Life in Scents

Gerhart Jenne is the konditormeister behind London bakery Konditor & Cook, who’s famed confections include Magic Cakes, over 3,000 of which will be put together to create a giant ‘cake’ portrait of the Queen for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Together with partner Paul Cons he oversees a small empire which now occupies 6 distinct locations across central London. Gerhardt recalls the nostalgic, and not always pleasant, smells from his childhood in rural Germany, as well as many more from a career spent immersed in food. We also hear of Paul’s childhood smell recollections as well as those from his time running Flesh, at Manchester’s legendary nightclub, The Hacienda.

This time on Life in Scents, we meet legendary bartender Tony Conigliaro, whose drinks grace bar menus around the world and who loves nothing more than to introduce techniques from perfumery and science into his work, developing new ideas at his London-based research centre, Drinks Factory. Tony talks about why Soho to him will always smell of violets (and not in a good way), how he once used camphor to create a Narnian wardrobe moment, and how he managed to turn a memory of walking in a peaceful Portland forest into a drink. Tony also reveals an early interest in fragrance, starting with miniature-scent-bottle collecting in his teenage years.

This time on Life in Scents, we welcome landscape designer Cleve West who has won an incredible six RHS Gold Medals and Best in Show award at the Chelsea Flower show for his beautiful and innovative gardens. Naturally, Cleve gets stuck into the scent of manure, forests and sniffing out deer through the park, reveals why he has a thing for plasticine, and shares his Anglo-Indian Heritage, including the unforgettable aromas of curry leaves and how to make the perfect cup of aromatic Chai.

In this special seasonal edition of Life in Scents Jo Barratt and Odette Toilette speak to Father Christmas.  Known by several names around the world this legendary elusive figure is the man perhaps most associated with This time of year. We hear about the smells that have punctuated his life, from his childhood in central Asia to his current home in the north of Europe.  It is a life  drenched in the warming Christmas smells that we are all so familiar with. We also learn what an elf smells like, that time travel smells of coconut and the connection between Old Spice and the Northern Lights.

Our guest on this edition of Life in Scents is S.J. Watson, a new writer whose novel, Before I Go to Sleep, has been a huge bestseller in 2011. Winner of best crime novel in the Galaxy National Book awards, it has been translated into 30 languages and aquired for film by Ridley Scott’s production company. S J Watson’s vivid scent memories which he shares in this episode include the Bonfire Nights of his childhood, the unmistakable smell of an ear infection from his days working in the National Health Service, and his penchant for unusual fragrances, including a scent that smells of dry cleaning and another of garages.

In this episode, legendary electronic music-producer Martyn Ware talks us though some of the most memorable smells from his life. He tells us about the industrial odours he remembers from growing up in working-class Sheffield, before heading to Italy, where he takes us on a journey stopping at road-side cafes and aromatic lemon groves. Martyn’s experience touring the world has given him  insights into how our relationship to the world of smell is beginning to change.
 
Martyn is a founding member of both The Human League and Heaven 17. He has featured on recordings totaling over 50 million sales worldwide, working with musicians including Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, Erasure, Marc Almond and Mavis Staples.

In the third interview for Life in Scents, playwright and screenwriter Marcella Evaristi speaks to Jo Barratt and Odette Toilette about some of the smells that have punctuated her life. From fish suppers on wet winter evenings to the metaphysical joys of turpentine, her sensory experiences are divided between the ‘electric greyness’ of her home city Glasgow, to the vivifying scents of her ancestral Italy where choosing the perfect white peach marked a poignant ritual for father and daughter. We hear about being chased by Vicks VaporRub, the magic of sofrito, and why Marcella can’t walk past an art shop without sticking her head in and having a good sniff.

Marcella has written for stage, screen and radio. She is currently working on the second series of her acclaimed Radio 4 family sitcom, The Gobetweenies, which stars David Tennant and Sarah Alexander.

As a special addition to our regular monthly interviews, we are pleased to offer you this portrait of James Craven, the resident archivist at Les Senteurs, London’s original specialist perfumery shop, and a world authority on fragrance.

In many ways this piece was the starting point for Life in Scents. After meeting James at Odette’s inaugural Scratch+Sniff event, where he is a regular speaker, Jo decided he had make a programme about him. It was the starting point for Jo and Odette to begin working on a regular podcast based on smell.

James’s life has been spent, in his own words, ‘immersed in scent’. Here, he talks through some of the experiences that have led him to where he is today and shares with us some of the scents that have stood out for him.

And this is Nenuco, the baby cologne which Amy associates with her Spanish ex-housemates and her excitement at moving to London (we won’t ask why they were wearing baby scent, apparently it’s very refreshing).

Paris by Yves Saint Laurent - that mighty powerful rose perfume which our guest Amy Lamé remembers wearing (in high school!) in Episode 2 of Life in Scents. This is knockout stuff: go Amy.