This year's design fairs saw an unlikely convergence of perfume houses and speaker brands, as scent and sound took centre stage in Paris, Milan and Copenhagen.
Designers have intermittently flirted with sound and smell, especially when it comes to exhibitions and installations. It's long been recognised that both senses are useful tools for creating immersive experiences. Smell in particular, with its links to memory, is increasingly on the agenda as a way to stand out from the crowd.
Left: Frama: The Mechanics of Scent. Centre: Le Labo on Wheels at Alcova. Right: Aesop's Factory of Light.
Maybe this was why perfumed projects abounded at this year's Milan Design Week and 3daysofdesign. Big-name brands included Byredo, Amouage, Le Labo and Acqua di Parma in Milan, and Escential CPH, Frama Studio, and Studio Pneuma x Axor in Copenhagen.
Projects often had an interactive element, as with Escential CPH's intimate perfume workshops, or Le Labo's On Wheels community-based experience at Alcova. Other installations played on the link between smell, memory and atmosphere; Aesop, for example, combined both scent and music at its highly atmospheric Factory of Light event. And at Paris Perfume Week, Design Shades Studio created a pleasingly interactive 3D printed rose petal suspended in the air; its motion gently diffusing Amouage perfume.
Left: Design Shades Studio x Amouage. Photo: Paul Blind for Amouage. Right: 10 Corso Como, Olfactory Signals Edition 03.
Others approach scent almost as art. In June, 10 Corso Como saw the return of Olfactory Signals, a new fragrance salon in the concept store arranged like a gallery, with each maker given a space to present a particular 'aesthetic and olfactory universe.' This theme was continued by Frama, which hosted travelling exhibition The Mechanics of Scent. Here, a collection of scent sculptures invited viewers to engage with their senses. As Frama explains: 'Within a culture saturated with the visual, a presentation focused on scent must be experienced in person.'
Top Left: Fritz Hansen, Sound Club. Top Right: Bang & Olufsen. Bottom Left: FIDIVI at Convey. Bottom Right: Samsung, Design as an Act of Love installation.
Along with scent, designers also paid attention to sound. From big names like Bang & Olufsen and Samsung, to small independents, speakers popped up everywhere across Milan during design week. At Convey, textile company FIDIVI worked with Studio Musa to create a cocooning space with the aid of two prominent speakers.
Bang & Olfusen and Antonelli presented From Quarry to Garden: The Shape of Beautiful Sound, showcasing its new landscaped natural stone and metal speaker, designed for outdoor use. And Samsung's installation, Design as an Act of Love, used sound and technology to explore what is human. During 3daysofdesign, Fritz Hansen presented Sound Club, billed as 'A multi-space installation connecting sound, craft and design.' The idea was to explore how sound shapes the way furniture, light and materials are experienced in space.
Together, these projects suggest that to create memorable design it is no longer enough to simply consider forms or materials. Instead, all senses need to be felt.
