Scent Drop

Harvey & John.

Created for the new 'Le Grand Musee du Parfum' in Paris, Scent Drops is an experience dedicated to the 25 most used ingredients in Perfume. Taking inspiration from the liquid form of perfume, we created 25 drops, each housing an individual copper finished orb. Each orb holds a different scent which is triggered when you pick it up and bring it to your nose. An explanation in your native tongue shares the ingredient inside and how it has come to be used in the world of perfume.

As visitors rotate the orb on the base a gyro and accelerometer detect the movement and infrared signals are exchanged between the orb and the base telling it what language to speak. As you lift off, a valve opens and a small fan sends the air through the scent capsules and out the trumpet of the orb for the visitor to take in.

Installation video.

Prototype hardware design.

I was tasked with the engineering & designing the mechanical internals of the sphere, packaging a densely populated system into a small space. The system comprises of an MCU, Ball Bearing valve, Gyroscope, Fan, IR TX/RX, Battery management and charger, Li-Po cell, sound module, inductive coil and speaker. Planning the wire routing between the main components. This had to be taken into account, when designing the final packaging - as wire routing was important for assembly/servicing and space constraints. A custom PCB was used as a main bus connection point.

Close up of the illuminated language selector.

Alongside the sphere - the associated base was also designed. This communicated with the sphere, and provided charging via induction. As the sphere is rotated it sends a message back to the base so it can show what language is selected. A 2 way communication over IR ensures that they stay in sync.

Base and ORB 3D design.

2D CAD was used to precisely plan all parts, before being taken into 3D for final testing and STL generation for printing. Many prototypes were designed, 3D printed and tested before finally settling on a plausible working solution.

Design iterations.

Assembly & testing.

Project installation & development photos