Sephora Sensorium – Lucid Dreams from the Sensory World

Beauty retailer Sephora and fragrance manufacturer Firmenich have commissioned The Sensorium: Lucid Dreams from the Sensory World, an interactive, multimedia experience set in a pop-up museum, designed to explore the emotions and instincts behind scent. The Sensorium features interactive and immersive installations First Scent and Lucid Dreams, developed and produced by experience design and production company The Department of the 4th Dimension (The D4D) to transport visitors into the realm of the perfumer’s imagination. The Sensorium, located in a 3,700 warehouse in New York’s Meatpacking District, launched to the public on October 15 and runs through to November 27th, 2011. Tickets are available through the Sephora website.

Upon entering First Scent, visitors are surrounded by motion picture media inspired by custom fragrances emitted throughout the room that trigger collective emotion and connections. Dreamlike films of cutting grass, a morning breakfast and a visit to the beach correspond to fragrances Weekend Splendor, 6:01 am and Summer Vacation designed by such superstar perfume creators as Harry Fremont and Honorine Blanc. Here, elemental and unforgettable moments are manifested in an evocative cocktail of sight, smell and sound.

Next, in the museum’s marquee event Lucid Dreams, visitors can affect beautiful suspended images inspired by Firmenich’s master perfumers. Using a high tech flower sculpture, the images transform based on the power of the individual’s sniff – triggered by the unique sound transmitted by the physical act of smelling. The D4D created each room’s architecture, including the short films, beautiful floor-to-ceiling images, glowing sniff-registering flowers and the software that drove the entire soul-stirring experience.

Credits

The Sensorium project was developed at The D4D (The Department of the 4th Dimension) led by creative director Matt Checkowski and executive producer Ron Cicero, along with a team of architects, designers, technologists and writers.

During the production and design of First Scent and Lucid Dreams, The D4D team worked on the visual experience with the custom designed perfumes on hand, to ensure the visual and auditory elements were a perfect fit for each scent and would combine in a journey of heightened perception. The perfumers and The D4D creative team collaborated throughout, with imagery and scent choices and changes influenced by the other during the process. The technical production of the interactive elements involved significant research and development including an examination of wind velocity and other triggers before landing on the auditory solution.