Olfactory Symphonies at LVMH
Once again present at Europe’s premier tech trade show, the LVMH Group unveiled Olfactory Symphonies — an immersive, interactive installation celebrating Guerlain’s iconic Shalimar fragrance. Developed in collaboration with IRCAM Amplify and the startups Olfy and Omi, the project showcases the strength of the LVMH innovation ecosystem.
Guerlain’s marketing teams partnered with IRCAM Amplify, the commercial branch of IRCAM, to translate the iconic "Guerlinade" into a musical composition. “We held workshops with in-house perfumer Delphine Jelk to transform the scent notes — jasmine, bergamot, rose, vanilla, tonka bean, and iris — into sound,” explains Sound Designer Romain Barthélémy. “We considered each note’s role in the fragrance’s structure — its duration, intensity, and tonal quality.”
The perfume and the resulting music share similar architectures. “Each ingredient has its own personality and is represented by a specific instrument,” Barthélémy adds. “Bergamot, for instance, is rendered with a high, luminous tone color, while base notes like vanilla and tonka bean are conveyed through warmer, more enveloping sounds.”
For its part, the startup Olfy specializes in integrating the olfactory dimension into virtual reality technologies using programmable atomizers. “We synchronized the diffusion of Shalimar’s fragrance notes with the symphony,” explains Louna Bourgoin, Olfy’s communications and marketing manager. “We developed an application that allows users to navigate the entire sequence via touchscreen, exploring each scent note individually.”
The accompanying image sequences were created by Omi, a startup that has developed an AI-powered virtual photo studio designed to simplify the creation and animation of visual content. This year, Omi received an LVMH Innovation Award, which recognizes technology partners already collaborating with the group and offering solutions with potential for broad application across its portfolio of brands.
Givaudan’s Scent Piano
The Givaudan Group made its debut at VivaTech this year, presenting innovations from its Digital Factory. Among them was the Scent Piano — a response to the evolving habits of ultra-connected consumers who often discover fragrances on social media and prefer to shop online after sampling a scent.
With a design reminiscent of a piano keyboard, this compact device combines the diffusion of scented touches with video streaming. Fully customizable, it can support a range of retail strategies: showcasing best-sellers, promoting a brand, or curating an olfactory-themed playlist.
In practice, the consumer selects a fragrance and places a strip into the device, which automatically infuses it with the scent — without dispersing it throughout the surrounding space. A QR code printed on the scented strip grants access to the full fragrance universe through the Smellviz virtual environment, including its composition, ad campaign, influencer endorsements, and a direct link to e-commerce. From there, the user can seamlessly proceed with a purchase.
This system has the potential to extend traditional perfume distribution channels by delivering an immersive brand experience in alternative settings such as hotels, events, or pop-up spaces.
HABS’ Sensora platform
"We make brainwaves talk,” says the startup HABS. At VivaTech, Premium Beauty News attended a demonstration of the Sensora platform in combination with Neoxia, an ultra-light headband equipped with six sensors. The experience — centered around tasting a Ladurée macaron, the stand’s partner brand — offers a concept that can be easily adapted to the world of fragrance.
Reactions during the tasting are instantly displayed, with the platform tracking real-time changes in various neuromarkers — such as pleasure, comfort, satisfaction, memory recall, self-confidence, and joy.
While the tool is primarily designed to support R&D by monitoring testers’ reactions early in the perfume development process, it also has potential applications at the point of sale. By revealing and interpreting a customer’s personal emotional responses, it can help persuade them of a product’s value. According to Circana, the pursuit of well-being is the second most important factor driving perfume purchases, after long-lasting performance.
Three innovations that, while needing adaptation to retail realities, hold genuine potential to bring renewed enchantment to the shopping experience.
