Redolence
(noun, English) /ˈredələns/ the quality of smelling strongly of something or of having qualities (especially smells) that make you think of something else
What’s the weirdest question you have ever asked your friends and family? Mine would have been, “What types of smells or scents would remind you of me?”.
The answers were consistent among people who have known me for at least five years. The redolence of coffee, a mysterious blend of spices, and peppermint remind them of me.
Welcome to the informal and personal chronicles of my multisensory explorations. This post is the first for a series tagged “Redolence” and highlighted as a tab for this Substack publication.
For the past decade and a half, my life has been dominated by digital experiences as a result of my chosen profession and as a function of the times we are living in. As the world still sits in the chasm of traditional physical infrastructures and digital technology, part of my adventures touches on the overlaps between digital and in-person interactions. My current world provides me with plenty of chances to explore vision (sight) and audition (hearing) because those are the senses that get utilized predominantly in digital experiences.
Admittedly, I have minimal professional exposure to somatosensation (touch), olfaction (smell), and gustation (taste). Much of my knowledge of those were from classes I took on Sensation and Perception in graduate school. Those are my areas of growth. And, growth is always exciting!
In 2023, I started to dedicate some of my waking moments to the study of olfaction or the sense of smell.
I am at the very early stage of my journey and I cannot claim expertise on any of what I will be writing here. Treat the entries as my way of telling you a story about my adventures. I will be reading research articles from peer-reviewed journals along the way, as well as books written by experts on the topic to augment my knowledge with factual information.
To inject a little bit more excitement, I will be opening a tiny window for you about my explorations of the world of niche perfumery, which is a component of how I plan to study the sense of smell.
Lastly, these entries will be a little bit more formal than the others. Although, I will still attempt to focus on writing it in a more creative rather than the academic way as that is an area of growth for me too!
For those who love learning and growing as much as I do, journey with me.
Read more about my journey through the sense of smell: Redolence Series Archive
Definition of redolence from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press
I look forward to this series! Truly fascinating. Also, I learned a new word- actually words! You're always full of new vocabulary 😊
I tried to restack this post, but my app is working properly right now for some reason (it wouldn't restack!) So I'll try again later! 🤍
...also, I will ask my family that question!