Blog | Michael Borkowsky | Perfumer of the People

Nov 13, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #124 – Helen Sills

Helen Sills 50ml EDT Head – Orange, Lemon Heart – Apricot, pomegranate Body – Cocoa Bean, Vanilla Description – A veritable horn of plenty that references the all-encompassing nature of creative action and it’s many avenues. Sills’s Lost Dreams relates to the tragic end of many migrants who set out on a voyage to a new life and never make land. Sills’s work and corresponding perfume portrait were exhibited at Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, in October 2019. #migrants #Journey #

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Michael Borkowsky

Nov 12, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #123 – Liz Griffiths

Liz Griffiths 50ml EDT Head – Peppermint, Bitter orange Heart – Spike lavender Body – Chamomile Description – Formulated to release your throat charka; this light, fresh fragrance describes how creative action acts as a voice. Griffith’s drawing, Untitled, was made on a bus journey, allowing the motion of the bus to guide the pen; it is part of a larger series made mostly in London, this one was made in Cornwall. Using this process, Griffiths is exploring ideas of authorship

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Michael Borkowsky

Nov 11, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #122 – Stig Evans

Stig Evans 50ml EDT Head – Tea Tree, Clary Sage Heart – Dandelion Body – Patchouli, Honey Description – A picture of alchemy, here the act of attempting to achieve Magnum Opus may or may not result in perfumery. Evans’s Ferry is a Digitally manipulated photograph. Evans’s work and corresponding perfume portrait were exhibited at Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, in October 2019. #Journey #event #sea #aroma #portrait #culture #alchemy #making #photograph #Art #perfume #ferry #sm

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Michael Borkowsky

Nov 10, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #121 – Andrea Freeman

Andrea Freeman 50ml EDT Head – Lemongrass, spearmint Heart – Juniper berry, black pepper Body – Rosewood, amber Description – Through intense mints and amber his fragrance references ‘Horme’ – a Greek spirit representing impulsive activity – while adhering to an authentic woody fragrance design. Of her photograph Past Present, Future, Freeman states: ‘Travelling in a plane or train or car, I feel stationary in the present, even though I am moving, whilst the world passes by

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Michael Borkowsky

Nov 9, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #120 – Marisa Culatto

Marisa Culatto 50ml EDT Head – Rosemary, Peppermint Heart – Marjoram Body – Mulled wine, Frankincense Description – An ode to Hungary Water; the first known European perfume making process which still informs our understanding of the workings of scent. Culatto’s Honest Landscape 2 was taken on a road from within the car. Thus it depicts a journey. It does so literally, but also conceptually as part of a series of photographs put through an established process that sees origin

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Perfume Portrait #119 – Catherine Higham

Michael Borkowsky

Nov 8, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #119 – Catherine Higham

Catherine Higham 50ml EDT Head – Fresh linen Heart – Geranium, Indian geranium, Rose geranium, Rose Body – Ylang ylang Description – Referencing an essential oil discovery set, this fragrance acts as a test bed for floral fragrances, offset by a clean, neutral top note. Perfect for discovering preferences and nuances. Higham’s painting Horizon is concerned with the materials and processes of landscape; both natural and fabricated. Higham’s work and corresponding perfume portr

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Michael Borkowsky

Nov 7, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #118 – Agatha Smith

Agatha Smith 50ml EDT Head – Mandarin Heart – Rose, Clove Body – Ylang Ylang, Cumin seed Description – At first glance this fragrance references a traditional, deliberate floral design. However, hints of spice add personality and exploration that allow it to break its own monotony. 177 Woolwich to Peckham is the first piece from Smith’s Pocket Drawing series. Her most recent work is focused around the realisation that everyone in the world is living a life just as complex

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Perfume Portrait #117 – Myfanwy Williams

Michael Borkowsky

Nov 6, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #117 – Myfanwy Williams

Myfanwy Williams 50ml EDT Head – Cut grass, Cotton Heart – Spike lavender, Sea salt Body – Driftwood, Musk Description – Embracing all manner of the outdoors as a vehicle for balance, harmony and therapy. This fragrance drives a sense of adventure. Journey is one of a series of paintings which deal with Williams’s childhood journeying by sea, travelling from one land to another, and appreciating the different ways of life, from the spices of Zanzibar to the engineering feat o

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Michael Borkowsky

Nov 5, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #116 – Jenna Fox

Jenna Fox 50ml EDT Head – Tangerine, Ravensara Heart – Geranium, Body – Sandalwood, Ho leaf Description – Here domestic fragrances are offset by exotic fragrances to elicit an unnerving mystery at once familiar and alien. Fox’s Making a Run for It depicts a quintessential English cup and saucer that has grown chicken feet and is making a run for it as the start of a new adventure and voyage into the unknown. This work highlights Fox’s overarching concerns regarding how our h

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Michael Borkowsky

Nov 4, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #115 – Robert Verrill

Robert Verrill 50ml EDT Head – Pomegranate Heart – Black pepper, ginger Body – Benzoin, myrrh Description – A provocative and thoughtful fragrance that references Pliny the Elder and his Naturalis Historia, which was critical and challenging of the frivolity of perfume. Verrill’s To The World with Love references travel and voyages in several ways. It is made from found materials which themselves speak of travel and journeys: corrugated cardboard from a box that would have c

