Project: Scent Lending Library
Artist: Donna Lipowitz
Concept: There is a lot of talk about humans lacking the language to describe what we smell. While true, I counter that it may not be necessary to have exacting words for this notion. We all have slightly different senses of smell, and things smell different in different situations; perhaps accurate scent descriptions don’t matter as much as we think.
I created a public setting where people can smell over one hundred and fifty unique scents.
It's a dry delivery system, you pick up a bottle and open the lid to smell - inside is cotton wool with a few drops of the scent material - from commercial perfumes to single molecules, to scent memories.
Each scent has a library style information card about the historical origins, but never about "what" it smells like. This is an important detail. I don’t want to tell you what something smells like - that’s up to you.
People smell and reminisce, I’ve watched faces animate with all kinds of emotions.
I hear laughter, some tell me they had tears. I hear comments about personal connections.
Many mothers are in the bottle of Chanel No.5.
I call it the Scent Lending Library. "Lending," because you may join the library and take scents home. Participation is free, and I trust you to return them. Three scents for three weeks.
The library just turned one year old. It began in April 2025 as an installation in a storage closet at Olfactory Art Keller in NYC. It became so popular it stayed as a permanent work until September. However, there are no scent art galleries in Seattle where I live. I had to think: if it were a visual art gallery, who would take a chance on a scent piece that was not for sale?
I befriended the gallerist Kerry Gates of Fogue Studios and Gallery in Georgetown, who luckily was interested in perfume and scent art.
In November 2025, I adapted the New York show to her space. Since April 2026, it has found a permanent home upstairs, with a monthly pop-up pairing in the works.
Most importantly, it’s not just "scent folk" who like it, but regular people off the street. In professional perfumery, it’s easy to forget to explain "how" it's done, or why it matters. I’ve learned that people want to know what is in everything. My library offers a look behind the scenes while providing triggers for memories and places.
Best of all, strangers of all ages come into the library and talk to each other, sharing scent memories while touching and smelling the same bottles.
A social collective binding of scent and touch, in a physical space designed to feel familiar.
