What’s Happening: The machine-learning algorithms behind ChatGPT and Spotify are being used to engineer novel scent molecules that might create your next favorite fragrance.

The Download: The global beauty industry tends to be impervious to economic slumps; it’s easy to justify indulging in a low-ticket luxury to boost one’s mood. Perhaps that explains the $30 billion fragrance market’s buoyancy after the pandemic, when consumers flush with savings didn’t bat an eyelash at treating themselves to a $300 bottle of Maison Francis Kurkdjian after long stretches at home. Four years later, that positive forecast persists. Fragrance is the fastest-growing prestige beauty category, with sales climbing 13 percent in the first quarter of 2024 alone. Yet several factors may imperil perfume’s prosperity: Flower supplies are dwindling from extreme weather, overharvesting is endangering sandalwood trees, ingredients like vetiver are prone to supply chain woes, animal-sourced odors raise ethical concerns, and synthetic alternatives are often deemed unsafe and face regulatory bans.

In response, chemists are exploring how AI can help devise synthetic scent molecules that replicate our favorite smells. Alex Witschko, the scent-obsessed founder of Google Research offshoot Osmo, is leading the charge. The nascent company is using embedding, a machine-learning technique found within ChatGPT and Spotify’s personalization algorithm, to map out odors and predict what scent molecules might smell like from their structure alone. That’s no small feat—while it’s easy to visualize a color wheel, no such model exists for scent, and the tiniest molecular deviations can make a rosy aroma stink like rotten eggs. Witschko predicts Osmo will be most useful in creating substitutes for restricted ingredients, but may also fill gaps in the market with novel odors that have never been smelled before. Osmo-devised scents are expected to hit the market as early as next year.

Large fragrance houses like Givaudan also employ AI, though it’s bullish on technology not replacing perfumers outright. Experts like former New York Times scent critic Chandler Burr predict AI can identify new ingredients and match scents to existing fragrances—think an olfactory Shazam once they figure out how to transmit chemicals through phones—but its utility in luxury fragrance largely ends there. Osmo’s technology could also have public health benefits. It’s being used to engineer more effective repellents for mosquitoes, which are attracted to the smell of human skin. Chemical repellents like DEET confuse their olfactory signals, but mosquitoes can develop resistance. Given that mosquito-borne diseases like malaria cause more than 700,000 deaths annually, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Osmo a $3.5 million grant.

In Their Own Words: “We have so many things to do in the fragrance industry with AI that I’m sure we are really at the beginning of a long journey,” Johan Chaille de Nere, director of digital transformation at Givaudan, told Business of Fashion. “The value of AI is significant today, but the value of AI in our ability to create better fragrances will be much higher in the future.”

Surface Says: If people can’t tell the difference between AI-written restaurant reviews, who’s to say that they will with AI fragrance?

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In London’s Knightsbridge neighborhood, the proprietors of tony accommodations like Claridge’s and The Connaught have unveiled The Emory: a 61-key, suite-only hotel designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. The place reads as a who’s who of movers and shakers of the food, interiors, and wellness worlds. Every two floors are crafted in the visions of design luminaries like Alexandra Champalimaud, Andre Fu, Pierre-Yves Rochon, and Patricia Urquiola, with a colossal penthouse by Rigby & Rigby topping it all off.

The property’s public spaces, designed by Rémi Tessier, include no fewer than three restaurants by Jean-Georges Vongerichten: abc kitchen, abcV, and abc cocina. After a day—or night—spent about town, guests can recharge at the Surrenne spa. There, under its gold-leafed ceilings, one could take a spin in its hyperbaric oxygen chamber, or even the U.K.’s first snow shower.

The sculptural shapes and bold proportions of Sarah Ellison’s slick furniture balance the comfort of coastal living with the sophistication of a city apartment. Now the Australian designer’s firm, newly rebranded as Ellison Studios, is introducing outdoor editions of its signature pieces for Design Within Reach. The Alva armchair now features a powder-coated steel frame complemented by oversized cushions in a versatile sand-colored fabric. The curvy Arch Anywhere dining chair in molded plastic now comes in a warmly tactile yet smooth finish that could easily thrive indoors or out. And her signature plush Muse sofa, now upholstered in performance fabrics, has been deftly reengineered for outdoor lounging.

When: Until Oct. 28

Where: SITE Santa Fe

What: A sweeping new exhibition pairs Fernández’s earthly oeuvre with works by the late landscape artist and sculptor. The first-of-its-kind show pulls the artists’ work into an “intergenerational conversation” rooted in a research-driven exploration of humanity’s relationship to the planet shaped through our existence.

Experience 27 is a cutting-edge boutique and online shop curating exclusive fashion collections by independent designers such as Rochas Paris, Altuzarra, Thebe Magugu, Plan C, Roksanda, and Bibi van der Velden. Embracing fashion as an art form, their designers create enduring collections with meticulous attention to detail and quality materials.

Surface Says: Inspired by Gertrude Stein’s Paris apartment and salon at 27 Rue de Fleurus, and just steps away from some of Madrid’s top museums, parks, and botanical gardens, Experience 27 carries an enviable assortment of wares from the top independent designers across fashion, furniture, and fine jewelry.

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