Fragrance is the intangible accessory. I’ve written about smelling good (or at least smelling clean) from a personal grooming perspective several times here, but I’ve never written about ambient fragrances.
I imagine most people don’t consider the way a room smells unless it’s bad or overpowering, like many hyper-scented retail spaces I’ve experienced. But our sense of smell is a strong one that consciously or subconsciously ties us positively or negatively to our experiences with people, places and things. For that reason, I’m very sensitive to aroma and I’m a big fan of a room that smells nice.
Two branding designers, Christopher Draghi and Robert Dobay, created a handsome, sophisticated and great-smelling collection of ambient fragrances specifically for men called source adage NYC. The collection consists of scented candles, diffuser kits and ambient sprays in six different fragrances ranging from light, fruity and “beachy” for summer and smoky, warm and fiery for fall/winter.
In my pursuit of sartorial stealth and effective living, I look for solutions and accents that not only work well, but also look good. The design of source adage NYC’s products as well as their packaging are fantastic. In other words, not only do the candles, diffuser kits and ambient sprays smell nice, but they look terrific, too, making wonderful aromatic and aesthetic accents to a room.
The candles are great for my apartment, while the diffuser is best for my office, since flame in an open office is probably not the hottest idea.
The all-natural scented candles are made with soy wax, bee’s wax and vegetable oil with a cotton wick ($95). The diffuser kits come with their signature, hand-pressed black glass “adage” jar, 10 fiber reeds for diffusing the scent and a foil spout bag of the fragrance that should last over three months ($115). The ambient sprays come in a 3.4 oz bottle for $60 each. While these seem pricey when compared to other room scent options, one must consider the hand-made process and ingredients that go into this humble but exquisite operation. They would make fabulous gifts – even for yourself!
Big thumbs up.
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