The (intentionally added) scents of toys are often arbitrary. This results in a very fluid and gender-related meaning attributed to certain odors, that can differ dramatically between people. Strawberry can either remind grown-ups of their masculine TIE fighter pilot or their girly Strawberry shortcake. The smell of plastic could either remind you of global pollution, or carefree juvenile bliss, and patchouli could evoke memories of ‘Stinkor’ when you’re in your forties, or hippies, if you’re sixty.
Unfortunately, most of our childhood scents have disappeared. Plastic softeners are prohibited, our mothers washed our dirty stuffed animals, and opening our ‘mint-in-box’ collector’s item comes close to sacrilege.
During this pop-up smelly toy exhibition, you were able to inhale or reminisce about the lost scents of your childhood.
Curated by Caro Verbeek and Frank Bloem
1.
Title: Collection of Dufties / Charmkins ‘Johnny Jump Up’, ‘Lady Daisy’, ‘Pop Corn’, ‘Blossom’, ‘ChrysantheMum’, ‘Lil’ Tulip’ and ‘Whippoorwill’
Year: 1983 - 1984
Producer: Hasbro
Scent: fruity floral
Status: still fragrant
Provenance: Daf (user name Marktplaats)
Collection: Private collection
Memory of an ex-owner (now art curator) Laura Stamps: “When I had my tonsils cut out, to comfort me, my mother gave me a Charmkin. It was pure childlike bliss”.
2.
Title: Keypers ‘Baby Pearl’
Year: 1985 – 1990
Producer: Tonka
Scent: vanillic, possibly iso-amyl-acetate
Status: faded
Provenance: anonymous (feels embarrassed)
Collection: Private collection
Memory of the original owner of ‘Baby Pearl’: “I actively smelled my little snail and enjoyed its sweet smell. It was kind of vanillic, pinkish sweet. Especially behind the ‘crack’ (I know it sounds awkward). I still remember it 35 years later.”
3.
Title: He-man action figures ‘Stinkor’ and ‘Moss-man’
Year: 1985 – 1990
Producer: Mattel
Scent: patchouli and fir
Status: slightly fragrant
Provenance: Hagen Betzwieser
Collection: Private collection scent historian
Memory of a collector: “Stinkor smelled like cheap perfume with a touch of sweet musky leather. It always reminded me of the mom of a friend who owned a Stinkor”.
4.
Title: Star Wars TIE fighter pilot
Year: 1983
Producer: Palitoy
Scent: strawberry
Status: slightly fragrant
Provenance: Uno (user name Marktplaats)
Collection: Private collection scent historian
Memory of collector: “My sister’s strawberry short cake reminded me of my TIE fighter pilot, not the other way around. Now I don’t smell anything. But my wife and children said they smelled something fruity like blackberries.”
5.
Title: Charlotte aux Fraises/ Strawberry Shortcake Doll
Year: 1979
Producer: Kenner
Scent: strawberry, orange, chocolate
Status: still fragrant
Provenance: Marktplaats
Collection: Private collection scent historian
Memory of the original owner: “I have kept them in their box for forty years and they still smell. It’s hard to let go of them”.
6.
Title: Bendable Pink Panther Toy
Year: ca. 1975 – ca. 1985
Producer: Unknown
Scent: plastic
Status: faded
Provenance: Kelly (user name on Marktplaats)
Collection: Private collection scent historian
Memory of ex-owner (now Odorama-curator) Frank Bloem: “I remember the sharp heady scent of bendable plastic. It was pure bliss”.
7.
Title: Play-doh
Year: 1956
Producer: Hasbro
Scent: a composition of sweet musk, vanilla, a hint of cherry and the natural scent of salt wheat dough
Status: fragrant
Provenance: Intertoys
Collection: Collection Mediamatic
Memory of ex-user: “It smelled so nice, I wanted to eat it”.
Play-doh is one of the few scent compositions that has been patented.
8.
Title: fragrant pens
Year: 1975 - 2020
Producer: unknown
Scent: fruity
Status: fragrant
Provenance: Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen
Collection: Private collection scent historian
Memory of ex-user (now scent historian): “Fragrant pens were the main reason I enjoyed visiting one of my aunts so much. She also had a shell that I held to my ear so I could hear the sea. This was sensory bliss”.
9.
Title: Collection of Dufties/ Charmkins ‘Johnny Jump Up’, ‘Lady Daisy’, ‘Pop Corn’, ‘Blossom’, ‘ChrysantheMum’, ‘Lil’ Tulip’ and ‘Whippoorwill’
Year: 1983 - 1984
Producer: Hasbro
Scent: fruity floral
Status: still fragrant
Provenance: Daf (user name Marktplaats)
Collection: Private collection
Memory of an ex-owner (now art curator) Laura Stamps: “When I had my tonsils cut out, to comfort me, my mother gave me a Charmkin. It was pure childlike bliss”.
10.
Title: Sex Shells - latex mask
Year: 2019
Producer: CHINTZD.
Scent: Latex
Status: still fragrant
Provenance: Jonathan Ho
Collection: On loan from the designer
Memory: To be made by the next user who plays with it
11.
Title: PDNS, Puppy mask
Year: 2019
Producer: CHINTZD.
Scent: Synthetic material
Status: still fragrant, ish
Provenance: Jonathan Ho
Collection: On loan from the designer
Memory: To be made by the next user who plays with it