Sissel sent me the link to this interesting article;

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/02/22/style/t/index.html#pagewanted=0&pa

geName=22burr&

 

 

Dear Nick, yes the topic pheromones is of great importance!!!!!

 

The word "pheromone" comes from the Greek words perein=transmit and

hormon=stimulate. A pheromone is a messenger of stimulation that tells us

when and where we should gather and then separate. It tells us how we should

behave toward the other sex and how we should know whether it is in fact the

other sex. Pheromones tell us how to organize the members of a society in a

structure befitting their dominance; they mark the exact borders of a

territory. They also tell us how we can be sure beyond a doubt that we are

ourselves.

Pheromones regulate power relationships, association and above all - SEX.

Pheromones provide unconscious data from an arsenal of information that can

be decisive for the course of human communication.

Considering the flood of pheromone communication that reaches us directly,

it is no wonder that  Western society, cut off from smell perception and

over-deodorized as it is, tries to stimulate sexual attractiveness and

activity with the help of artificial pheromones. This is doomed to failure

because it is like cutting down the forest in order to plant trees.

 

As human beings (men and women) we have the ability to sense certain

chemical signals emitted by people around us—without being aware of it? We

use a separate set of sensory receptor cells in our nose to receive social

and sexual information from members of our own species.

 

Testosterone is a hormone produced primarily in men's testes. The adrenal

glands of both men and women also produce small amounts of testosterone.

In men, testosterone produces sperm, facial and body hair, deep voices, and

muscle mass and strength.

Testosterone is associated with two behaviors in males: aggressive dominance

of other males, and sexual activity. E.g., male red deer live peacefully

together for most of the year. But in October their testosterone increases

five-fold. They fight for territory. Female red deer select land that has

sufficient food for raising fawns. The males that control the best

territories mate with the most females.

Testosterone is an anti-depressant, in men and women. It increases

friendliness. It reduces anger, depression, fatigue, confusion, nervousness,

and irritability.

That may seem contradictory-testosterone makes males fight, yet makes them

friendly. Testosterone makes males want to mate. If fighting precedes

mating--e.g., gorillas--testosterone makes males fight. But if mating

requires friendship e.g., baboons- testosterone makes males friendly.

Testosterone varies between men more than four times. Football players have

the most testosterone. Ministers have the least.

 

Bacteria and fungi live on your skin and in your clothes. These organisms

drink your sweat and digest your discarded skin cells. Their excretions make

you smell . That's body odour.

Body odour can provide be interesting signs of a specific state of mind as

well as or of a more serious medical condition.

 

When our "fighters" fight and sweat, we smell these molecules that live on

their skin, mixed with their sweat. Each human body have a body smell as

unique as their fingerprint - in sweat this is what we smell underneath the

external molecules that live on the surface of the skin.

 

New research has shown that some individuals are highly sensitive to

smelling a component of body odour which is called androstenone.

Furthermore, if the person can easily smell androstenone then he will decide

whether or not he likes the person based on the smell. What is androstenone?

It is a human pheromone which is a chemical attractant that is found in body

secretions like perspiration. Men release large quantities of androstenone

while women omit small amounts. So men are more likely to be judged by their

smell than women. According to the study, fifty percent of people the

population cannot smell androstenone at all and one half of them can only

catch a whiff and enjoy the scent. Those who can smell androstenone, on the

other hand, do not like the smell and compare it to urine or perspiration.

The study went on to show that there was a correlation between the ability

to smell androstenone and the androstenone-smeller's judgment of the person.

In other words, if someone can smell androstenone on someone else and finds

the smell unpleasant then he will dislike the person, or may be not……….

 

Attached acouple of artickle on the topic!

 

SORRY I DID NOT MEAN TO WRITE A BOKK........but the topic is what it is all

about!!!! = INVISIBLE COMMUNICATION

 

 

Speak soon!

 

Love SisselXXX

Dear Sissel,

The Violence 2 is a lot more interesting than the first prototype.

My first impression was that there was something more animal about it. It smelt more menacing/ dangerous and I wondered if it was my desire to feel this or wether there was the beginning of a instinctive reaction to the smell.

