Some scents from the south for Jacquemus
As part of a multi-sensory brand experience designed by Amsterdam-based Random Studio for the Jacquemus pop-up at London’s Selfridges in 2022, we created a series of five scents that add a playful olfactory dimension to the different elements of the Jacques Tati-esque spatial installation. Our ‘tromp-nez’ accented the surreal maze of giant objects and interactive scenographies that brought to life the brand’s founder Simon Porte’s childhood impressions of the south of France. The five compositions diffused through the space – Public Pool, Sunscreen, Paracetamol, Soap and Toothpaste – tap into our collective memories of summertime, creating an immersive scentscape for visitors to experience as they discovered the new collection. On these scents, we collaborated with Lebanese perfumer Nour Akoum. Our outcomes were hyper-real, pastel, optimistic, fresh, sharp.
ECAL x IN'N'OUT
Photographer Anja Wille Schori asked us to create a scented starting point for a workshop for her bachelor students in 2021. An invitation to translate smell to sight around the aesthetic theme of the Nature Morte (still life), we made a fragrance for them to respond to visually. Inspired by an autumnal walk in the woods, Eau 2CVph 11 is a layered, indolic smell that conjures the last cry of a flower before it dies and turns into compost. The project lived on in Anja’s own response to the scent which reimagined our olfactory idea of a Nature Morte into her layered compositions of different plants and flowers. The series was published in Daisy World magazine, accompanied by the lyrics of Les Feuilles Mortes by Yves Montand written in calligraphy that resembled wilted flowers (whose cover by Iggy Pop was also a primary inspiration for the scent). In addition to Iggy and his wrinkly skin, we were thinking: deep, baroque, decay, vanitas, opulent.
PRO for Jeans for Jesus
Created to celebrate the vinyl release of Jeans for Jesus’ new album PRO in 2016, we created a fragrance that could function as part of the band’s merchandise, in collaboration with designer Gian Gisiger. The perfume was launched at the release concert at Dachstock in Bern where miniature sample 2ml bottles were thrown into the crowd. Fans took home a scent inspired by themselves: followers of the popular Swiss band are young, free and open, striving for a new spirituality. The scent dimension of PRO revels in the raw smells of night spent outdoors, savouring the summer. Think a pair of old, newly-washed jeans, couples cuddling in the woods, long fireside nights, cassis, incense, iso-e-super, oppoponax.
A fragrant carte de visite for Contexta
Commissioned on the occasion of Contexta’s rebranding in 2020, Nomad Perfume Intense is a fragrant idea of freedom that extends the brand’s identity into a scent. The agency is known for their iconic ads that explore Swiss identity. We wanted to create a storytelling tool that gestures both towards their future path as a nomadic entity whose roaming office pops up in different sites, and their heritage. The resulting fragrant carte de visite is designed in a 2ml tester bottle encased in a business-card size envelope with the office number and space for a note; a portable and exchangeable essence of the agency’s identity. For the visual identity of the scent, we worked with designer Annina Mettler and photographer Pierre Luigi Macor. On the sensory dimension, we were thinking: countryside, wholesome, mountains, hay, dew, bergamot. All things Swiss. Bringing the outdoors in, the scent itself encapsulates an invigorating Alpine hike.