Five Senses by Louisa Grey
London-based designer Louisa Grey creates a well-being environment with a series of meditative spaces.
Inspired by the body’s five senses, designer Louisa Grey has curated a series for an installation inside the Copenhagen store of Danish Lifestyle brand Farma. The Senses installation for Frama uses a mix of the brand’s furnishings, scents, and objets d’art, to form a “deep, multi-leveled” sensory experience.
Upon entering the Frama store, which occupies a 19th-century apothecary in Copenhagen’s Nyboder neighborhood, visitors first encounter the scent room. It features a series of light-timber plinths topped with shallow trays of sand or gravel. Inside, bottles of the brand’s perfumes and fragranced candles are openly displayed amongst rough chunks of stone. An adjacent room is arranged in the style of the library or study, which Grey intends to draw on the sense of sight.
Narrow wooden shelves dotted with books are mounted on the walls, complemented by a natural woven rug and simple box sofa.
Towards the rear of the store is the taste space, which is styled as a kitchen with timber cabinetry and crockery-lined bracket shelves. At its center are a marble-topped breakfast island and a row of high stool seats.
“The conversations we make in our lives should impact us positively daily. We are all driven to a connection as now we spend so much time on our phones and laptops. We should be able to utilize what we have around us and consider each element we introduce into our lives. This was the thought process which led me to develop the House of Grey’s design principles. These are in line with the well-being faculty philosophy”, says the designer.
“I personally draw from my five senses and have developed this installation. After years of de-sensitizing oneself from over stimulation to a variety of forms. My rituals arose from living in rented accommodation whilst studying weaving. I did not want to invest a huge amount in the property, so I would create a scent scape which was dependant on my mood and how I wanted to feel. This idea seeded itself and took me to look at stressful periods in my life and how to elevate those feelings, this prompted me to create my ideal environment which soothes, energizes and nourishes me”, she says.
The Frama Space
Apothecary: scent scape
Library: study visual
Retreat: touch
Foundation: listen (grounding space) The dark space with brass shutters and Sintra dining table.
Nourishing: taste (kitchen area)
For the concept, we considered our philosophy and how this could be woven with our friends at Frama and their thought process. We worked remotely and presented our ideas in a visual concept board. This allowed Frama to understand the journey we wanted visitors to enjoy whilst at the installation. The talks that we held, also allowed us to convey the thought process and the deep multi-leveled exploration of the “senses”.
