Once upon a time, we humans were just wee little multicellular organisms swimming in the primordial ooze.
And do you know what our first sensory interaction with our surroundings was then?
Not vision, no, though that’s a good guess.
We didn’t get our eyespots for a little while….
Not touch either. Remember, we had very limited processing power so early on….
Not taste (this may’ve been a blessing) or even hearing.
The first of our five senses was the power of scent.

From flights of fantasy to scientific frontiers, scent design, like a musical score or dramatic lighting, is a powerful, proven tool to set a scene, tell a story, conjure a memory, enhance an experience, and connect us with our deepest selves — that little primordial animal brain which still drives our most vivid experiences, even (especially) in today’s modern world.

Working with scents for a over decade has given me a body of experience ranging from “olfactory set dressing” for avant-guarde theatre to commercially branded snacks of the future, from luxury body care in designer spas to selfie-stick-wielding unicorns prancing in a cloud of bubblegum.

As a craftsperson I’m able to pivot between fantastical artificial fragrances to farm-to-bottle essential oils with a focus on allergen and sensitivity awareness.

Another delightful challenge of this all too often, well, overlooked field is the wide variety of techniques and technologies for delivering any given aroma. In this way, scent is a kind of lightning in a bottle - ephemeral, elusive, sometimes even fantastically volatile. Working with a diverse array of clients and collaborators has given me an extensive toolkit for tricks of the trade, letting me dial in the settings from intimate to grand, subtly suggestive to unmistakably impactful, visible to invisible.

Years of research and development, experience with manufacturers from around the world, and a specialization in custom blends enables me to nimbly meet the needs of each of my clients with this invisible yet powerful medium.

Selected Scent Design CV:

2018 Caravan Rally 2018 - Explorers’ Guild Troop 001, Oakland, CA to Ashland OR

Guest artist. 24 hour community-building interactive theatre road trip. Olfactory design and production for unicorn and delectable acts.

2018 Terrible Blooms by Melissa Stein - Opening Reception at The Bindery, San Francisco CA

Guest artist. Performed original cicatra-kintsugi (gilding of scars with gold leaf and rosewater) with guests at local public literary event.

2018 - 2019 Bulbs of Spring - Elsewhere Philatelic Society, Oakland and San Francisco CA

Creator, parton, volunteer for annual neighborhood daffodil bulb giveaways. Public space olfactory dressing.

2017 Infernal Motel - Epic Immersive, the Rathskeller Club, San Francisco CA

Olfactory set design and production for site-specific immersive theatre piece.

2017 Experience and Immersive Design - University of California, Berkeley

Guest lecturer - “The Role of Scent in Experiential and Immersive Design”

2016  Deliciously Unexpected – Wasserman Media Group for Pepsico, San Francisco CA

Guest artist and game-runner. Developed olfactory, audio, and flavor pairings for table activation for "Social Palate" technology and food event

2016  Boutique Sensorium – Kulturehaus for Pepsico, Milan Italy

Guest artist, assistant set dresser, perfume designer,  live interactive olfactory performance for 2 day private event at Milan Design Week

2016 One Last Day – The Rathskeller Club, San Francisco CA

Guest artist, olfactory design and live immersive olfactory performance for original interactive sensory play by Justin Oliphant.

2015 The Headlands Gamble – First Person Travel, San Francisco CA

Guest artist, personalized interaction consultant, designer and producer. Original olfactory design and production.

2015 Hinge – Vespertine Circus, Oakland CA

Working closely with director Bunny Holmes and musician Jesse Buddington, I designed and manufactured two original scents: Arch, a heady, sultry forest scent applied in the lobby to establish the hypnotic atmosphere of the Hinge universe, and Wendy-Cat, a spine-tingling, animalistic musk for Wendy, Vespertine's very own nine-foot velveteen tiger (who still sometimes comes out to play). 

2015  The Fallen Cosmos – San Francisco Institute of Possibility, San Francisco CA

Guest artist (“Music of the Cosmos” inspired by Amelia Hamrick) for 600+ participant event. Olfactory design, production, and performance.

2015  Book 2, The Latitude Society for Nonchalance, San Francisco CA

Original design and development for multi-site interactive experience. Set design and production, olfactory design, prop curation. Conception, script writing, creative direction and project management of original audio track, supporting lore and events.

2014  Book 1, The Latitude Society for Nonchalance, San Francisco CA

Production assistant, set and experience design, olfactory set dressing, writing, voice acting, guest artist coordination, intern management, community building.

2012 Vasper Systems, Mountain View CA

Site manager, executive assistant, personal trainer, program developer for biotech firm. Specialized in custom essential oil blends.

2011 - 2012 Montclair Skincare, Oakland CA

Research & development, manufacturing, marketing, S&H, workshop hosting, vending for independent holistic body-care company. Carried by Whole Foods, Claremont Hotel Spa, various boutiques and farmers’ markets througout the San Francisco Bay Area.