Sakura

I just wanted to share the sakura's of Kyoto with you. (The photos were taken in the end of March.)













This type of Sakura is called Shidare-zakura. I love them although they don't smell much.

workshop@WDK day 4

Day 4

The last day of the projectweek.

Those students who took the enfleurage method (for narcis and hyacinth) they still had to finish the last part.


Taking out the flowers from the box and wiping off the fat.


The smell is 'copied' to the fat.

Now that all the extracts were being made, why not start exhibiting them?





The students got an assignment on the day before to prepare the exhibition text as indicated.


The smell of Rotterdam Haven - by Sumire Kobayashi


The smell of Cherry blossoms - by Sumire Kobayashi


The smell of Maple tree's trunk (new house) - by Sae Inukai


The smell of bay tree's leaf (previous house) - by Sae Inukai


The smell of weeping willow tree - by Stefan Scholten


The smell of cement from construction site - by Stefan Scholten


The smell of cherry laurel - by Tea Hadzizulfic


The smell of narcis flower - by Tea Hadzizulfic


The smell of rubber (found at Blaak St.) - by Roos Wijma


The smell of Cardamon of the market - by Roos Wijma


The smell of car tire (extracted alternatively from baloons) - by Fiona Martin


The smell of Chocolate shop - by Fiona Martin


The smell of antique book stall - by Rebecca Rust


The smell of potato peels - by Linde Akkerman


The smell of orage (at the market) by Linde Akkerman


The smell of hyacinth (at the market) by Linde Akkerman


The smell of tobacco (in front of the academy) by Wendy van der Hart


The smell of flowers on the street - by Norika Niki


The smell of moss - by Norika Niki


The smell of clay found at the construction site - by Ben Kim


The smell of tobacco (in front of the academy) - by Ben Kim


from the left:
The smell of Cheese burger
The smell of Loempia stand - by N. Hendriks & E. Koens
The smell of mint at the market - by N. Hendriks & E. Koens
The smell of hair salon - by N. Hendriks & E. Koens
The smell of METRO newspaper - by Steffie Henderson
The smell of Dutch dropjes - by K. Goudriaan
The smell of clay of a childhood - by Steffie Henderson


They are the survivors. Smelling requires a lot of energy from the body, so there were actually some students who became sick and couldn't continue.







Doors open for the guests.













The second round of the exhibition was at the City Informatiecentrum in the heart of the city. The academy held 2 days exhibition to show the results of the werkweek.



Four motivated students curated their own exhibition.











In between the fashion and design works, the smells were 'exhibited'. It's not easy for the public to touch and smell, because the protocol of normal art exhibition is "please do not touch". But we did our best to make it accessible.

After 4 days of workshop, I was totally exhausted, but with some kind of satisfaction. The last message that I gave to the students:

You are all around the age 20, that means your sense of smell is now the sharpest in your whole life. Unfortunately the sensitivity declines as you age. But I think you can cover that by developing your own way of awareness by analyzing the smells and creating imagination from the smells, like we did in the class. Please stay aware.

I would be happy if I've added another dimension of the senses to their lives.

workshop@WDK day 3

Day 3

Like the day before, we smelled all the materials that students collected from the city.


Cat's hair


Clay that was found at the construction site


Weeds and flowers along the street


Cherry blossoms from Kralingse Plas


Scarf that absorbed the person's smell


Tree bark of her garden


Loempia (it's actually very Rotterdam's smell because there is a family selling it all over the city)


Willow on the street


Chocolate - the smell of chocolate house

Compared to the day before, everyone brought more beautiful materials for eyes and noses. :-)

Extraction session starts.




left: METRO newspaper
right: Dutch Dropjes


Cherry Laurel




He is extracting the smell of clay


She is extracting the weeds and flowers from the street


Potato pills. This is the smell of Dutch kitchen! It's extracted by distillation.














Filtering takes time... the longer you take time, the more it gets clear.




Extracting the smell of old book was quite successful.


We ended the day with a short presentation and smelling each other's extracts.