MASTORIES01
Welcome to Mihan Aromatics’ Stories. This is a place to find inspiration, hear stories of nostalgia and hero creatives in their industries. Today we sat down with a friend Matt Tambellini from More Studio who we consider as Mihan Family.
Matt, tell us a little bit about you and the creative studio that you work for…
I’m co-founder and creative director of More Studio, a creative practice that works across design and technology. We primarily work within brand, visual identity, web design and development. There’s two other directors, Kyle Mac and James Sandri, all with complimenting skillsets. We founded the studio nearly 5 years ago now, operating out of our studio in the Nicholas Building. We’re quite a small team, allowing us to be really engaged in every project that comes through – we really enjoy making things from beginning to end, and just love working with good people on interesting ideas.
Which is your favourite parfum from the Mihan Aromatics’ collection and why?
I love so many from the collection, and I'm humbled I’ve been able to spend so long with all of them. I really enjoy the earthy ones; Mikado Bark and Munlark Ash, I usually romanticise those types of notes that are deep, it feels dark and moody. But if I had to choose one it would be Guilty Story, as it is that dark earthiness mixed with a spiciness – which I think has a real night time quality, but I love using it during the day too.
There’s two that come to mind, and they have lingered since I was about 5 or 6, and both are from the Grampians where we had a caravan at Lake Fynes. One is this smell that I recall from Easter, and I associate an early 1900’s toy Ferrari with it, because I was playing with it at the time; it’s a bubble-gum, plastic type scent. The other one is this 80’s aftershave that a friend’s mother or father would have on in their caravan, so the place’s aroma had this scent mixed with some bush, and I just remember that whole picture so vividly.
We appreciate the work you do for Mihan Aromatics, what draws you to a brand like ours?
Thank you – it’s so beautiful working with you both. I’m really drawn to narrative in design, and visual storytelling; the scents of Mihan Aromatics are really story-oriented already, so it’s a wonderful fit. Usually we are trying to embed this or distil other projects’ narrative into their identities, so to have that story of each scent already in-built from the ground up means we can spend more time on expanding the narrative elsewhere and thinking about how to visually represent it. Mihan Aromatics’ parfum, and scent in general, has such strong connotations, so conceptually it can be really fruitful developing how to convey this visually – and that’s the draw; it’s not tiring – scent is so abstract, it’s a lovely on-going challenge.
Another benefit is fostering the relationship between us and both of you, really getting to know the brand and be involved in all facets really creates great outcomes.
Which artists/designers inspire your work?
Shin Matsunaga, Ettore Sottsass, Naoto Fukasawa, Peter Saville, Wim Crouwel, Anni Albers.
It changes a lot, especially per project on specific areas that I am looking into, but these are definitely people, their practice and body of work, that I keep coming back to you, no matter what I’m thinking about.
Tell us about the process of how you transform scent into a visual representation?
It all starts with words. Strategy and direction is poetry.
Keywords, sentences strung together, a narrative. This forms the basis that we use to inform a personality and visual identity, then we construct from there. We’re very fortunate to have Traianos’ uncanny ability to make anything look good too, and that collaboration is really vital.
Are there any upcoming projects, launches that you're excited about?
I just had a daughter with my partner Paula, Paloma Joyce Tambellini, and very excited about her life, and seeing things through fresh eyes.
Being a lover of art are there particular spaces, buildings, galleries that you like to spend time in?
I love working in the Nicholas Building, you’re constantly surrounded by art, ideas, weirdness and a diverse community - there’s instantly a lot going on the minute you exit the building too.
visit • https://morebymore.com/
