At present I am further planning for my technobiophilic immersive natural event to run in September at the Chelsea Collage of Arts Canteen space. In this planning I am aiming to targeting customers senses to develop a truly immersive natural experience that accompanies the food offering of the venue.
During my recent tutorial, Jasminka suggested that to make the scents I utilise truly target customers sense of smell, I should contact scent experts. The experts can then pass on their knowledge around the effective use of scents and they may even be interested in collaborating to develop unique natural scents to utilise in the events.
Jasminka recommended a former CSM student, Maya Njie, as a scent expert and so I have since emailed her in the hope of getting to speak with her in a meeting to learn from her scent knowledge and potentially collaborate (see below).
I have also emailed scent experts around London that I have found through researching, as I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket as it were and hope Maya would be able to assist me.
Scent Exerts Contacted:
Lizzie Ostrom – Founder of Odette Toilette
https://www.odettetoilette.com
Emmanuelle Moeglin – Founder of Experimental Perfume Club
Fran Brown – Fragrance Consultant at Urban Apothecary
https://urbanapothecarylondon.com
Betty and Michael Hawksley – Founders of Les Senteurs
https://www.lessenteurs.com/pages/history
Reflection:
I feel gaining expertise in the area of scent can really help to add depth to my intervention and hopefully engage and attract greater customers. I believe that scent is one of the lesser targeted senses when it comes to natural design, but when interacting with physical plants it is one of the most intriguing and delightful aspects. Therefore, I hope the unique nature of this offering to re-connect with the natural world may prove successful.
I am currently in the process of arranging my next panel discussion to review the progress of my interventions and discuss the most effective and innovative adaptations of these interventions possible. I will utilise this opportunity to create a form of expert sounding board of ideas in the hope that this method can validate my research as well as helping it to push past the predictable.
I have reached out to everyone previously involved in my plane discussion. These individuals being biophilic and biomimetic design experts including: Kristina Libby (biophilic expert), Leonardo Binetti (biomimetic expert), Williem van Bolderen (biophilic expert) and Rajalakshmi Iyer (biophilic expert). I also asked these experts if they knew of anyone else who would be suitable for the discussion and if so to ask them to get in touch! (see below email).
I am also reaching out to experts that hadn’t taken part in the previous panel to try to create new angles of discussion and varying dynamics. This outreach has been largely conducted through messaging people on LinkedIn who have suitable roles in their profession fo ruth discussion (see list below).
The discussion will take place on the same platform as the previous panel, this being StreamYard, as this worked well. The recording of the discussion will also be uploaded to the Nature.In YouTube channel just as done previously. The discussion will run via a series of prompts yet again, however this time they will be images and questions centred around the results of my interventions, both those conducted at the Chelseas Collage of Arts, such as the Herb Event, as well as my online sharing group. This method of prompts for progression throughout the discussion also helped for seamless transitions between topics in the last panel whilst still allowing everyone to input as much a they desired on each topic; thus it is being employed once again.
For this panel there will again be the opportunity for a live audience to ask questions throughout the discussion, as it will be being live streamed on YouTube and so people will be able to comment on the YouTube video any questions they have, which the experts and myself will be able to discuss. I will spend greater attention to attract a live audience for this panel and get confirmation that some people will be in attendance, as for the last panel a live audience was invited, but sadly no one showed up at the given time. I will also try to gather questions from customers via the online sharing group, which can be but to the experts in the discussion, if people are unable at attend the live event. This will hopefully create more stimulating conversations around the future of my interventions.
Feedback:
So far I have heard back from Rajalakshmi who is sadly unable to attend the panel discussion this time due to being busy with her own work commitments. I have also heard from Leonardo and Kristina who are keen to take part in the discussion once again. Additionally, both Rajalakshmi and Leonardo both commented that they were impressed with the progress I have made on my project so far, which was very encouraging.
Experts in Attendance of the Panel
Confirmed:
Leonardo Binetti – Biomimetics expert (took part in previous panel)
Kristina Libby- Biophilic Expert (took part in pervious panel)
Possible Attendants Awaiting to Confirm Their Availability:
Catie Ryan – Biophilic Expert from Terrapin Bright Green (Large Biophilic Design firm in New York)
Heidi Lenarts – Biophilic Expert focusing on nature based workplaces
Bill Browning – Head of Terrapin Bright Green (he recommended Catie as he is on jury service)
Bettina Bolten – Biophilic design consultant, she is interested but on holiday at the time of the panel
Rajalakshmi Iyer- Biophilic expert (took part in previous discussion), busy with work commitments
Contacted ButNo Responses Thus Far:
Amanda Sturgeon – Biophilic expert in regenerative design
Vincent Callebaut – Biomimetics expert
Tejal Patel – Hospitality professional
Louise Fawcett – Hospitality professional
Williem van Bolderen – biophilic expert (took part in previous discussion)
Reflection
I will continue to contact more experts over the coming days so that I can ensure I have a solid base of experts confirmed. I aim for at leats 4 experts to be in attendance again, just as there were last time. I will also start to promote the panel via the online sharing group, Nature. In instagram page, as well as on other relevant Facebook and LinkedIn pages I am a member of.
