Symbiosis of Visual and Olfactory Perception as the Basis of Perfumery Design (on the Example of the GUERLAIN Perfume House)

The purpose of the article is a theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of perfume design as a symbiosis of visual and olfactory sensory-perceptual processes in the formation of the need for perfume selection by consumers. Methods. The research methodology consists in applying a set of methods: theoretical methods – historical and typological, retrospective, analytical methods, as well as figurative and stylistic, comparative analysis, which made it possible to reveal the symbiotic and synesthetic features of perfume design as a multisyllabic phenomenon in the fashion industry, and empirical methods – to identify, based on a survey, the role of the bottle design in consumer perfume choice. Results. The author of the article analyses visual means, features of artistic imagery and stylistic trends in perfume design at various stages of the development of the French perfume brand GUERLAIN. The sources of inspiration for the creative projects of designers of the French perfume brand GUERLAIN, the priority areas of activity in the combination of arts, crafts, advanced technologies, and the gradual transition from traditionalism to innovation are identified. The prerequisites and factors influencing the development of the perfume design of the oldest perfume house GUERLAIN (from 1828 to the present) are clarified. It is established that in the formation of the perfume style based on the symbiosis of visual (bottle design) and olfactory (aromatic composition) components, French artists inherited the general trends of European and Eastern processes, complementing them with deep French traditions. Factors influencing the choice of perfumes by young people are empirically identified. Theoretically and empirically, the role and place of perfume design as a symbiosis of visual and olfactory sensory-perceptual processes in the formation of the need for perfume selection by consumers is analysed. The role of sensory and perceptual reflection in the formation of a full-fledged integral image of perfumes, which occurs due to intersensory communication – synesthesia as a metaphor, i.e. intermodal association, as well as multisensory integration (visual, auditory, taste, kinesthetic, olfactory), the emergence of which begins as a result of the sensory and perceptual impression of the perfume design, is substantiated. The scientific novelty consists in a comprehensive approach in the process of studying the role of compositional principles, conducting a retrospective structural and semantic analysis of visual means and stylistic trends in the design of the French perfume brand GUERLAN at different stages of its development; the features of the manifestation of symbiosis and synesthesia in the artistic imagery of perfume design are determined