‘There’s otter poo, dragon poo …’ The woman who can make you smell everything, from hell to your grandparents

The right smell can send us back to our childhood – or much further. Scent designer Tasha Marks reveals the tricks of her trade

Should you wish to know what the cesspit of a Norman fortress smelled like, Tasha Marks has ventured there. Go to Rochester Castle, descend the dank steps and put your nose to the smell chamber. What rich delights await? It’s not just the stink of human excrement and urine. “We know that there was food waste in there,” says Marks. And animal waste. Marks says she is never sure what to describe herself as, but “scent designer, historian and artist” comes close. Where a perfumer blends alluring scents for the body, Marks creates custom-made odours for spaces – usually museums, galleries and historic buildings.

“I work closely with the curators around developing a smell,” she says. “They send me lots of information – it doesn’t have to be smell-related. I just want to know everything about it and begin to imagine what it might smell like.” From there, Marks works with chemists and perfumers, who help her blend aromas, and with fragrance libraries that have all manner of scents – including the worst. “There’s otter poo, dragon poo … there’s one just called ‘poo’.” It isn’t about authentically recreating a smell, she says of her evocative work: “It’s about storytelling.”

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