Firmenich and Studio Magique Create Olfactive Sensory Experience for National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum's renovation project includes an innovative project that incorporates a senory experience of the Parisian sea. Set to be completed for the reopening in mid-October 2023, the tailor-made marine olfactory signature was created in collaboration with Firmenich master perfumer Nathalie Lorson and Studio Magique—Sillage de mer.

Lorson stated, “Creating an olfactory identity for the national museum of the Navy means being able to express an atmosphere universal olfactory which is an ode to the strength of the ocean, to its immensity and to the invigorating energy of the water. It immerses visitors in a parenthesis of freshness, giving them an immediate feeling escape and absolute freedom. The final signing is really abstract. We are in the open sea, swept away by the movement of the waves. The loaded spray of iodine swirl then calm returns and there, it is endless blue."

Imagined in symbiosis with the fluid and airy lines of the new architecture of the museum, the Sillage de mer fragrance is released in the reception area via six diffusers. By crossing the doors of the museum, the public is cut off from the world's exterior, totally immersed in the sea.

Vincent Campredon director of the National Maritime Museum shared, "We didn't just want to renovate the museum Navy National. It was very important to us explore new sensory terrain and go towards a new living and sensitive architecture. By creating this olfactory signature, we want enrich the sensory experience of visitors, immerse for a moment, arouse in them a want to take off.” 

Imagined in symbiosis with the fluid and airy lines of the new architecture of the museum, the Sillage de mer fragrance is released in the reception area via six diffusers.C/O Firmenich

Sillage de mer

The perfume is composed of seaweed of French origin combined with synthetic materials including some from green chemistry with 20% upcycled ingredients: 

• Seaweed absolute, a natural raw material, was chosen for its evocation of flora Marine. It reinforces the idea of ​​salty, iodine-laden sea spray and brings a subtle tone green. 
• Algae absolute is combined with calone, a pioneering molecule which made it possible to compose the aquatic chords. 
• Lorson also wanted to wink at ambergris, which comes from a concretion that forms in the intestine of the sperm whale. To substitute it, the Lorson used Ambro Super (trademark ingredient of Firmenich), a synthetic molecule 100% renewable and easily biodegradable, which brings to the composition this print amber and carnal imprint with tones mineral and musky.

The museum also wanted to involve its future visitors in the development of the signature olfactory. At the beginning of the creation process, a first palette of smells associated with the sea was thus developed thanks to the responses of a panel of testers targeted during workshops. This co-creation approach aims to engage the public, know their feelings, and exchange ideas, in order to offer a visit experience adapted to their expectations and needs. 

Mazen Nasri and Philaé Rollet-Bouclet, founder and artistic director, partner and project Manager, Studio Magique, added, “It was a great responsibility for Magique to think up the olfactory signature of the National Maritime Museum. A two-year, adventurous work and collaborative that brought together the museum teams, the public, the architects, as well as the agencies in charge of the new brand platform in the creation process. We are proud to have been able to achieve this feat thanks to the virtuosity of the Master Perfumer Nathalie Lorson and Firmenich who have knew how to appropriate our artistic line to materialize the olfactory imprint."

The Sillage de mer fragrance is available for purchase within the National Maritime Museum.