MATHILDE LAURENT & TRANSSOLAR KLIMAENGINEERING: USO - THE PERFUMED CLOUD (2019)
Commissioned to accompany the exhibition 10,000 Years of Luxury, USO - The Perfumed Cloud (USO = Unidentified Sensory Object) was the product of a collaboration between Maison Cartier’s in-house perfumer, Mathilde Laurent, and the German climate engineering practise, Transsolar KlimaEngineeering. An immersive olfactory art installation housed in a purpose-built, climate-controlled chamber, USO - The Perfumed Cloud invited visitors to climb a spiral staircase and pass through an artificially generated floating cloud above which they encountered a fragrance inspired by L’Envol de Cartier, which was created by Mathilde Laurent in 2016.
The result of a delicate balance, USO - The Perfumed Cloud was composed of three layers of air of different temperatures with the cloud forming in the space between a lower layer of cold air and an upper layer of hot air.
The concept of passing through a cloud riffed on perfume’s etymology, which stems from the Latin expression ‘per fumum’ - through the smoke - bears witness to the burning of scented woods and resins as part of ancient religious rites and to the age old practise, common throughout Arabia, of burning scent ingredients such as frankincense and oud.