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Perfume Portrait #114 – Heather Fiona Martin

Michael Borkowsky

Nov 3, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #114 – Heather Fiona Martin

Heather Fiona Martin 50ml EDT Head – Green Apple, Mandarin Heart – Moss, Fir needle Body – Sandalwood, Patchouli Description – Inspired by symbiotic relationships, and narratives found in nature, this concoction of earths and woods is at once balanced and chaotic. Martin’s Here be Dragons explores the depths of the deep seas and the life within remain unexplored; microscopic creatures at once beautiful and threatening. Here somehow similar but completely different pathogens

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Michael Borkowsky

Nov 2, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #113 – Sue Burley

Sue Burley 50ml EDT Head – Strawberry Heart – Cocoa bean Body – Rosewood, Honey Description – Pleasant gourmand scents hide a pressing environmental concern, as all chosen oils are vulnerable specimens due to climate change. Burley’s Sail Away is a depiction of birds and boats, which are paper cuts from the edges of other monoprint used in a collage. The colours inspired the subject. The sail boats and birds are on their own voyage and the picture can also be seen as an expe

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Michael Borkowsky

Oct 31, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #111 – Grant Lambie

Grant Lambie 50ml EDT Head – Sweet Orange Heart – Corriander, Cinnamon Body – Frankincense, Benzoin Description – A depiction of Catherine of Bologna, the Patron Saint of Artists: Here body notes depict religious sanctity, mid notes reference her capacity as a baker, and a top note that alludes to her sweet smelling grave. Lambie’s collage Circling is from a series of works which looks at ways the 2D map can be reconfigured to make different forms of reading. Here the ‘A’ ro

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Michael Borkowsky

Oct 30, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #110 – Clare Smith

Clare Smith 50ml EDT Head – Sweet Orange Heart – Clove Body – Benzoin, White musk, Honey Description – An ode to the pomander; which contained herbs essential for recovery. Honey symbolises a gold ribbon traditionally used for wearing pomanders as necklaces. Smith’s Flying over Beijing (Coming in to Land) is a drawing depicting a smog covered Beijing from the air. Smith’s work and corresponding perfume portrait were exhibited at Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, in October 2019.

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Michael Borkowsky

Oct 29, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #109 – Jeff Hunter

Jeff Hunter 50ml EDT Head – Cut grass, Lime Heart – Pine needle, carrot seed Body – Driftwood, Algae Description – Representing an impulsive journey across lands to the sea, with sharp intakes of citrus and spice to keep you mentally focussed on the task in hand. This fragrance represents the headstrong necessity found when instigating creative activities. Hunter’s Journey (Leaving the Station) is a small work on black card with white pencil. A train leaves the station as a

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Michael Borkowsky

Jul 2, 2019
1 min

100 Not Out

June 2019 marked the 9th incarnation of Perfume as Practice, which was staged at Asylum Gallery, Wolverhampton. The exhibition comprised of 12 perfume portraits and 5 paintings, themed under the idea of protest. The exhibition also represented a milestone for the project as a whole, as it housed the 100th perfume portrait I have created since the project’s conception in late 2015. The 100th perfume portrait was of artist Hannah Taylor. Here it is presented next to the very fi

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Perfume Portrait #92 – Garfield of London

Michael Borkowsky

Apr 4, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #92 – Garfield of London

Head – Tangerine, Peppermint Heart – Lavendar, Rosemary Body – Ylang Ylang Description – Inherently joyous, this fragrance embodies all that is positive about the world. Herbal and citrus notes radiate a happiness that can instantly be imparted, and this gives way to florals, which exude a more contemplative – but equally pleasurable – inner peace. This fragrance will be exhibited alongside 9 other perfume portraits at Lumen Crypt Gallery, London, from 4th – 7th April 2019. #

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Michael Borkowsky

Apr 3, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #91 – Isabela Castelan

Head – Pomegranate Heart -Sea salt, Nutmeg Body – Frankincense Description – An ode to Primordial Greek God Anake; the personification of compulsion and referencing innate yet philosophical desire to initiate creative action. From chaos, Anake creates, through action, the earth, heaven and sea. As such this fragrance houses all three of these elements, from it’s symbolic top notes to it’s earthy base. This fragrance will be exhibited alongside 9 other perfume portraits at Lum

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Michael Borkowsky

Apr 1, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #90 – Suman

Head – Mandarin Heart – Neroli Body – Cedarwood Description – A clear, direct fragrance that gives you the apparatus you need to express yourself: From confident citrus offering mental clarity to a strong, grounded body of cedarwood. Neroli gives balance to the fragrance; offering a rounded symbol of the freedom to be who you want to be. This fragrance will be exhibited alongside 9 other perfume portraits at Lumen Crypt Gallery, London from 4th – 7th April 2019. #aroma #olfac

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Michael Borkowsky

Mar 31, 2019
1 min

Perfume Portrait #88 – Wild Bunny Arts

Head – Eucalyptus, Bergamot Heart – Cinnamon, Coriander Body – Patchouli Description – A refreshing, powerful and inherently colourful potion that gifts awe and happiness to all those who encounter it whilst providing the empathy, mental strength and grounding required to combat injustices through creative action. This fragrance will be exhibited alongside 9 other perfume portraits at Lumen Crypt Gallery, London from 4th – 7th April. #event #happiness #portraiture #aroma #olf

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