Our theory is that when men (or indeed women,but that is part two of this project) fight they release pheromones that are only released when the "fight or flight"response is activated. Furthermore the pheromones we are trying to isolate are the one that would be released if the individual opts for the "fight" option rather than the "flight" option.

Now, are we supposing that these pheromones will have a smell and it is that that our scent would predominantly smell of? Or are they an ingredient within the overall scent and that we create a "pleasing" scent that may smell mainly of pleasing  but appropriate smells, such as leather or brick dust for example and that the pheromones that we isolate are undetectable and are there to trigger a behavioral response in the wearer or the people that the wearer comes into contact with?

I am talking to a fighter and friend of mine about organizing a two day shoot in London at my studio. We would have 4 bouts , with eight contestants all different forms of combat.

The shoot would be broadcast live on SHOWstudio and would I will film it and photograph it as-well .It would be crucial to have you there so we can be sure of getting the pheromones extracted immediately after the fight has taken place. Also you can stipulate exactly how you want the fighters prepared for each fight. For example should they be freshly showered and with no other scents on them at all?

I am looking at dates around the beginning of March, probably the first week.

Can you tell me when you would be free to come to London around then and also can you bring the "Headspace " technology to London or will the Tshirts have to go back to Berlin?

Anyway there are lots of other exciting ideas i have about the shoot but I will talk to you later.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

Nick

---------------------------------

SORRRYYYY for the late respond! I was travelling.

 First I wanted to discuss dates in London,

the rest will come today on a separate mail :-)

 The ONLY time I could possibly make it to London could be 7th,8th,9th of

March and may be the 6th. Then only after Eastern ( mid April).

In case I manage to get the possibility to bring headspace, this also would

need time and organization,

So PLEASE give me some potential dates from your side ASAP11

All the very best!

Love

Sissel

Dear Sissel,

yes I received it this morning as I was leaving the house.I had a quick smell. Interesting.A lot of chemical smell which I guess is some sort of solvent.

Under that was a bit sweaty man. Old and a bit unpleasant and musty.I didn't detect anything dangerous yet.Do you think the fighters should be clean before they start?

Tell me what did you think? What did you think I should smell.

Love

Nick

____________________________________________________________________

Dear Nick, 

Let me describe how  I precented the first sweat:

I think the person who "fought" - " " meaning I think he was too

programmed/too intellectual prepared for the fight. He was TOO clean

beforehand, kind of fresh from the shower. I could hardly smell ANY sweat,

and the headspace hardly able to identify any molecules. I could kind of

smell some chemical, which I identified as having to do with clothes worn

before fighting. These cloths were rather synthetic......

Also I think he was fighting without passion - producing no adrenaline.

The small amount of smell that came over was pretty dull and contained very

little/hardly any information!

I think the second one is already much better.......in process these days!!

It is VERY important that the "fighters" do not "overclean" themselves

before fighting. Also I think that the more professional they get the less

"REAL" sweat they produce.

Nick I do not know on behalf of which criteria you choose the fighters, and

what kind of "rules" you are able to give them in advance?!

I think we seriously have to discuss these topis before the next fights

otherwise we might end up with very littel - for our intentions -

information = smells to work with.

I am sure we will find a way, this is just the beginning.

The impossible is nothing!

Headspace Images will take time, due to IFF Crises!!! SORRRYYYY! But we will

have them in the end, I HOPE!!!!

All the very best

Love

Sissel

 

Subject: Fragrance Violence - wholesale inquiry

Hi Nick

I am inquiring about your upcoming Fragrance, Violence.

Are you offering it for wholesale?

We are a specialy boutique in Hollywood, specializing in rare, artisan

perfumes from around the world. Our store, Scent Bar, has been open for 3

years, in response to our popular website, luckyscent.com, now going on 8

years.

I would love to learn more and see if you can perhaps send a sample for

evaluation.

Also, I can help organize a shipment with our shipping company.

Best regards,

Franco Wright

Co founder

 

 

Dear Kev,

I have just sent you an email regarding a perfume bottle.

It is part of an ongoing project on SHOWstudio and for this I am  

producing a blog/diary following every step of producing this scent.

