Milan’s cultural calendar has long thrived on the dialogue between fashion, design, and contemporary art, but this season, fragrance takes center stage in a strikingly immersive way. From June 4 through June 7, Olfactory Signals returns to 10 Corso Como for its third edition, transforming the legendary Milan destination into a living laboratory dedicated to scent, perception, and sensory experimentation.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
Founded by London-based creative agency System Preferences in 2024, Olfactory Signals has rapidly established itself as one of the most compelling platforms in the evolving world of artistic perfumery. Conceived as a meeting point for fragrance, design, science, and wellbeing, the project approaches scent as a cultural language capable of communicating ideas, emotions, and atmospheres beyond the traditional framework of perfume.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
Set within the Project Room of 10 Corso Como, the internationally renowned concept store that pioneered experiential retail in Milan in 1991, the salon gathers more than thirty fragrance houses, artists, and creative practitioners from around the world. The environment itself reflects the event’s forward-thinking spirit. Exhibitors present their work on custom modular steel pantograph tables designed by architecture studio 2050+, creating a clean and highly considered setting where each participant can articulate a distinct olfactory universe.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
Rather than functioning as a conventional trade fair, Olfactory Signals invites visitors into a slower and more intimate encounter with fragrance. Founders, perfumers, creative directors, and researchers are present throughout the event, encouraging conversations that explore scent as both a personal and collective experience. Rare eau de parfums, historic incense traditions, contemporary candles, and collectible design objects coexist within a format that merges commerce with cultural exchange.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
The roster of participating fragrance brands reflects the global reach of contemporary scent culture. Names including Abel, Björk and Berries, Frassaï, Jouissance Parfumes, MarieJeanne, Neandertal, Son Venïn, and UNIFROM™ join a carefully curated selection from 10 Corso Como featuring Meo Fusciuni, Matiere Premiere, Comme des Garçons, Bohoboco, Byredo, and Miller et Bertaux. Alongside them, lifestyle and home fragrance projects such as Amen Candles, Nippon Kodo, Cromo Tea, and Veda expand the conversation beyond the bottle.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
What distinguishes Olfactory Signals from traditional fragrance events is its commitment to treating scent as an artistic medium. Throughout the adjoining Gallery and Mezzanine spaces, a series of installations challenge visitors to consider the philosophical, political, and emotional dimensions of smell. The participating artists transform the invisible nature of fragrance into physical experiences through sculpture, photography, sound, and environmental interventions.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
Among the most anticipated works is The Field of Possibilities by Chiara Capellini, a poetic installation in which fragrance remains sealed within an inaccessible vessel, raising questions about desire, absence, and the limits of sensory access. Equally captivating is Fragrance Fountain (fig. 76) by Fabian Bergmark Näsman and Haisam Mohammed, where perfume drifts through the air from the branches of a miniature tree, dissolving the boundaries between object, landscape, and atmosphere.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
Elsewhere, architect Octave Perrault introduces a series of Zeroth air purifiers that continuously refresh the environment, creating a subtle yet powerful intervention that reshapes the space through constant atmospheric regeneration. The gesture reinforces one of the exhibition’s central ideas: scent is never static. It exists in perpetual movement, altering perception with every passing moment.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
A major highlight of this year’s edition unfolds on the rooftop of 10 Corso Como, where renowned smell researcher Sissel Tolaas reunites with Perrault to present OPEN AI®. The ambitious installation imagines the rooftop as an interface between the built environment and the sky. Structured around a series of directional “pillow” zones aligned with the movement of the wind, the project employs nano-embedded molecular compositions that respond to changing conditions of light, temperature, time, and movement.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
The result is an evolving sensory landscape that shifts throughout the day. Artificial molecules interact with the existing rooftop garden, generating a dialogue between natural and engineered environments. Visitors are also invited to experience specially infused water designed as an extension of the installation’s elemental philosophy, exploring the relationship between taste, memory, atmosphere, and perception.
10 CORSO COMO – OLFACTORY SIGNALS .03, photo © Nacho Alegre
Further reinforcing the salon’s multidisciplinary identity, the visual campaign for Olfactory Signals 03 has been created by Spanish photographer and Apartamento Magazine co-founder Nacho Alegre. Known for his distinctive approach to still life photography, Alegre brings a cinematic quality to the project, translating the intangible nature of scent into richly evocative imagery.
As luxury consumers increasingly seek experiences that engage all the senses, Olfactory Signals arrives at a moment when fragrance is being reexamined as one of the most intellectually dynamic creative disciplines. The event proposes a future where perfume extends beyond adornment and becomes a medium for storytelling, research, design, and cultural expression.
