“Visitors are first brought to the centre of the space, where five timber sculptures stand like oversized totems. Dubbed “The Oaks,” each one is built in a unique geometry using a different type of timber, inspired by the five groups of grapes available for tasting: aromatic whites, chardonnay, varietal blends, regional and shiraz. “Based on the tasting notes that the sommeliers gave us, we reinterpreted that in terms of geometry,” explains Faye Toogood of Studio Toogood. “We placed the totems in a ring because there is a great mystique to wine which is quite spiritual.”
“In addition to this, each is infused with a different scent, created by Studio Toogood in partnership with Paris and New York-based perfumers Dawn and Samantha Goldworm at 12.29. The scents themselves are based on the tasting notes of each group of grapes; for example, the notes for the aromatic whites group are: pure, mineral, abstract, energy, sorbet, cool, altitude, elevation, pristine, vibrant. The resulting scents do not smell like wine but are related to the wine.”
This one’s a bit of a blast from the past – an article I wrote on The Blocks, an installation in Sydney by Faye Toogood, originally published in Artichoke magazine when I was Editor in 2012. My favourite thing about the project was the design of five scents – I love the idea of being able to create a new scent working with a perfumer.
Read the whole article (republished in full on architectureau.com) here.