I would like to put your response to my email on SHOWstudio, would  

that be ok?

Nick

______________________________________________________________

 

Hi Nick

We can make a prototype of the perfume bottle, I would suggest the most cost

effective route would be to use a rapid prototyping (3D Printing) method

known as SLA this is a liquid polymer cured with an Ultra Violet laser.

SLA is very similar to clear Perspex.

The first things we need to establish are as follows.

1) The fist, female or male? The best route would be to take a cast of a

real person making a fist using dental alginate and plaster and then scan

it.

2) The outer shape of the bottle, you specified 2.5 inches square, am I to

assume the outer shape is pure 2.5 inch cube?

3) The cap, is the cap to form part of the entire outer shape? Or is it to

be a different shape? A quick sketch of what you envisage would be a good

place to start.

4) What size would you expect the fist to outer shape relationship to be?

I.e. small fist with lots of wall thickness, large fist with thin wall

thickness, again a quick sketch would be a good idea or we could prepare the

fist and produce some renders with the fist different sizes within the cube

for you to decide the inner outer size relationship.

5) Does the cap need to be removed and the bottle fully functional?

6) Do you expect to be able to put liquid in the bottle? If so it may need

to be a coloured water as a real perfume may affect the acrylic because it

contains alcohol.

If you want it to be made in actual glass then I would suggest you deduct

the SLA cost and talk to someone like Swarovski or Saint Goban.

Saint Goban are a Parisian glass company that make perfume bottles for most

of the known perfume companies as well as a huge percentage of Europe's

glass.

http://www.saint-gobain.co.uk/

 Approximate costs.

Initial 3d concept model and renders. L300:00

Casting the fist.

Assuming you send someone to me to use for the cast. L250:00

Scan the fist.

L350:00

3d model the bottle.

Assuming it has a screw cap and will be fully functional. L350:00

SLA model of the Bottle.

Very approximate we can only get an accurate price when the 3d model is

ready to send to the RP Company.

L550:00

Total

L1800:00

Yes it is fine to blog it.

Regards

Kev Stenning

SHOWstudio is put together by a very small team of amazing devoted and highly inspiring individuals. A hand full of real diamonds that I have been privileged to have worked with. Never has the sheer ambitiousness or size of a project or the fact that it has never been done before or that it would normally only be attempted with 10 times as many staff or 100 times the budget ever stopped them from creating the most brilliant projects.

In such a small team the character of the individual members is all-important. Paul Bruty has for seven years been one of the most consistently positive and delightfully enthusiastic people I have worked with. His willingness to accept any challenge in a calm and elegant way made working with him a total delight for myself and everyone else at SHOWstudio. I knew that inside he was wrestling the difficulties of each project just like the rest of us but not once did he allow it to darken his mood or manifest itself in a negative way. No dramas, no tantrums just a constant outpouring of elegant and and intelligent problem solving. Paul helped take the feelings of anxiety and worry out of equation for me. He made enjoyable events that in other hands could have been nerve-wracking and stressful. He helped make SHOWstudio an addictive pleasure for me by unassumedly removing the difficult parts, only to turn them into beautiful, refined and modern layouts. The internet can be an ugly place and Paul helped us make SHOWstudio beautiful.

One facet that might have gone by unmentioned but seem in some way to give a fuller picture of Paul, it is a constant regret I have that I could never quite find a project that allowed me to broadcast on SHOWstudio Paul's amazing Bird-Feeder-Cam. He lived in Central London, but the range of beautiful birds that he had images of feeding at this device was a total joy to see, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, Green Finches and Goldfinches all came and preformed for Paul's camera.

Paul is leaving with his lovely wife Tamara to live in her home country of Australia. My hope is that I can invent the project that allows me to persuade Paul to set up the Australian version of his Bird-Feeder-Cam and so we can see what must be a truly wonderful selection of antipodean birds and in so doing also gives me the pleasure of working with this utterly charming man again.

Thank you Paul.

The first of the T-shirts for the fighters has arrived from Berlin. Sealed in its plastic bag, it is now just waiting for the date of Ryan's fight.

Dear Sissel,

I was just wondering, once i send you back the Tshirt, what exactly are the next steps? How long before we have our first results?

