I am an architect who became a perfumer and between those two fascinating universes has found the passion for history and writing and above all the passion for Beauty. I believe that Fragrance is the 8th ART and my blog is a daily exploration of beauty and the understanding of its mysteries. I share stories or historic elements from forgotten places, things that have never been said before and I try to cast a new light on fragrances using the experience I acquired in the past 15 years. My blog has started many years ago after I wrote my first 2 books - they were called "1000 de parfumuri" in Romanian. This is translated by 1000 Fragrances, the reason for the name. First, it was a natural extension of my book in a new medium then, it became something very different as things started to get a shape and I was able to put a name on what I was doing. The motto I use, "Fragrance is the 8th ART", was born several years ago when I started my phD thesis on "the artistry of fragrances". This expression that I invented and I was the first to say has also something very personal to me being related to my first name. In Latin it would be translated as "Odoramentum Octavus Ars Est" and I use the word "odoramentum" as it is related both to odor and ornament, and by extension fragrance and architecture, the 2 schools I graduated. Fragrance was not an art form in the classic Antiquity but it can be recognized 2000 years after. Since then and with my daily exploration of scents in the lab, new things appeared or became clearer to me.
I studied architecture, pharmacy and later perfumery at ISIPCA Versailles but the study of Fragrance as an 8th ART never ends.
Since 2008 I teach design (master degree) in a romanian School of Architecture.
I am member of Société Française des Parfumeurs and member of Romanian Society of Cosmetic Chemists.
Texts written by me, interviews with me or articles about me were published in the entire Romanian fashion press (incl. Harper's Bazaar, GQ, Elle, Tabu, The One, Avantaje, FashionandBeauty, Dialog Textil, etc), in almost all national newspapers (incl. Jurnalul National, Evenimentul Zilei, Cotidianul, Romania Libera, Catavencu, etc), in professional business press (incl. Ziarul Financiar, Capital, Business Magazin, Money Express, Wallstreet Magazine etc), in the international press (New York Times, Liberation, Style.com, l'Officiel Paris, NZZFolio, etc) and in many fragrance and beauty webzines.
In the past 5 years I published more than 300 de articles about fashion/beauty/fragrance in romanian and international press. My 3 books and my blog were quoted in several professional journals or recent books, starting with 2007.
This blog is the expression of my work where I share my thoughts on perfumes and the passion for Fragrance as the 8th ART.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
