Coco Brun translates Puglia’s eroded landscapes into ceramics
Landscape Memories is an olfactory installation by French artist and designer Coco Brun that translates the landscapes of Puglia, southern Italy, into three ceramic sculptures that diffuse distinct fragrances. Developed during the D.Puglia residency, curated by Gordana Zgonjanin, the project draws on research into the region’s coastline, where erosion and the shifting relationship between land and sea shape the terrain.
The three sculptures take their forms from caves and underground geological formations. Surface patterns derived from 3D scans of Puglian caves are reproduced through ceramic extrusion, developed and produced in Milan with SuperForma. A programmed printing process builds the surfaces layer by layer, while the clay’s behavior during printing, drying, and firing produces visible drips, twists, and irregularities. The sculptures share a modular system that can be assembled in different configurations, with integrated openings allowing air and fragrance to circulate.
Ceramic sculptures diffuse scents of Sea, earth, and vegetation
Artist and designer Coco Brun collaborates with perfumer Laurène Sourdillon of Givaudan Paris for the creation of the three scents, Marino, Terra, and Bosco, which represent the sea, earth, and Mediterranean vegetation. Each fragrance can be experienced separately within its corresponding sculpture. As the scents circulate simultaneously through the exhibition space, they overlap to create a fourth olfactory impression that was never composed independently. Its perception changes with air currents, visitors’ positions, and the timing of the experience.
The fragrances are diffused through ORB, a dry-air olfactory diffusion device developed by Genius Loci and integrated into the sculptures. Each rechargeable sphere features an artisan-crafted, perforated casing inspired by organic forms found in the landscape.
Landscape Memories sensory Installation beyond the gallery
Presented at Villa Saporiti during the Lake Como Design Festival 2026, as part of Border / Confine, curated by Giovanna Massoni and Francesca Prandelli, the installation brings ceramic forms into dialogue with an invisible, shifting material. The project is being developed further, with redesigned sculptures and new textile and graphic works planned to extend the installation across two and three dimensions in future presentations in 2027.