I am excited to run this second panel discussion, as I feel it will be a key opportunity to gain knowledge from experts in avenues I may not have considered to most effectively innovate and adapt my interventions.
Very excitingly the Herb Event I ran at the Chelsea Collage of Arts got a mention on the UAL Catering instagram page, as well a their story! The post currently has 70 likes showcasing that the event has resonated with a variety of people; again demonstrating the market for such events.
The publicity of this event helped to attract people to the Nature.In instagram page that I have set up and thus increase the engagement with my posts on there. This occurred as the UAL catering post tagged the nature.In instagram page in their post, as well as my personal account. Therefore, allowing people to directly engage with the accounts and see who is behind the venture.
It was amazing to see the work of my event being showcased by UAL. To me this demonstrated that not only was it effective in its aim but the catering department were proud that it happened in their venue and proud to support it, which was very special. I greatly look forward to running future events in their space sand seeing how far I can expand off the ideas of this event.
I stumbled across the Selfridges Good Nature campaign by chance the other day and immediately felt their goals have a strong symbiosis with the aims of my project in connecting people to nature (less of the hospitality focus however).
The campaign is a part of Selfridges’ wider ‘project earth’ campaign which is Selfridges’ 5 year sustainability plan. Good Nature represents Selfridges move away from seasonal campaigns to demonstrates their focus upon reducing waste and encouraging their customers to embrace nature, throughout 2021. Good Nature instigates a return to nature through promoting different ways to enjoy the outdoors, one of these ways includes the garden centre exhibits I came across in the Selfridges store which hosts its range of ‘horti-coture’ fashion items and outdoor wear. The garden centre exhibits technical outdoor accessories and clothing, as well as collaborations with big brands such as North Face and Hunter.
After further research I discovered Good Nature began through a series of nature inspired images from artistic collaborators. This mood-board of images can be found on Selfridges website. The subsequent rest of the campaign includes online blog posts, guides to sustainable shopping, a podcast; as well as the physical ‘garden centre’ spaces I saw in the shop.
The podcast, named the Pleasure Series, aims to showcase ways of gaining the pleasures of nature. For instance, there is an episode on ‘the pleasure of gardening’ , ‘the pleasure of growth’ , ‘the pleasure of rituals’, ‘ the pleasure of sound’ and the list goes on. The podcast is intended to be listened to outdoors to provide a guiding force for experiencing nature by focusing upon encapsulating the healing powers and escapism that can be achieved from nature.
Good Nature ultimately showcases Selfridges’ suitability pledge, alongside the demand for an awareness and appreciation of nature by Selfridges client base; that has been heightened after the pandemic; which highlighted the importance of the outdoors in all of our lives.
My Action From The Discovery of Good Nature:
Due to resonating strongly with this campaign, I have since being trying to contact the people behind it to see if they would be interested in collaborating in any way. But, it has proven rather difficult to track down these individuals. I asked the people working in Selfridges at the time of my visit, but they weren’t sure who I should contact as they were only staff on the clothing counters. I have also rang Selfridges, but this was just a general number and they too were unsure who I should contact. So, I began a deep dive on the internet and discovered who styled the window display for the Good Nature campaign, Emily Outhwaite. I have emailed her and connected with her on LinkedIn in the hope that she will be able to point me in the direction towards the creators of Good Nature, or potentially even be able to directly help to see if any form of collaboration may be possible.
Reflection:
The seed packet given out by Selfridges as part of their Good Nature display inspired an idea. This being that possibly a similar intervention could be conducted by myself to provide seeds or a space where people could even grow their own piece of nature and progressively watch it grow. For instance, if there was the opportunity to plant your own seeds at a hospitality venue and it is as though you have left a part of you in that space and you can go back and watch it grow, develop and flourish. This could also inspire repeat customers to the spaces. This may work well in an informal cafe setting, but it would require upkeep form the venue owners to nurture the plants into growing. This is just a very preliminary idea at present, but I thought it to be an interesting train of thought.
Also in relation to the seed packets, they symbolise taking nature from the event further into the lives of the customers. This is something I have tried to include in my interventions so far with offering customers the opportunity to take herb cuttings home from my herb event, for instance. Re-connecting people to nature not only in the events themselves but further into their daily lives is something I will continue to try and achieve in later iterations of my interventions. The online sharing group I have recently developed also helps to benefit this strengthening of personal connection to nature beyond the scope of events. This is due to the group promoting not only good and bad applications of nature but also what spaces are displaying these aspects of nature, so that people can learn of more ways and places in which they can interact with nature.
