Facticerie Presented at The Beauty Center at FIT
Facticerie –the visionary museum dedicated to perfume factice bottles, founded by Sudhir Gupta, along with the creative spirit of Mercedes Acosta, was unveiled at The Beauty Center at FIT on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.
Dr. Yasemin Jones, Lisa Kesselman, Dr. Brooke Carlson, Mercedes Acosta, Westly Morris, Sudhir Gupta, and Professor Stephan Kanlian.
Hosted by Dr. Brooke Carlson and Stephan Kanlian — FIT’s Dean and Chair of Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing & Management, respectively, the evening marked a significant new chapter for Facticerie’s mission: to preserve perfume factice bottles as endangered works of art and bring them into the worlds of education, cultural history, design, and fragrance scholarship. On behalf of Facticerie, Mr. Gupta made a generous pledge of $51,000 to the Graduate Student Scholarship Fund at FIT to be fulfilled over the next five years.
The evening centered on the extraordinary journey of Sudhir Gupta, Founder and Curator of Facticerie, that began as one man’s fascination with oversized perfume display bottles and has evolved into a cultural mission to protect an important piece of fragrance history. In an age of digital commerce, these rare objects — once created by the world’s greatest fragrance houses for display, storytelling, and visual seduction — are now disappearing from public view. They are endangered works of art, cultural artifacts, and objects of memory which Facticerie aims to preserve.
“Perfume factice bottles are endangered works of art,” says Sudhir Gupta, founder of Facticerie. “Our mission is to protect them.”
Also an integral part of the mission is Mercedes Acosta, whose creative direction has helped transform Facticerie from a private collection to a world record breaking phenomena. Through her eye for atmosphere, floral arrangement, design, and sensory storytelling, Acosta has brought warmth, intimacy, and beauty to the museum’s identity. Together, Gupta and Acosta have built not only an archive, but a sanctuary where fragrance, memory, art, and preservation meet.
The evening was also presented through the thoughtful support of Westly Morris, Executive Director at LEBERMUTH, whose belief in Facticerie helped bring the collection and its mission to a wider educational and cultural audience.The FIT presentation represents an important step toward placing factices within a broader educational and cultural conversation. Once seen primarily as retail display objects, these bottles are now being reintroduced as artifacts of luxury design, brand heritage, material culture, and olfactive history. The evening also recognized the importance of collaboration in preserving fragrance heritage. The presentation was held in partnership with LEBERMUTH, the fragrance and flavors house, whose support reflects a shared commitment to olfactive art, memory, and preservation.
Ruth Sutcliffe, Westly Morris, Mary Carroll, and Julie Olson.
For Facticerie, this moment was more than an unveiling, it marked the beginning of a larger movement — one that asks the beauty industry, educators, collectors, museums, and cultural institutions to reconsider what deserves to be protected.
As Facticerie expands its mission, the work of Sudhir Gupta and Mercedes Acosta offers a poetic reminder that some forms of beauty disappear quietly, unless someone chooses to save them. And in this case, that someone was Sudhir Gupta.
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Mercedes Acosta, Sudhir Gupta, Emily Dougherty, Lori Singer, Professor Stephan Kanlian, Westly Morris, Florence Bagneris, and Jorgelina Propato.
Ian Ginsburg, Westly Morris, George Ledes , Sudhir Gupta, and Alex Morris.
Rodrigo Flores-Roux, Robin Mason, Professor Stephan Kanlian, Liza Rapay, and Westly Morris.
Bart Schmidt, Sudhir Gupta, Paige Crist, and Jenna Troyli.
Rodrigo Flores-Roux, Jorgelina Propato. and Mark Knitkowski.
Westly Morris, Victor Mane, Carlos Timiraos, George Ledes, and Professor Stephan Kanlian.
Darryl Do and Caroline Fabrigas.
Professor Virginia Bonofiglio, Elana Drell Szyfer, and Andrea Spinella.
