Uncommon Scents: Living Perfume

Brandimage – Desgrippes & Laga has designed a pop-up, interactive, eco-friendly natural perfume exhibition for Mandy Aftel’s Aftelier Perfumes inside iconic New York City retailer Henri Bendel. Coinciding with the release of Aftel’s new fragrance, “Lumiere,” Living Perfume: The Natural Alchemy of Mandy Aftel opens April 18 and runs through May 11, with a special invitation-only event on April 20.

The exhibit promises to be a rare window into renowned artisan perfumer Mandy Aftel’s creative process, an important educational opportunity and an unparalleled aesthetic experience.

This experiential in-store exhibition is as multi-layered—literally and figuratively—as Aftel’s all-natural fine perfumes. Sculptural forms made from smooth, silhouetted layers of white sustainable eco-board suggest the sensuality of natural elements—trees, stone formations, a forest path—while paralleling the layers of perfume and invoking the mystery and beauty of scent. The space is designed to “impose” itself into the store environment in the way something organic would grow and extend out into the “synthetic” world. Customers are invited to experience, perhaps for the first time, the complete set of individual essences that make up a perfume. Much like music, perfume is composed of notes—base notes, middle notes, top notes—that are blended into chords. Top notes are the most fleeting, establishing the scent’s initial impact, whereas middle notes give body to blends, imparting warmth and fullness. Finally, bass notes articulate the perfume’s lasting character, its final perceptive note after the others have evaporated. It is the structure of the chords that give a perfume its innate character and complexity. Tucked into the drawers beneath the bottles of Parfum de Maroc, they may start by smelling and touching the raw botanical materials from which the essences are created. Then they can smell separately each of the perfume’s individual essences, followed by the individual top, middle and base chords of the perfume, and finally smell the perfume itself. They are encouraged to let their senses respond as they move from note to note and experience the beautifully complex natural essences that make up Parfum de Maroc. Finally, they are invited to listen to the song that Donovan has paired with it especially for this exhibit. Not only is Aftel an award-winning artisan perfumer, author and expert “nose,” she is a collector of rare books, graphics and other artifacts related to the art of traditional perfume creation. Items from her personal collection will be on view alongside her perfumes, oils and craft materials. Brandimage – Desgrippes & Laga continually cultivates relationships with people who take an interest in vibrant art forms. Both Brandimage and Aftel also share a respect for materials, nature and the planet, so our design firm was delighted to collaborate with Aftel to help bring her work, way of thinking and vision to life. This historic exhibition marks a sustainable design project that expands the reach of Brandimage’s noteworthy experience in the world of cosmetics and fragrances, where it has worked with such high profile clients as Interparfums, Cartier, Boucheron, Natura and Banana Republic. This special project also dovetails with Brandimage’s initiatives to foster Responsible Design and make the world a better, greener place through innovation and the development of new ways to work with sustainable materials.