Ambient Scents
“We respond to smell in the most visceral way - directly, unconsciously, like the animals we are.”
–The Senses: Design Beyond Vision
Have you ever experienced being transported to another time or place by something you smelled? Smell is present everywhere we go and it is oddly sticky to our memories. The nose is like an upside down funnel collecting little stirred up molecules to be processed by the olfactory system which is directly connected to the part of our brain that stores our memories. This is the only sense known to have a direct connection to the brain in this way. Which makes it even more incredible that there is little direction in how to apply this sense in the scope of interior design.
Behavior
This behavior is less specific and geared towards more of a general sense of living in our space called home. Our relationship to what we know of our home has changed in some ways more obvious than others given as a result of Covid-19. Despite all of the best design advice out there we are still missing guidance on how to create an ambient atmosphere geared towards our wellness. One of the most influential senses we can focus on to our experience at home is with our sense of smell.
Peripheral Environment
Let’s start with an exploration of experiences in the peripheral environment with retail stores. Retail stores are relevant as a built environment that have been targeting our sense of smell to influence our behavior. Maybe we can take some of the ideas they use on us and apply it to our own immediate environments at home.
One of my first memories of a retail experience and smell comes from Abercrombie and Fitch. This is embarrassing but I worked there while I attended school in Hawaii. Part of their store experience was to spray as much cologne on anything and everything. The smell was very young and clingy. I remember it being sweat, citrus and a pinch of must that made me feel a little more mature than what I was. Even though I never owned their cologne the residual fallout of the aroma followed me everywhere I went.
A more recent example comes from a couple years ago when I was working on an interiors project in New York. I was doing a little research in New York City prior to visiting the site and came across a store by the name of 45R. It’s a Japanese boutique clothing store with an incredible store experience. They have a beautiful stone floor that they gently pour water on from time to time. The walls have layers and layers of natural textures. I was not shy about looking at every detail. The design of the store left me with an experience of receiving a gentle hug while exploring what they have to offer.
A woman from the store asked me if she could help me. I told her I was very impressed by the design of the store but there was something in the air lingering that I could not identify. “What is that amazing smell?” I asked her. The aroma had a very light touch of floral on the front end while being grounded with a round smell of earth. She pointed to a little nook near the floor where a bowl lay full of potpourri. They had a couple of them laid throughout the store. The scent was subtle and so natural. My olfactory system was gluing together all the little details I saw and felt in my memory. My experience was sticky in a good way because of the smell and quite the contrast to the experience of Abercrombie.
Immediate Environment
I live in an old Spanish style home built in the 1920’s that has layers and layers of contributing factors to the smell of the home. The old finish on the hardwood floors aged by uv rays and feet radiates in the California sun with a smell of subtle petroleum. The walls and their layers of lead paint contribute to an unclear aroma of soft dust. The aluminum blinds bring a vague scent of sweaty pop can with a touch of ocean and a finish of sulfur from the ships of the busiest port in the US. The furniture both old and new contribute their own unique perfumes hidden amongst their desire for form and comfort. Toss in a plethora of plants and we have the ambient smell of my home. To sum it up the smell is a dusty Long Beach bouquet that can tip you over the edge of a sneeze. It’s certainly memorable but less than desirable.
Design Problem
The immediate environment of where I live does not have a curated smell. What exists at home is an aroma I have stumbled upon with little influence. It’s similar to when you first move into a home and you have blank walls. As you start to hang art or paint the walls the home is now a reflection of you and you are a reflection of the home. I believe we can accomplish this with smells as well.
Why Nature?
The sense of smell is considered very subjective. However, there is one smell that I feel most people will agree upon liking and that is the smell of fresh air. Fresh air is mother nature’s perfume to us. An olfactory symphony of growth and decay responding to the shifts in the weather levitate molecules to attach our awareness to a sense of expansiveness. The science behind this connection has room to grow but there are clear signs of a connection to the smell of nature and our well-being. What’s even more interesting is that our sense of smell when activated in nature has a greater impact in reducing physiological stress than our visual or acoustical sense. It’s worth mentioning while not getting too far away from the point that this evidence is congruent with the evidence found in the effects of aromatherapy.
Solution
Since my experience at the store 45R I have been thinking about ways to incorporate more natural smells at home. Yes, there are ways to incorporate smells with diffusers and incense but many of these require attention or combustion. More so they are often influenced by the perfume industry that is bogged down in old traditions of what scents should be. There is certainly a time and a place for these items to be used but what I would like to consider is that there are more subtle ways to impact the overall atmosphere of our homes while incorporating elements of nature. Like dried plants and potpourri.