Jo Malone × Apple Vision Pro

How do you sell a feeling you can't render visually?

Luxury fragrance is sold on connection, not transaction: the in-store ritual, the conversation with an expert, the moment of discovering a scent that feels like it was made for you. Jo Malone wanted to know whether Apple Vision Pro could bring that same feeling online: not a 3D product viewer, but a genuine sense of discovery.

The hard part was that scent is the one sense spatial computing can't simulate. Whatever we built had to evoke the feeling a fragrance gives you using only sight, sound, and motion, without resorting to generic AR retail patterns like a floating product label or a 360° bottle spin.

A test-and-learn process, not a single big bet

I led the concept and design work through four stages, treating the unknowns as things to de-risk rather than assume:

• 01

  Research: scientific studies on scent and memory, plus market benchmarking against luxury retail's existing digital experiments.

• 02

  Concept design: identifying which spatial computing features actually serve fragrance discovery, and discarding the ones that were just novelty.

• 03

  MVP experiments: defining measurable hypotheses before committing design time to any one direction.

• 04

  Partnership: working directly with Apple and tech vendors to keep the concept grounded in what Vision Pro could realistically support.

Storytelling and atmosphere, not a catalog in VR

The part of this project I'm proudest of is the storytelling and sensory experience design. Instead of floating product information in space, the experience layers narrative, scent education, and atmosphere together, so discovering a fragrance in Vision Pro feels like the in-person ritual Jo Malone is known for, not a 3D shopping cart.

The goal was never to show the product. It was to make someone feel something before they ever picked it up.

Strong buy-in, and a new strategic direction

The concept demo earned strong support from Jo Malone leadership and validated immersive retail as a real strategic opportunity for the brand, not just an experiment. Early signals pointed to higher engagement and purchase intent than the existing digital consultation flow.

The next step on the roadmap is extending the concept beyond fragrance discovery into weddings, gifting, and VIP consultations, letting Jo Malone carry this same sense of ritual across more of how its customers shop.