How Scent Contributes to Wellness

A few weeks ago, I visited a sleek spot in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood called 113 Spring. It calls itself a “journey of well,” offering a rotating menu of offerings that purport to provide expert-vetted wellness experiences inspired by nature. They also have a small café with functional drinks, a retail area, and host events like panels, mocktail workshops, and sound baths. Designed by Norwegian design firm Snøhetta (also responsible for SFMoMA’s expansion and the Shanghai Grand Opera House), the space is all soft lighting, wispy curtains, and near-sheer scrims with soothing projections like flowers gently swaying in the wind.

I was there for the Mind-Scent and EEG Visualization Experience, one of three experiences offered this season, whose theme is Presence is the Present. (According to staff, while there’s no set end date, the offerings will likely change in early spring.) After my arrival, I was led by my “scent guide” Clay to a seat at a bar—but instead of serving alcoholic drinks, a mad-scientist type of machine with dozens of different colored bottles hanging upside down and connected by tubes quietly hummed behind the bar. I soon learned from Clay that this was an Algorithmic Perfumery made by Dutch company EveryHuman. There are only about ten in existence around the world (currently there are also machines in London, Copenhagen, Dubai, Vienna, and the Netherlands) and it creates personalized scents using AI prompts.