The Fragrance

OUR VISION

Most South Indian homes and bazaars are fragrant with an interesting mix of flowers, spices and incense. These olfactory triggers can often evoke a sense of warm, nostalgic comfort. It was important for us to add this sensory layer to the spaces, making them inviting, comfortable and familiar. 

This project explores designing a signature fragrance for this luxury residential space, creating an association to the Machani Group  brand  as  well.  It  involved collaborating with different perfumers to get the desired fragrance.

THE APPROACH

IDENTIFYING LOCAL FRAGRANCES

Identifying intrinsically South Indian fragrances was the first step. Exploring the bustling markets and temple stores of Basavanagudi gave us instant access to locally used flowers, fruit, herbs, incense and spices.

COLLECTING

MEMORIES

Speaking to locals, and collecting memories    from different people, we started identifying fragrances that resonated with the brand vision. We soon realised that ‘fragrances which constituted the familiar freshness that surrounded local temples’ was the common thread. 

DEFINING

THE BRIEF

Chalking out the different feelings evoked by materials collected helped give us direction. We were now able to define the brief.

The Aroma experience will be intrinsically South Indian, inspired by the local context, and evoke a sense of nostalgia among residents/ guests/ visitors. This warm, yet fresh signature smell will enhance the sensory experience across common spaces.

CO-CREATION

AROMA + BATH ESSENTIALS PARTNER

We later approached various reputed perfumers and aroma + bath essentials creators to help bring our concept to life.

The partner chosen resonates with what The Machani Group believes in as a brand. They produce high quality luxurious ayurveda products made with Indian ingredients that most of us identify with. The products are naturally fragrant, certified organic, eco friendly and contain no synthetic additives. 

Some of the explorations from various collaborators:

COCONUT + LIME + MINT + CINNAMON

ROSE + MINT + CARDAMOM

JASMINE + TULSI + POMEGRANATE

THE FRAGRANCE

For the final fragrance, we were really pleased with the combination of:  

MADURAI JASMINE, ICED POMEGRANATE AND KERALA LIME.

This was the perfect balance of warm floral from the jasmine, freshness from the pomegranate and a hint of citrus to lift the heaviness.

This fragrance would later envelop the common areas using burners and diffusers.