WASHINGTON — The scent of a woman (or a man, for that matter) triggers strong feelings of love, attraction, and comfort — but what happens when that man or woman dies, or is far away?
A French company has developed a method of bottling a person’s unique scent in a perfume.
Inventor Katia Apalategui witnessed her mother’s holding onto her late husband’s pillowcase, as a way of preserving the smell of the man she loved.
Apalategui is now working with the France’s University of La Havre, which has developed a technique to reproduce the human scent, The Guardian reports.
“We take the person’s clothing and extract the odor — which represents about a hundred molecules,” says researcher Geraldine Savary. “And we reconstruct it in the form of a perfume in four days.”
Apalategui says the perfume offers “olfactory comfort” equivalent to photos and videos.
Apalategui and her son plan to launch a business in September, and plan on offering the service through funeral homes.
She expects the perfume will cost approximately $600.
Apalategui hopes the perfume could be appealing as a Valentine’s Day gift, or for soothing children who are temporarily away from parents.
