Practical work - Idea generation

So, if feelings or a concept like energy (an atmosphere, an ambient) cannot be sold by itself, then it needed a medium that made selling those emotions a challenge for its low value. There were different ideas at this stage, like selling football players used t-shirts. All of them were around the concept of selling air from different parts of the world to convey different emotions.

Different targets would find different airs attractive for different reasons. Air from the Himalaya, from Chicago or from an event, like the fight between Mc Gregor and Mayweather.

The first idea was to design a package that made attractive the idea of buying air based on the work of Marcel Duchamp or Piero Manzoni. Film the process of capturing the air, capturing anger, strength, etc. Air captured in a beautiful bottle of glass with, for example, the signature of the person's breath. This was an idea that was put on a side since it's not the main focus of my practice.

There's a company in Yorkshire that sells air from there to other parts of the world at a high price (around £80 for a regular jar). Another idea was to re-brand this existing company. Another, was to make a product for Gucci or a similar luxurious brand as an extravagant product. Or perfumes that instead of providing the user a nice smell, to sell the scent of someone else.

Based on the feedback received, a brand like this could be perceived as something luxurious and scientifical/technological as well. The name of this imaginary brand is Essence.



Essence is a fictional company that sells air. The purpose of using a company like this is to explore the argument of how humans are not only consumers of tangibles, but also of meaning.

This company has a series of warehouses full of bags with air from different times and events since the 1970’s. Some examples are air from christmas in New York of 1991, air from the ring when Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman or air from the Himalaya.

They have accesible air that can be constantly renewed (for example, air for a specific place) or air from a specific event that is very limited. Although, all products are limited edition, as despite an air can be collected from a place over and over again, it will change depending on the time frame.

They want to provide a way to go to the past, to relive an experience. They also provide custom air recollection. For example, a family with a newborn might want to keep the essence of the baby for the future. Or they want to remember the smell of the night when their favourite team won a tournament.

They mostly rely on nostalgia, but also of the use of certain smells as triggers. For example, a football player might have a certain smell that makes them stay focus. That can be the smell of a beloved one, a place, etc. They could use this service to have that trigger accessible anytime they need it.


This idea of collecting air changed over the time. Instead of air, this company provides a way to liquify a smell so the user can take it anywhere and lasts for more time. This change was made so the package of the product was reduced to the minimum, removing importance from it and focusing the project more on the brand.

Essence counts on the finest technology to gather the air and maintain these smells intense, so it’s not a process that can be easily replicable. They use science to liquify these odours in such way that remain isolated and without any type of contamination by the recipient.