Dubai: For the first time ever in Spain’s history, the country will offer visitors a full sensory experience through fragrances at its Expo 2020 pavilion in October.
Not only will visitors get to discover Spain by snacking at the tapas bar and exploring installations on its Arab heritage but they will also find themselves transported to orange groves and dense woodlands of the north through the official perfume of the Spanish pavilion.
Whiff Spanish scents as you journey
For the unforgettable olfactory experience, the pavilion has commissioned its official partner Murcia-based fragrance manufacturer Iberchem to develop scents specific to the country’s geography. Through special diffusers and fragrance applications, authentic scents tailored to certain exhibitions will greet visitors at every turn.
Beginning with the main installation titled ‘Forest of the future’, woody scents of the northern Iberian Peninsula forests will permeate the area. Next, paying homage to Spain’s Arab roots is the ‘Dostellos’ exhibit, meaning ‘sparkles’ or ‘glimmers’ in Spanish, where visitors will be met with the fragrance of garden blooms of the Generalife Palace in Al Andalus.
Another set of concentrated scents representative of the Spanish culture will mark the VIP and press rooms.
Spain Pavilion’s official perfume
Luz Vaquero, head perfumer at Iberchem, took three years to develop a signature scent that would condense the entire Spanish pavilion experience into a bottle. Catch a whiff of the perfume as you walk across the access ramps inside the pavilion.
The unique scent is all about top notes of citrus, specifically orange and lemon, with soft, sweet accords of lavender and grapes, evoking the La Rioja rural community. It even integrates the saltiness of the warm Mediterranean sea, concluding with a musky note – a nod to the Middle East region's first world expo and Spain’s own Moorish past.
On June 4, Iberchem premiered the perfume at the 2021 Barcelona Olfaction Week (BOW), an international event that promotes the perfumery industry. Guests of honour at the pavilion will be gifted a bottle of the perfume, taking home the distinctive geographical elements of Spain with them.
An eco-friendly fragrance
Adhering to Expo’s green standards and its thematic district of Sustainability, where the Spain Pavilion is located, Vaquero’s perfume aims for a low carbon footprint. The formula is made from natural ingredients that are Cosmos Ecocert-certified (COSMetic Organic and natural Standards) along with locally sourced raw materials, making more than 60 per cent of the composition biodegradable.
Besides the ingredients, the packaging, too, is organic with its compostable ‘Woork’ cap created by packaging manufacturer Pujolasós. The packaging box and label paper are sourced from well-managed forests with a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) stamp.
- The writer is an intern with Gulf News.
