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Designing a Fragrance that Focuses on More than Just Your Sense of Smell

by Theresa Christine Johnson on 02/15/2017 | 4 Minute Read

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Xinu? is a fragrance that indulges all of your senses. It’s not just an amazing scent, but the bottle and packaging take you on an exciting journey that sets it apart from other fragrance lines on the market. We spoke the design agency behind it, Esrawe + Cadena, about the importance of prototyping and how to design products that are both beautiful and functional.

Walk us through the design process that you went through for this project.

Esrawe + Cadena: A process in the making for the past 4 years; it all started by our love for scents, followed by rigorous research. There is not an existing catalog of America’s aromatic botany, so it was clear that our conceptual development would follow that lead and pursue to talk about this narrative throughout every design stage.

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What was one of the biggest goals you set out to achieve with Xinú packaging and how did you accomplish it?

Esrawe + Cadena: Not falling into the trap of buying in mass production; in order to be coherent with our brand DNA, handmade-artisanal production in America using the finest sustainable materials was our goal. It was accomplished by pure conviction, investigation, research and development made it possible.

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How did you develop such a unique and different bottle shape while still keeping it practical and usable?

Esrawe + Cadena: Meticulous design powered by our passion for making a beautiful-functional object. A lot of prototyping and having the fortune of working with great collaborators and artisans.

What was the most challenging part of this project?

Esrawe + Cadena: Custom made design requires making extra efforts throughout the design process, designing tools for making the object and its packaging was one of our biggest challenges.

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If you could pick one aspect of the finished design that you like the most or feel especially proud of, what would it be and why?

Esrawe + Cadena: Balance! Overcoming production challenges in order to obtain the object desired with its beautiful formal and material balance.

Share one lesson that you learned while developing the finished product.

Esrawe + Cadena: The process of designing beautiful handmade functional pieces is more about the process of discovering new methods, tools, and the materials to make them.

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