I enjoyed being able to post your link to the Evil lecture ,if you have any other reference material please send it through and i will post it on the process blog.

I am looking forward to receiving the first tshirt. Do we have to credit Zimmerli?

love,

 Nick

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[quote]

[/quote]

Hi there, sweatshirts go out today, with instructions etc. - to Sweden and

UK.

SisselX

Dear Nick thought this talk is quite interesting, may be to put the link on

the blog.

"How ordinary people becomes Monsters.....or Heroes"  - Philip Zimbardo:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil

.html

SXXX

-----------------------------------

Sissel Tolaas

Dear Sissel,

How are you? I hope you have seen that the project blog is open.

I have contacted Frank in Sweden who has agreed to organize a fight and I have contacted someone who boxes for the English team who I think will do it too.

I will put out a general note on SHOWstudio and see what response we get. I know we only need a few but I would like enough of a choice to take the best ones.

I am asking anybody who takes part to film the actual fight if possible. I don't know what I will do with the footage yet but I would like to have proof that they actually fought in the tshirt.

 

How do we proceed? It might be best if you send me the tshirts in their sealed bags and I send them on to the fighters with instructions and get them to return them back to me with their video. Then I courier the tshirt in its bag straight back to you in Berlin for you to start your chemistry? Anyway email me back your thoughts.

All the best

Nick

Dear Nick ,YES I got all and it looks GREAT!!! I am collecting some great stuff I will send the next days. Also I am on the T-Shirts, and I agree the best would be toT-Shirt in process ASAP as I have them I will pack them in Plastic bag with a short instruction: TO USE!

And the process of RETURN.

And they should be send me ASAP after used, and I will immediate start the tracking of the molecules etc. and slowly the making of the samples. The exact process of work and also the act of receiving etc. I will document and send you, also to be put on the blog , or what do you think?. I have found some interesting material/links on the topic of violence and also one interesting talk on the topic of evil......what do you think shall we also put these things on the blog = the process/the research/the search etc.

Speak SOOONNNN!

Love

SisselX

[quote]

Dear Simon,

I am creating a scent from the chemicals men release when they fight(!) and I wondered if that boxer friend of yours that modeled in the Brutality story would be interested. All he would have to do is wear a teeshirt when he next fights. Do you think you could approach him on my behalf?

Many thanks,

Nick

[/quote]

Dear Dorian, Ross, Paul, Alex and Greta,Â
As you know I would like to sell this Violence scent directly from our site. Can you indicate to me what the possibilities are. It might be just one bottle or 10 or thousands, there is just no way of telling.Â
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.Â
bestÂ
Nick. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,Â

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Nick et al

Please excuse my 'dragon's den' knowledge of commerce and my over-simplified 'plan'.
I think if this is being done correctly then there should be a way of telling how many you would sell. You would not make 10,000 bottles of perfume if your research had shown you were only going to sell 10 because it was a very niche market.

So I think the first step is to speak to someone who knows the market, work out where the product will be advertised (I would suggest it needs to go further than SHOWstudio) and then we could look at some rough figures of projected sales/units.

Then we can decide how rigourous our e-commerce strategy needs to be.

For instance if there are only 100 bottles we could just set up a paypal account (or an ebay shop says paul) and handle the whole thing fairly stress free ourselves . However, if we have a lot of product stored in warehouses that need to be shipped globally then clearly we will have to involve outside agencies

My feeling is that a limited run of 100 is the way to go. It gets the scent out there and works as an easy way of getting press for SHOW. Then, if there is a demand, we look into mass production

ross:)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Nick,

That's quite a big question really. From my point of view we can skip the details of presenting the product on the website - we'll be doing that anyway as part of the project, though the branding and positioning of the product are of course a very important and complex thing, some of which I'm sure you have in hand, and some of which I'm sure is in process.

The technicalities of selling products online strongly depends on whether you are selling one item, or 1000, or however many. The complexity and cost of the system set up really depends on the amount that's going through, there is no point in using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. Setting up an ecommerce system for one product is likely to loose money, not make it, but if it's something that's going to have more products added to it then you may recoup the investment later.

