The Barcelona Olfaction Week (BOW) 2026 has closed its 2026 edition, consolidating itself as one of the great international gatherings dedicated to fragrances and perfume culture. For more than a week, the city has hosted a wide program of activities that has brought together professionals from the cosmetics, perfumery, and personal care industry, cultural institutions, and the general public.
In this edition, more than 1,100 attendees have directly participated in workshops, conferences, exhibitions, immersive experiences, and professional meetings, which have promoted perfume culture and its transversal dimension.
In addition, a significantly larger number of people have been able to indirectly participate in the Barcelona Olfaction Week, thanks to the permanent activities integrated into different cultural spaces in the city of Barcelona. Among these permanent activities, the Poble Espanyol, the Palau Güell, the Palau de la Música Catalana, as well as exhibitions such as IDEAL Centre d’Arts Digitals de Montjuïc or the CCCB, where essences and smell have been incorporated as a new language within the cultural experience, stand out.
The 2026 edition featured a twelve-day agenda of activities distributed in 20 emblematic spaces of the city of Barcelona, where fragrances and the sense of smell were protagonists. The program ran from May 16, coinciding with Barcelona's Museum Night, until June 6, the closing date.
During the central week, from May 18 to 24, guided tours were held that allowed visitors to discover Barcelona through the smells that have marked its history, as well as olfactory tours in spaces such as El Poble Espanyol, with the participation of perfumers and scented ceramic workshops; the Orfeó Català – Palau de la Música Catalana, with a special focus on its architecture and its translation into fragrances; La Rosaleda del Parque Cervantes, in full bloom; and the industrial complex of Colonia Güell, with access to the art gallery of the NASEVO collection.
The program also included book presentations in iconic bookstores of the city, such as Alibri and Altaïr, with the participation of specialists in neuroscience and raw materials in the field of perfumery.
Likewise, exhibitions and immersive experiences have been developed in different cultural spaces: in the Palau Güell, with an olfactory interpretation of Gaudí's life and modernist architecture; at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), with experiences linked to the exhibition "The Cult of Beauty"; at Fotocolectania, with the exhibition by photographer Sergio Larraín; and at the IDEAL Centre d’Arts Digitals de Montjuïc, with an olfactory experience at the entrance of the immersive exhibition "The Last Days of Pompeii".
Conferences and workshops have played a key role in the dissemination of perfume, through webinars with perfumers who find in Barcelona a source of inspiration for the creation of fragrances, masterclasses on the main olfactory families at the STANPA Barcelona headquarters, perfume creation workshops in the gardens of Park Güell and recreational proposals such as scented painting workshops and an Olfactory Bingo at the Teatro Tinta Roja.
The 2026 edition has especially reinforced the transversal link between perfumery, art, history, industry and culture, taking the universe of fragrances beyond the professional sphere to integrate it into museums, bookstores, heritage spaces, gardens, guided tours and exhibition centers. This approach has allowed perfume to reach new audiences and generate olfactory experiences in dialogue with other disciplines.
Likewise, the program has featured prominent professional milestones such as the IX Mouillette d’Argent International Perfumery Competition, in which more than 140 perfumers from all over the world participate, the Barcelona Perfume Day conference and the II Spain Cosmetic Ingredients Regulatory Summit, in addition to training on perception and storytelling from the Beauty Cluster headquarters, consolidating the BOW as a reference platform for the industry and a meeting point for innovation, science, sustainability and creativity in perfumery.
Within the framework of Barcelona Olfaction Week, the project "Aromas that inspire: creating gastronomic experiences" has also been developed, an initiative co-led by CETT-UB and Beauty Cluster. The project aimed to highlight the relevance of fragrances and aromas in sectors closely linked to perfumery, such as gastronomy, emphasizing the sensory connections between both fields. To this end, accords belonging to iconic perfumery families have been transferred to the culinary language, giving rise to a unique and innovative gastronomic experience, presented at the Barcelona Perfume Day conference.
Barcelona's international perfume week, BOW, has been organized by the Beauty Cluster and has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of the industry associated with the Beauty Cluster, with special mention to Ainea Perfums, Aitex textile technology center, CPL Aromas, Eurofragance, Esencias Moles EMSA, Iberchem, Lluch Essence, Mane, Noreste studio and Rafesa. Entities such as ACCIÓ, Academia del Perfume, Aromas Fenpal, Bearomic, Alibri and Altaïr bookstores, Barcelona Global, Barcelona Turisme, Cultruta, CETT-UB, Fragrantica, Ernesto Ventós Foundation, IDEAL Montjuïc-Layers of Reality, NextinBeauty Magazine, Parcs i Jardins de Barcelona, Palau Güell, Park Güell, Parcs i Jardins de Barcelona, Poble Espanyol, Orfeó Català Palau de La Música Catalana, Rocambolesc and Ventas de perfumería y cosmética have also collaborated.
With this edition, the sector reaffirms its international role in perfume culture, projecting from Barcelona an industry in full growth and with a strong connection to perfumery tradition.