Perfumer Jerry Lin (林哲裕) on Saturday won the artisan category of this year’s Art and Olfaction Awards, becoming the second Taiwanese to receive the honor at the celebrated perfumery prize.
Lin’s Mint Rose was one of the two perfumes to claim the title among 10 finalists selected from 400 submissions.
The awards is a program of the Los Angeles-based Institute for Art and Olfaction established to recognize excellence in independent, artisanal and experimental perfumery.
Photo courtesy of Jerry Lin
Lin, cofounder and master perfumer of OrDioLab, said the base notes of his award-winning creation are Mexican mint and mountain pepper, or maqaw, in addition to mint.
The scent’s ingredients are popular in Taiwan, as they evoke a sense of coolness, a quality much desired considering the nation’s subtropical summers, he said.
Mexican mint is a common aromatic and decorative plant kept in many households in Taiwan and maqaw is a spice cultivated by the Atayal, he said.
Photo courtesy of Jerry Lin
The heart notes are white rose and bitter orange, and top notes are a mixture based on white musk, Lin said.
Mint Rose provides people with a refreshing fragrance with gentle coolness, like a breath of cold air on a winter morning, he said.
Lin said that after meeting perfumers from Thailand, Vietnam and Europe at the award ceremony, he believed Taiwanese perfumers have much to learn from international cooperation.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Government
Through international cooperation they could find new mixtures, he said, adding that Taiwanese perfumery has great potential.
In other news, an 85m projection mapping display entitled “Phoenix Eyes,” which was showcased in last year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival won gold at the annual Berlin Design Awards.
The display utilized local cultural treasures, performative art, algorithms, expanded reality technology and light sculpture technology in a multi-generational collaboration, the Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau said in a statement on Monday.
The creation emphasized the innovation and cultural heritage of Tainan, and brought the creativity of Taiwanese artists and technology to the fore, it said.
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