Category: Asia

The Scent Hotel, Koh Samui

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In southern Thailand on the paradise island of Koh Samui there is a unique destination for lovers of fragrance: The Scent Hotel. Created by Thai brand Karmakamet, The Scent Hotel offers scented products inspired by ancient Chinese recipes, combining aromatic Asian hospitality and history to create an unique hotel experience.

Passing by the hotel on the island, I had to put my luggage down and enter this evocative place as I was so curious to discover what this hotel of scents beheld. Opening the doors of this boutique hotel, a sweet incense aroma immediately transported me into a world reminiscent of another time when antique furniture, oil lamps, hot water bottles and murals abounded.

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24 hours in Singapore with Gauri Garodia

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Born and raised in India, Gauri Garodia got into perfumery quite by accident, when she joined the fragrance division of Unilever in 1996, and quickly grew to love this fascinating medium. A few years later, she moved to the Unilever owned Quest International, before started Sensus Consultants, a niche consultancy company offering a full spectrum of sensory design services.

It is in 2013, with encouragement from her family and friends, that Gauri decided to formalize her long held ambition of launching her very own label Code Deco, Singapore’s first artisanal perfumery.

She sees perfumery as an elegant amalgamation of art and science. Gauri conceptualises the mood and personality for each scent, and translates these into detailed creative guidelines for her expert chemists. Her inspirations can be as far ranging as music, travel and literature, but never driven by market trends.

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City Guide Mumbai

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A few months ago, Bunch Magazine team asked me, as part of their design issue, to share a creative journey that was for me a great inspiration; and probably against all odds I thought of my last visit to Mumbai.

Out of my comfort zone, trying new things, confounding by the unknown…. It’s always in these moments that I find myself the most creative, inspired and captivated by a new world. I shared with them the behind the scenes of my meetings with creators and local artisans, as well as some travel tips. So to give you a little insight, I thought I would share with you a selection of my favorite places in Mumbai.

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Meet the tea pickers of Sri Lanka

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The mountainous region, in the south of Sri Lanka, is totally different from the rest of the country. The lush green landscape, is enameled with jade colored tea plantations, while high-altitude forests are clinging to jagged mountains and streaked with waterfalls. The climate meanwhile offers a much cooler temperature, surprising in such a tropical country.

The road from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya climbs with a vertical drop of almost 1,400 meters winding through the plantations, we are here in the heart of Ceylon tea. Today, we visited the third largest producer; Sri Lanka is nicknamed, “The Island of tea” and produces one of the best varieties in the world. Estates, all British sounding, succeed and are alike. This morning, the dawning light reveals the most exquisite reflections, colors and reliefs of green plantations, shady nooks around factories or shimmering saris pickers crossed along the roads.

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