As you know, we love scents. Perhaps this little one-of-a-kind spot is worth a field trip?

 

The perfume organ holds hundreds of natural perfume oils. (Bianca Taylor/KQED)

 

From KQED,

 

New Museum in Berkeley Worships the Art of Smell

By Bianca Taylor

 

“The first thing I notice about the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents is that it doesn’t smell.

 

Mandy Aftel, the museum’s founder and the author of “Essence & Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume,” says this is not an accident.

 

“I think people are worried that it will be very smelly like a department store,” she says.

 

Aftel tells me that the natural oils in her perfumes are not as pungent and long-lasting as the synthetic oils that you’d find at a makeup counter.

 

The Aftel Archive of Curious Scents was founded as a way to share her love of natural fragrance with the world. The small museum is in a garage behind her house in Berkeley, just over the fence from Chez Panisse…”

 

For the rest, and a video, click here.

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