Scents of Singapore: Je t’aime Perfumery interprets ‘700 years of Singapura’

Hands down, the sense of smell is powerful and scents essentially are incredible memory triggers. Remember that blanket you had as a child? Or the smell of your grandmother as she hugged you tightly. How about the fragrant scent of freshly cut grass as you made your way to school every morning? Essentially one whiff of a familiar smell can set off a vivid rush of memories as your mind puts together where and when you first smelt it.

Noting how potent smells are, Singapore-based Je t’aime Perfumery went on a mission to develop 12 unique scents that are an olfactory translation of Singapore’s history. As our island developed and matured through the last 700 years, its colourful history can be categorised into different periods where certain moods and emotions prevail. Be it love, peace or fear. Hence in an effort to allow people to envision the dormant mood of different eras, the National Museum of Singapore and Je t’aime Perfumery worked together to create scents reflective of the times.

Conceived by Prachi Garg, olfactory artist of Je t’aime Perfumery, these signature scents will be displayed at different locations in all the galleries at the museum and range from a musky Ancient Singapore to a spicy Colonial Singapore. One which is most intriguing is titled, ‘Fear’, a rather unpleasant smell to represent uncertain times.

Captivated by the sheer brilliance behind capturing the different scents, we decided to give the team at Marie France Asia a blind smell test of 5 scents – Sri Mariamman Indian Temple, Rich Lavish Cloths of Colonial Singapore, Home Food, Green Singapore and of course Fear. We asked everyone to close their eyes, take a whiff and write down what the smell triggered in their minds. Here are just some of the thoughts we gathered.

Colonial Singapore: Sri Mariamman Indian Temple

As per the description, the scent which includes ingredients like amber, sandalwood, velvet, lily of valley and white musk, is inspired by “a mix of offerings from the ‘pooja-thali’ (prayer plate), which includes nag-champa, jasmine, camphor and sandalwood.” What we got from our experiment was that 60% of the team thought of baby powder while one imagined an Indian sweet shop.  

Colonial Singapore: Rich Lavish Cloths

Simply imagine the scent of a mix of berries, flowers with white and dark chocolates float in the air if you were to walk along tree-lined streets of Colonial homes. As for what it reminded our team of, one mentioned a “bazaar” while another aptly said, “reminds me of Sunday mass in an old church.”

Road to Merdeka: Home Food

After the Japanese Occupation was over, families were able to gather together once again over meals without worrying about imminent threats. So with that in mind, this scent crafted from spicy notes, cloves, ginger, black pepper and sweet orange brings to mind a comforting feeling that you get when feasting amongst family members. Even with out blind test, the team was able to immediately pick up on the spices but this instead reminded them of an Indian spice shop.

Syonan To: Fear

Perhaps one of the most overpowering smells, this was inspired by the time when Japanese troops carried out mass executions on the local Chinese population to stub out anti-Japanese sentiments. The fear that loomed over Singapore was undeniable. As soon as our team got a whiff of this smell, negative reactions followed immediately with many describing that it smelt of the street, incense or an overcrowded train.

Independent Singapore: Green Singapore

The late Lee Kuan Yew was often referred to as Singapore’s gardener as he oversaw and emphasised the need for a Singapore filled with lush greenery. Concocted with golden bamboo, bergamot, red grapefruit and wild grasses among other ingredients, this scent reminded everyone in the team of a fresh garden with one who mentioned that it “reminds me of the ocean and light breeze.”

At the end of it all, we could see how different memories and images are evoked with just one smell and once the inspiration of the individual scents were revealed, everyone was intrigued as to how accurately they were crafted in accordance to the place.

Now these are only 5 of the 12 available scents. Head down to the National Museum of Singapore and go on smell journey as you re-live Singapore in her different eras. Don’t forget to tell us what they reminded you of though!

Je t’aime Perfumery’s scents at the Singapore: 700 Years exhibition will be held from 17 April to 18 May 2015 at the National Museum of Singapore. 

Tarandip Kaur