"CAN WE GIVE A FORM TO WHAT, IN ESSENCE, HAS NO FORM?"

This is the seemingly paradoxical question that VIA FERRATA students had to try to answer during an olfactory workshop organised jointly with the Givenchy teams.

Led by Julie Genelin and Laurent Lacotte, artists and teachers at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris, this workshop invited the students to discover works and artists who use smell as a material for creation, and to work for a week on the elaboration of a production based on one of the Maison’s iconic fragrances: L'Interdit Eau de Parfum.

Several personalities worked with the students: Master Perfumer Dominique Ropion, who created L'Interdit de Givenchy, and Sandra Barré, a visual artist and author of L'odeur de l'art - un panorama de l'art olfactif olfactif [The smell of art - an overview of olfactory art], published in 2021.

This workshop was part of the partnership that Givenchy Parfums has signed with the preparatory class of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris, which each year allows 50 young talents to prepare for the most important art school competitive examination free of charge.

To mark the end of the year spent in the Via Ferrata preparatory class, the 50 students in the class of 2022/2023 were invited to exhibit their work at a preview in the Via Ferrata's two Paris workshops. Installations, paintings, photos, sculptures, drawings and videos showcased the rich and varied output produced by the students this year. The exhibition, open to the public, allowed these young creative talents to showcase their work and share their experiences at the Via Ferrata.

Since 2021, Givenchy Parfums has been the partner of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris and its Via Ferrata preparatory class, which helps students gain admission to the best art schools.
This year, 50 students were selected from among more than 460 applicants. These young talents come from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, from various regions of France, and some even hail from abroad.