Le natural has no more boundaries. The proof is that it even invites itself, through smell, into the intimacy of our brains. The power of smells plays an increasingly important role in our environment, already saturated with colors, materials, sounds… In hotels, restaurants, cars or boutiques and even in certain public places like museums, designers, luxury brands and marketing teams have understood this well and have learned to play on the springs of olfactory design, a new profession in the air. To provoke an emotion, awaken a feeling, summon a memory, restore a lost heritage, whet the appetite, convey a message or simply make us feel good in a place and make us want to come back. Tell me what fragrance you smell, I'll tell you where you come from! However, is it so easy to lead us by the nose? Not necessarily. Of our five senses, smell would indeed be the most difficult to satisfy. Four full-size examples.

1/ Travel back in time at the Hôtel de la Marine

The apartments of the Intendants of the Crown Furniture Repository are already a splendor. The refinement of the premises, the wonderfully restored 18th-century dwellings, where the practice of decorative arts excelled, is now added the delicacy of an olfactory creation.
The "Odoramento" tour takes the form of an installation by Chantal Sanier. The designer and scenographer has created six discreet cold wax sculptures scattered from room to room. From the antechamber to the study, from the bathroom to the bedroom, a series of blends of patchouli, bergamot, ylang-ylang, mint, and vanilla guides us sensitively through the mysteries of the site's history.

2/ Set sail at the Maritime Museum

Close your eyes and you might just hear the seagulls calling! Welcome to the new National Maritime Museum, which reopened in 2023. The salty sea spray, the fresh breeze from the open sea, salty skin on the beach... Are you totally there? This is thanks to Nathalie Lorson, one of Firmenich's master perfumers, who was tasked with creating an olfactory identity for the museum linked to the sea. The fragrance, called "Sillage de mer," was composed of algae (of French origin) combined with synthetic materials, some of which are derived from green chemistry.

3/ Have fun at the Hotel Costes

Olfactory design in its own realm! From Le Costes to the Park Hyatt Paris, via the Ritz and the Connaught in London, luxury hotels have, long before other areas of the Art de vivre, harnessed the unconscious power of interior fragrance. Since the early 2000s, the five-star hotel on Rue de Castiglione has been equipping its common areas, and especially its lobby, with an olfactory signature designed by the nose Olivia Giacobetti. The initial brief: "create a scent that would give the space a patina, inspired by a Ming ironwood cabinet from which vapors of liqueurs, blond tobacco, and damp stone escape." The result: a blend of waxed wood, rum, mahogany, bitter orange peel, paprika, and oak moss, which has lost none of its captivating aura.

4/ Relax at the Hôtel de Sully

For the second year in a row, the duo formed by Alexandre Isaïe (perfumer and historian) and Lucas Huillet (designer and ceramist) offered, during Paris Design Week, an experience combining their two worlds. Their installation, named "Folie" in reference to those pleasure pavilions where people once indulged in daydreaming, occupied the terrace of the Hôtel de Sully: two couches invited visitors to lie down, relax, and awaken their senses. As in their previous success, "Eau Fraîche," fragrances played a central role. Designed this time to foster social confidence, they combined essences and molecules known for their relaxing properties, encouraging people to let go and slow down, in the spirit of philosopher Hartmut Rosa's reflections on contemporary acceleration.