratch+Sniff discovery themed events to Vintage Scent Sessions to one-off Special Events, such as The Art of Kodo, which she organised in collaboration with The Conran Shop, Fornasetti Profumi and Nippon Kodo in April. The Art of Kodo event offered attendees a first hand ceremonial experience of the codified practice of olfactory games among the Japanese aristocracy and Samurai circa 1500CE.

Nostalgic notes

Ostrom explains that her Vintage Scent Sessions have been particularly popular since their introduction, especially those that focus on the earlier and later decades. She tells ECM: “I think people are fascinated by the early 20th century, especially the 1920s. Anything nostalgic and pop-culture attracts the liveliest, rowdiest crowds – I recently ran the Ad-Dictive Perfume night about decoding fragrance commercials and this was very popular.”