PERFUME, PROSE AND PROTEST

A BOOK BY PERFUMER PIA LONG

Containing ten fully published perfume formulas, one piece of fiction and nine essays on political and personal topics, Demo Accords is a multidisciplinary collection of narratives where perfumery is part of the story and the stories are part of the perfumes.

In this work Pia explores the intersection between her two lifelong loves: writing and perfumery. Part manifesto, part polemic, part protest, part autobiography, the common thread is radical vulnerability of the perfumer’s art, practice and personal views.

Interrogating some fundamental questions about who perfumery belongs to and creating a parallel platform without a brand or a commercial consumer product, Demo Accords aims to exist for its own sake as a project that uses perfumery as an artistic storytelling device.

If the book is a script, then the formulas are sheet music, and the actual resulting liquid is therefore the orchestra playing. It is not necessary or compulsory to buy the liquid perfume sample kit to go with the book but it will help everyone hear the music.

The book has significant contributions from Nick Gilbert who wrote the scent descriptions and notes lists, as though for a protest perfume brand. Featuring original illustrations from multiple artists and a full colour cover by a Brighton street artist, Demo Accords is more than the sum of its parts.

Publication date: 20th November 2025.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR-PERFUMER

Pia Long is a Finnish-born, UK-based perfumer who views scent as a form of communication and perfumes as bottled stories. With an upbringing and education rooted in studying languages, translation and writing, she approaches her craft as magical realism, combining art, design and science to conjure imaginative experiences.

Her career in fragrance spans four decades, during which she has created a multitude of perfumes and product fragrances. She is a member of the International Society of Perfumer Creators, a member of the British Society of Perfumers, and a recipient of the Septimus Piesse Visionary Award from the Institute of Art and Olfaction.

Pia’s first story was published in a Finnish children’s magazine when she was 9 years old. Demo Accords is her first book.