Nothing evokes memories as powerfully as a familiar scent. The sense of smell is the most emotional of our senses. This potential often remains untapped in everyday life with dementia. «Memoscent» uses specific, biographically relevant scents to promote trust, a sense of security and interactions and make it easier to settle into a care facility.
A series of five playful scented objects encourages those affected to interact with significant scents of their lives, in order to evoke memories and strengthen their connection to their surroundings.
«The jury was particularly impressed by the depth and carefulness of your iterative design process: you brought yourself up-to-date on the latest dementia research, worked with experts from the Dementia Centre Sonnweid, conducted several workshops with your target group, identified the needs of the relatives, experimented with perfumers and finally, you developed your own mapping method in order to tailor the scent samples to the individual biographies.» – Excerpt from the laudatory speech for the Design Sponsorship Award by Prof. Dr. phil. Sophia Prinz (Professor for Design Theory and Design History)
«This project uses an underestimated sense – the sense of smell – as the key to memory, identity and closeness in the everyday lives of people with dementia.» – Alissa Knopp
«As a designer, I would like to continue listening, researching and designing with empathy at the interface between products, people and society.» – Alissa Knopp
