How To Master ‘Vibes’, From The Stylists and Scenters Of MECCA HQ
September 12 | 3 minute read
Words by Lisa Marie Corso
There’s art everywhere, vintage furniture you thought only existed on 1stdibs, and it smells like the world’s greatest candles. Take one whiff, and it’s easy to forget you were just on a packed train or spent 27 minutes trying to find a parking spot.
Unlike the grey-carpeted, fluorescently-lit offices we’re accustomed to, with the scent of coffee and your coworker’s tuna sandwich percolating through the cubicles, MECCA HQ is warm, inviting and smells like a perfumery (albeit one with a photocopier and kitchenette). There are candles flickering, room sprays being spritzed, and diffusers dutifully hanging about in almost every corner.
Of course, we’re in the business of fragrance – but it’s the artful layering of scents within our office that has us joyfully sniffing while we’re tapping away on our keyboards.
This time of year, one of the first things you’ll smell when you step into reception is the ultimate mood creator, Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Baccarat Rouge 540 Candle. This scent is so quintessentially MECCA – and it’s also the signature scent of a disproportionate number of our team!
We don’t blame those who rank Baccarat Rouge 540 as their ride-or-die, with its notes of woody amber and saffron, and long-lasting scent trail. Its cosy undertones also make a compelling case to curl up on the leather couch in the HQ foyer – but with a good dose of willpower, we’re able to stroll past.
As we make our way to our desks, clusters of Noguchi pendant lights hang from the ceiling, there’s a mint-condition vintage Mario Bellini sofa, and works by Australian female artists (curated by Charlotte Day, Kelly Semmler and artist/installer Mark Galea). The ‘am I at work, or at a gallery?’ feeling is strong when you’re admiring a Kathryn Del Barton painting while being enveloped by the iconic Diptyque Baies Candle. For the Baies uninitiated, think of the sweet aroma of freshly picked blackcurrants and roses, with their leaves still attached.
(It’s also very much a mainstay of the candle zeitgeist, having scented the Beckham family home and Carrie’s apartment in Sex And The City.)
Artwork featured: 'Habitats of Hope - Calling of the Palm Cockatoos' (2024) by Naomi Hobson
In the kitchen, it’s another story with the Maison Margiela REPLICA From The Garden Candle. This tomato leaf-infused scent is the olfactory equivalent of a Nancy Meyers film, and will elevate any microwaved lunch into a culinary masterpiece just by being in its mere presence.
The bathroom is no place for an unsupervised candle (or an empty toilet paper roll), which is why the MECCA HQ bathrooms are loaded with Floral Street’s Sweet Almond Blossom Diffusers. Here, the world of fragrance and fine art collide once again with this collaboration between Floral Street and the Van Gogh Museum. These are the reed sticks every bathroom needs for an enduring, long-lasting scent with notes of pink pomelo, apple blossom and mandarin. It’s probably the reason we visit the bathroom so often – or maybe it’s the amount of peppermint tea we sip!
