French niche brand State of Mind, launched in 2017, has built its offer around scented teas and fine fragrances. The company just opened its first “olfactory tea room” in Versailles, and plans to expand this concept via franchises.
State of Mind’s product range includes 12 fragrances, along with teas, candles and diffusers. “All our products are bespoke creations: the fragrance flacon, the tea canister and the secondary packaging*,” State of Mind founder Catherine Laskine-Balandina explains to Luxe Packaging Insight. The brand worked with tea sommelier Olivier Scala to create its teas, and with independent perfumer Karine Dubreuil on its scents.
The 100ml fragrances come in triangular, hand-polished flacons. The glass caps are lacquered to match the bottle and feature a gold galvanized steel insert enabling the bottle to snap shut thanks to a magnetized collar. Each fragrance is housed in a tea canister, held in place by a mousse insert and placed in a cardboard box affixed with a metal label.
The brand’s candles come in the form of scented wax cubes with two wicks. They can be used to perfume the home when not lit, and customers can burn them in the recipient of their choice, including in the tea canister. Indeed, the tea canister was designed as a multipurpose object that unites the four product segments: fragrance, tea, candles and diffusers. The 15cm tall receptacle is lacquered black and varnished in the style of a Chinese box, while the inside is sprayed gold. “We opted for aluminum as it is heat-resistant, leak-proof and is non-corrosive,” explains Laskine-Balandina. The tea canister features a double lid that enables it to be used with the diffusers–removing the smaller of the two lids reveals an aperture that keeps the diffuser sticks in place.
State of Mind designed its products with refills in mind: customers can reorder candle wax cubes, tea, and the brand’s purse sprays are also refillable. “We like the idea of bringing objects to life in a sustainable way,” concludes Laskine-Balandina.
Source: https://www.luxepackaginginsight.com/article/state-of-mind-pairs-scent-and-tea.56714
