On an emotional level, vision, sound and smell affect human beings the most. It is usually a succession of feelings that make us aware of where we are or what is happening around us. In a restaurant dining room you look at the scene first, and as time goes on smells and sounds make you aware of the ambiance and your expectations.
On the visual point of view we have been able to achieve the impression we wanted to give to our guest. On a sound level the combination of the acoustical panels in the ceiling absorb common noise and the music have created what we were looking for on the sonic ambiance. The last part, the smell of the dinning room, has been left to a very natural scent. But look at how the air flow is built into a restaurant: fresh air is taken in from the outside, filtered, blown into the space, and then exhaust fans push it back to the outside.
As we were opening this restaurant I really thought about controlling this fresh air coming into the dining room from the outside with a specific fragrance. I wanted to neutralize these variations without adding a smell that would distract from the food and the dinner experience.
I have never forgotten since my childhood all the specific scents in each of the small stores where we were buying food. The smell in a way creates a magic around what you buy and makes it even better before eating it
One afternoon at Henri Bendel (the store in NYC) I found a very interesting line of perfume, Memoire Liquide, with some fragrances that I really liked. I was able to get in touch with Robin, the founder of the company, and asked her to develop a specific scent for our space. She was very interested in the project and brought a lot of enthusiasm and expertise to it. After many conversations and several weeks to finalize some samples I just received 10 small flasks of oil with different variations. From the marine to the citrusy flowers and green notes - all these combinations are just wonderful. They are all very light with a magic to them. Some create a space that is like seaside at 6AM and another creates a forest of citrus along the coast with marine fragrances. Now we'll have to decide which one we want to start with and get the proper diffuser.
The idea for the guest is that the fragrance will hit your nose, then disappear and come back from time to time. The longer you are in the space the less you will smell it. But it will be a distinct smell, and if you liked it and liked your experience in the restaurant, this smell memory will be the first thing that hits you on your next visit.
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