The Avant/Garde Diaries, a digital interview magazine which documents personal views on the avant-garde, has recently interviewed Dawn Goldworm, the Scent Director of the Paris and NYC-based olfactory branding company 12.29. The company produces delicate and strategic elixirs of scents and places them in new contexts, manipulating environmental experiences, conjuring memories, and eliciting behavioral associations.
Dawn herself is actually synesthetic, which in her case means she sees colors when she thinks of letters, numbers, words, memories, and sounds, and associates colors and textures to smells. "If a brand associates with the color blue and the texture of silk, I can make the scent smell like the color blue and the texture of silk," she says.
Dawn considers her ability a blessing. In "The Scent of Colours: An Artist's Blessing" she discusses the concept of using a common element or sense to interpret another, and discusses how she applies her synesthesia to create olfactory experiences.