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If the wisteria waterfalls of Brera's Botanical Garden (or the charming spread of gleaming, golden Laviani animal statues dotted around) don't get to you first, Be Open's Garden of Wonders will.
The international foundation of design and creativity has taken the world of fragrance to heady new heights with its latest project, a threefold approach to the world of fragrance. 'It is our way of proposing an alternative way - through design - to preserve traditions by adapting them to contemporary challenges and eventually explore new possibilities for small brands,' explains Be Open founder Yelena Baturina.
To begin with, the educational piece, 'A Journey Through Scent', narrates the evolution of perfume and fragrance - as well as its production and history - through an olfactory experience. Submerged in a dark mini-museum, large glass flasks and bottles hold what appear to be granules of salt. Giant atomisers reveals an ingenious way to share intense bursts of the different scents without these mixing up into a strange, sickly concoction.
Back in the garden, in the far side, the 'Houses of Wonder' are most exciting of all. These eight 'casitas' house pavilions have been created by various designers to revive and interpret long-forgotten perfume brands. Among the designers looking back at defunct luxury labels are Tord Boontje, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Dimore Studio, Front, Jaime Hayon, Piero Lissoni, Jean-Marie Massaud and Nendo. Their design aesthetic is clearly recognisable - the Campana Brothers interpretation of Veredas, for example, was inspired by Gruta do Veredas, a natural grotto in the state of Bahia in Brazil, and brought to life with a wicker, cave-like installation. Others, like Front and Dimore Studio, have taken a more sensory approach by using fading lights and the sound of rain respectively to illustrate their fragrances.
For the the third and final part of the project, 'A Vision in a Box', a golden cube-like display holds the bottles of nine totally different designers. Illustrating the importance of packaging, names such as Werner Aisslinger, GamFratesi, Mist-o and Thukral & Tagra have taken on the challenge of imagining bottles for the fragrance of the future.
The exhibition's Salone debut has undoubtedly been well received - no doubt in part thanks to the glorious weather which brings out the best of the Brera gardens - and is set to continue for EXPO 2015 in May.
Jean-Marie Massaud created 'Bertif, a Timeless Scent', which was inspired by the alchemy of the very limited edition run of Bertiff, first launched in Paris in 1910
Toord Boontje's 'Scent and Psyche', an interpretation of Waldes et Spol, an early twentieth-century scent, which draws on themes of the belle époque in Paris and Vienna
Nendo drew on Fandango by Koehler for this range of bottles. The two bottles, 'Fandango -12.3 ºC' and 'Fandango +23.1 ºC' are named for the average winter and summer temperatures in Moscow, the home of the Koehler perfumerie
Front's 'Fragrance Particles', which suspends the perfume in between two layers of glass
The Campana Brothers' wicker construction - an interpretation of Veredas - recalls a cave in Brazil
Jaime Hayon's 'Kuriopotek', a whimsical scent lab-cum-cabinet of curiosities
The third and final part of the project is 'A Vision in a Box', which houses nine bottle designs by as many designers, each of which has been inspired by a long-forgotten perfume brand
One of the bottles on show in this section is Misto-o's chirpy 'Voyage'
Thukral & Tagra's playful 'Submarine', also designed for 'A Vision in a Box'
With nine different designers at work in 'A Vision in a Box', the variation is huge. Pictured here are two futurisic bottles by (left to right) Philippe Bestenheider and Karim Mekhtigian
Werner Aisslinger's 'Coral' and Analogia Project's 'Spiny' bottles represent the more organic end of the spectrum on display
The architects Ludovica + Roberto Palomba have designed 'Ray Moore' (left), whose simplicity finds an echo in Victor Vasilev's Srebro, which translates as 'silver' in Slavic languages
ADDRESS
The Orto Botanico di Brera
via Brera 28
20121 Milano