Claudia Adiwijaya, one of Entro’s newest designers in Calgary, recently presented her innovative graduate student project, Essentia, at the 2019 Antenna Conference in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Essentia is a gender-neutral wearable device that detects the wearer’s heart rate. When the device detects a heart rate that indicates stress or panic (120 beats/minute or higher), it begins to release a scent that the wearer has chosen, to help relax and calm them.
Originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, Claudia is a recent graduate of the Emily Carr University of Art & Design industrial design program. For her 4th year thesis, she began researching connections between technology, scent, and wellbeing. Recalling the way that her late father’s cologne impacted her emotionally and psychologically, she decided to explore the powerful links between scent and memory. Essentia, a wearable sensory technology, is the result of this research.
Presenting at the Antenna Conference was a huge honour for Claudia: “It is such an amazing experience to share my passion! I hope that it can inspire people to keep appreciating things that are not visible with our eyes and considered insignificant in life.” The Antenna Conference, a collaboration of Design Indaba and Dutch Design Week, is an international platform that recognizes emerging talent and graduate work. Since 2017, Antenna has received hundreds of applications each year, of which only 20 are chosen to present annually. Claudia was one of twenty students awarded, “The World’s Best Graduate Designer 2019” from the Antenna Foundation.
Claudia believes her project and the recognition it has received proves the significance of scent as an element of sensory design and wellbeing. Entro is pleased to welcome and support talented and creative young designers like Claudia, who consistently strive to push the boundaries of design in their personal and professional work.