We had the good fortune of connecting with Arianna Khmelniuk and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Arianna, how do you think about risk?
Risk is most often associated with an uncertain future and something negative that could happen. For me, the risk is an opportunity. An opportunity to try out new ideas. I associate risk with self-realization. All my projects as a self-educated olfactory artist it’s one big risk, but it energizes you because you are doing something new that no one else has done before. And no matter what you do, there are no rules, and therefore it gives adrenaline, but you just do not have a choice as an artist or an entrepreneur not to try. 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
To be an olfactive artist’s a pretty lonely journey. The community is not large and everyone has heard about each other in one way or another (even if you are from another part of the hemisphere), but continue to ignore each other. Most often in competition for new ideas. I want to think that these are only the consequences of secrecy in the perfume industry as an industrial field. Intellectual property is difficult to protect once the formula becomes known to anyone, and therefore it is very important to create completely new projects – with open formulas, to learn together, have at least some fun.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Follow Dianna Settles and her Hi-Lo Press gallery shows, poetry publishing books, cinema evening.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Institute for Art and Olfaction (LA) went totally online and it made it possible for a lot of people to take part and learn during their online classes. Hi-Lo Press gallery and Dianna Settles, in particular, were very supportive with giving her space for many experimental fragrance practices and workshops facilitated by me. Contemporary artist and curator Iman Person supported me when no one knew about me in Atlanta and did not understand how smell can be used on a par with the visual arts. Grateful to reimagine packaging design with graphic designer Christopher Knowles. Such openness and creative approach is crucial for art products such as perfume when it is no longer a cosmetic product but something much more than constituent parts.

Website: https://www.zapahlab.design/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zapah_lab_by_arianna/

Image Credits
Photos by Wyatt Kane, Cristina Kameika, and Zoo as Zoo.

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