Presentation speech

Introduction of group and members (roles within the group)

Because of our extensive background in design and our broad skill sets we will use this to our advantage. The name No.5 comes from the iconic Chanel No.5 perfume, an iconic and timeless luxury item. The fashion house Chanel is internationally known for exclusive, timeless, quality and luxurious products we thought
this was a highly appropriate name as these are the characteristics that we hold close.

Previously we researched these five questions to base our concepts on,

What is the perception of New Zealand to potential buyers?

What is luxury to New Zealanders or potential buyers?

What materials encapsulate New Zealand in a luxurious way?

What is it specifically about New Zealand farming practices that makes our leather such high quality?

What is it that motivates the final consumer to buy the product?

Our task was to encapsulate New Zealand and luxury within design and through our research, prototyping and development we came to a consensus that we would move on to conceptualize a high quality, luxury gift. This gift will evoke a sensory and memorable experience through the layers of native, and natural materials we have sourced.

Over the past 10 weeks, we have developed our idea from the main gift being a timber box, to the gift becoming two scents that represent New Zealand. The scents encapsulate the north and the south islands of our country and its abundance of natural and beautiful resources. It also reflects our amazing landscapes and environments through the patterns and designs we developed.

-why we chose a scent
To begin with we focused our efforts on creating a single scent that would invoke a true feeling of our unique country. The sense of smell is an extremely powerful tool that links straight to our memories. Amanda White, a research technologist at Penn State College of Medicine explains,

 ‘A number of behavioral studies have demonstrated that smells trigger more vivid emotional memories and are better at inducing that feeling of “being brought back in time” than images.’ The idea of creating a scent that would evoke this strong reaction from the high valued client would remind them of the New Zealand Luxury Group and also take them to New Zealand. If the gift was to sit on a desk within the offices of New Zealands’ luxury group clients, the scent would be a direct link to remind them of the company and its values.   After prototyping and developing scents, we arrived at two different scents both with distinct features that we believe reflect the North and the south Islands of our beautiful country. 

-why we chose each north and south scent, ingredients
We explored aspects of our country and how largely we associate ourselves with the land and the sea, we also explored its topographical and geographical co-ordinates, which lead us to our final concept which was to base a scent on the North island- the sea, and the South island, the land.
Based on the feedback we received, the North island is commonly associated with warmer climates, vast beautiful beaches and tropical summer holiday destinations. The scent, ‘North,’ embraces the sea and island aspects of New Zealand with notes of Sea Salt, Cucumber, Seaweed, Pomegranate, and Manuka, with a base being pure New Zealand spring water. The sharp notes of the salt blend with the coolness of the cucumber which then flows into the uniqueness that the seaweed brings. The base is formed from one of New Zealands’ greatest, most abundant natural resource, our pure natural spring water, sourced from Thunder Mountain, close to Whangarei in the far North. This is finished off with a hit of pomegranate that joins the sweetness of Manuka.

We also found that the South island is strongly associated with its stunning scenery, mountain ranges, and winter holiday destinations. Its large range of national parks influenced the scent greatly. With notes of Pepper, Pine, Sandalwood, Cedarwood and a hint of Mint.  These earthy, musky and natural smells of the ‘South,’ contrasts with the fresh tropical tones of the ‘North.’

With its dramatic plains, mountains and forests the land of the south island formed our ‘South,’ scent. The mint creates a cooling experience and it contrasted by the sharpness of the pepper which is then complemented by the pine, this scent is finished off with the soft woodland smell of cedarwood and spicy notes from the sandalwood. The South scent is also formed with the base of natural spring water, but it will be sourced from the South island Canterbury plains.


-developing prototypes and patterns

During our process we were needing to design a pattern or motif for the packaging, which would exhibit New Zealand luxury, and help tell the story back to our North, and South scents. The topographical maps were a huge influence, from these we developed a graphic design pattern which we would use on our packaging. Our final pattern design derived from a map taken from the Christchurch area in the South Island. This visual texture, when applied to our packaging, would directly link to New Zealands’ landscapes in a contemporary sophisticated way. It also directly links to the natural lines and textures found within the leather Luxury Group, works with.  It will feature on each item within the package to create unity within the gift- without excessive use.

Let us take you through each element of our sensory experience
-specific aspects of packaging which are important. (Shape timeless piece, card hourglass box.)
Starting from the beginning,

-bag
-box
-prisms- also desk object and infuser
-North
-South

This gift is designed for high end luxury clients, but it has the potential to be a lot more.  We acknowledge that within large design companies the directors do not usually receive these gifts, but it can easily be translated to an office desk item, a diffuser and a reminder of the company. The scents can also be used within New Zealand Luxury Group as way to apply scents leather samples, to use in a Virtual reality experience (as you will see within group Prestige Worldwide,) to add scent to business cards or any other items that he shares/gifts/ uses within the company.
Giving gifts builds rapport and in many cultures this creates trust and allows both parties to build stronger relationships. By designing a sensory experience that encapsulates New Zealand we hope to directly link New Zealand Luxury Group with its’ valued customers while also linking his customers with a memory of New Zealand that will last.


This written speech was greatly modified and adjusted as we rehearsed. Our slides are below.

 

Final prototypes

Prototype images:

Wether it be made from black, or any colour the hourglass box is from card, to easily be folded into its shape.

The perfume prism boxes will be out of timber, depending on cost would most likely be Rimu, a native NZ timber.

The bag which will hold the entire gift package, this prototype was made from calico, but the draw string bag could be made form leather Nick imports, flax linen or Nz sourced material. 

Presentation prototyopes

Photos of presentation prototypes.

North scent:
Blue berries, cucumber, salt, mint, Manuka honey, pomegranate and seaweed.
The coastal fragrance was put together using the raw ingredients them selves. On presentation day the smells ended up better than we could have hoped. Though there was no possible way to actually create the scent in time we were happy with how our prototypes accurately represented what we wanted.

South Scent:
Pepper, Pine, Sandalwood, Cedarwood and a hint of Mint. Much more earthy and spicy fragrance. This was the favourite of the two by most people and our client also.