Local ingenuity leaves a pleasant fragrance
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The buildings concerned are the 4.5-star Chifley Suites and the Chatham Auckland, both in the central business district. They are two of the four properties managed by Blackstone Property Management which also operates a city backpackers and a motel in South Auckland. The unique fragrance is called Bspoke and Blackstone executives envisage it being a useful part of their business.
When Blackstone took over management of Chifley Suites in September 2008, the fragrance was already present in the amenity products used. But group general manager Rebecca Liddle says the decision was made quite early to stop it, purely based on cost and the logistics involved. “Over the years we’ve had people comment on the fact that it’s not there anymore and we just decided that now was probably as good a time as any to reintroduce it.”
Originally the product had been supplied in small tubes but Blackstone wanted other options in delivering the aroma to guests. They found an enthusiastic ally in Health Pak sales manager, James Kennedy-Grant. Health Pak is the largest New Zealand company supplying the local amenities market, as well as being a significant exporter.
“Understanding the importance of promoting local product, Blackstone approached us to see if we could take their original Bspoke product and manufacture it locally,” said Mr Kennedy-Grant.
“Naturally the answer was ‘absolutely we can’. We worked with them to develop the best packaging option for the new product as well as putting a great deal of time into developing the formulations themselves. The products are now made from our 100 per cent New Zealand made formulations. As well as being made to our salon grade base, the Bspoke haircare products are paraben, petroleum and animal by-product free. Naturally they are biodegradable.”
“One of the reasons we went with Health Pak is that they have a huge range of ways that they could give us this product,” Ms Liddle said.
But there was an immediate problem. The Bspoke fragrance no longer existed. The original manufacturer was based overseas and there was no record of the formula. Kennedy-Grant took the problem to premier perfumer Yves André Dombrowsky, at his company, Innovaction. A Frenchman by birth, Dombrowski lives in Auckland and had worked with Health Pak developing perfumes for most of its products. He had also created bespoke fragrances for prominent names such as jeweller Michael Hill, designer Trelise Cooper and a range of international clients.
Yves Dombrowsky had learned some of his early craft from an expert perfumer in France who worked for Chanel, the world’s most prestigious fragrance house.
With 20 years experience behind him, he was able to use his gift for capturing scents to replicate the Bspoke fragrance from a tube of the product that was three years old.
“I had to do it using my nose, experience and memory,” he said. “There is so little perfume in a cream it is not easy to extract it, so the perfumer has to use his nose, recognising a direction and making step by step trials until he is happy with the result.”
“He did it pretty much perfectly,” Ms Liddle said. “It was really quite special. Then Health Pak combined the perfume with the products for us. We now have it in small amenity bottles in the rooms but they’ve also given us a range of pump action bottles which would work well for the backpackers.
“It’s been a very easy process. Guests who’ve been with us right from the beginning are thrilled to have Bspoke back again. It’s a real point of difference for Blackstone – a completely original product.
“It’s all about that key fragrance. We’re going to sell the big bottles of shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser, body lotion and shower gels, or we can sell the small ones in packets to guests. We’d like to see the retailing as a little business on its own. It’s got its own website and we hope to sell some online to our overseas guests. So far the reaction has been quite positive.”
Nothing original in selling amenities but Blackstone wanted something it had not done before – an original method of diffusing the fragrance in the lobbies so that guests would be aware of it as soon as they entered the doors. The problem was how to do it.
Enter Health Pak and Yves Dombrowski again. The perfumer was working on his own project on Bintan Island, Singapore – the world’s first combined art-perfume gallery. It involved the creation of a large internal wall he was fashioning from sandstone to display the art. He realised that sandstone could be the solution to the Blackstone Bspoke problem. Sculptures carved from the porous stone could be the perfect method of dispensing the fragrance in the lobbies. In a project he says is unique in the world, he set about creating four sculptures and in mid April, the first two were installed in the reception areas at Chifley Suites and Chatham Auckland.
“You spray the fragrance on to them,” said Ms Liddle. “The sandstone holds it and gradually diffuses it. The idea is that when you walk into a Blackstone property, you smell a signature fragrance that you usually only find in the bigger chains. It welcomes you on your arrival and sets the tone for your stay. Anything we can do to make a guest’s experience more enjoyable is good. We think it’s a nice touch and we’d like to give it a go.”
