Scented form: A nose for the undervalued sense

A finalist at this year’s Design Parade, an annual showcase and competition for 10 young designers held at Villa Noailles in Hyères, France, Bortotto overturns conventional associations with scented objects in the new collection, exploring what he calls an undervalued sense. ‘I was thinking about the typology of scent-related objects and how people associate them with being cheap with bad and artificial fragrances,’ he says. ‘I wanted to reconsider these objects, to give them new value.’

Bortotto worked with a local perfumer to produce smells with a strong mood and behavioural influence. His collection examines the relationship between shape, colour and expectation – imparting a green object with the smell of cut grass, for example. ‘I wanted to find a shape that tells you that you have to smell,’ he says.

In a second project, Paper Scent, Bortotto similarly blends material and smell by mounting perfumed paper onto wind fans. For another example of Bortotto’s work, read our Seed on the Acqua Alta collection on show in Milan.