The process of taking an order/transaction is quite straightforward, and there are lots of well laid out models and best practises for this 

1) The Basket: We find out the quantity of the product a person wants.
2) The Checkout: We find out where they want to ship it to & take payment for the product.
3) The Processing: We receive the order, label, put postage on it and ship it.

The devil, as ever, is in the detail, and more importantly the scalability.

For one item it wouldn't be worth setting up on-line credit card processing facilities, for instance, and we may just have one large price for the item which takes into account packing and shipping costs to the rest of the world. The item could even be auctioned to the highest bidder. The payment could be taken via a method agreed with the purchaser, such as bank transfer/cheque/paypal. 

For between one an 100 items it would be worth considering a simple payment system, such as PayPal, where overheads on each transaction are higher than some methods, but cheaper than setting up a Merchant account with a bank, and on-line clearing, and a checkout process on our site. However PayPal would not necessarily present the image for the product you want to have, it depends how you want to position it's brand. A customised checkout process and in-line credit card clearing would be a nice experience for the end user, and keep the whole thing more 'on brand'

For 100+ it is more likely worth investing in a customised checkout process. If we are shipping lots of items then we would need set this up, and to consider how ordered are processed and dispatched, global shipping costs and hanlding charges, how to handle fraudulent transactions, how monies are accounted, how items are packaged for shipping ( that could also reflect back to the actual product design for the container for the scent ), how to manage customer queries and missing/broken items, who takes the items to the post office (or if we get them picked up, or shipped via courier etc.). Working all these details out to be optimal is worthwhile to maximise profit on the product, and to simplify the handling of the orders. 

A final choice is that you can pass handling the sales of the item entirely off to a third party, who will sell it on your behalf. This way we don't have as much control over the presentation and brand of the product, and a lot of the process becomes on of managing the relationship with the third party, and trying to get the appropriate presentation for your product in their context. This would be much like putting the item exclusively into any shop, like Dover Street or Liberties. You have the advantage (and disadvantage) of having the product amongst other items, in an environment where people are looking to purchase, but you will see return per unit, and won't have the presence within that shop. Generally new brands don't succeed very well on large product sites with many items on them, unless you put them across a number of different retailers : think Dover Street, Liberties and Selfridges, not just Dover Street. 

There are of course many points in between all of these, but mostly these are driven by the brand qualities of the product you are selling, and of course: where the audience you want to sell your product to are shopping. Because SHOWstudio isn't a shop, or may not have that audience, you double the work in trying to sell your product in also trying to drive the right traffic to SHOWstudio. Equally putting the scent on a generic shopping site may devalue it's brand, and still miss it's target audience. So the place, in my opinion, to start is to research into the customer for the product and how to access them. thereafter the choices will become clearer. 

I hope that's all of some help. 

_d._ 

Today, after seven amazing years, Penny leaves us to become Professor of Fashion Imagery at the London College of Fashion. To say that she will be missed by every member of SHOWstudio is a very large understatement.

I was more or less half-way through the maelstrom of coloured chaos that was a five-day Dior couture shoot when I first met Penny. Juxtaposed with chainsaws, snakes, smashed pianos, magenta paint and crystal-encrusted car-sized satin dresses, Penny could not have been more of a contrast. A calm, almost serene Hitchcockian beauty only just managed to conceal the excitement and joy at being surrounded by such fashion insanity. For 30 minutes we sat and talked excitedly about SHOWstudio and the emerging possibilities of fashion film, fashion performance, live broadcasts, our loves and hates of photography and the sheer thrill of a new medium opening up before us. By the end of the interview I felt much more enthusiastic about my own work and I had a better understanding of it. I realise now that that is Penny's effect on people. When you work with Penny, whether it is a 6 hour non-stop live interview with Dame Vivienne Westwood or a quick soundbite backstage to a Vogue journalist, everybody comes away from the meeting feeling better about themselves.

Penny brings the rarest and most needed commodities to the world of fashion: intelligence and culture. It is these rare and precious qualities that she has built forever into the foundations of SHOWstudio - a gift which makes me one of the happiest men alive.

Thank you Penny.
Nick.