DECOR | 09th Nov, 2025
Where mythology breathes through metal, scent becomes memory, and design turns into an act of empathy.
A SPACE THAT DOESN’T JUST EXHIBIT BUT INTERVENES
The Soul Garden at Design Miami Paris steps into the historic grounds of L’Hôtel de Maisons with the confidence of a project that knows exactly what it wants to provoke. It defies the usual rhythm of exhibitions and instead constructs a living environment where mythology, design, and sensory science intersect. Rooted in India’s Panchatantra, the installation turns ancient animal fables into contemporary reflections on care and continuity. At the heart of this layered experience is a rare creative alliance between scent researcher Sissel Tolaas and metal artist Vikram Goyal, brought together under the curation of The Future Perfect. Their collaboration brings two different disciplines into a shared vocabulary, proving that design can feel instinctive when craft and science decide to move in the same direction.
Goyal’s sculptures sit at the center of this world, engineered through the studio’s Hollowed Joinery technique, which lets the metal behave almost weightlessly. Patinated surfaces hold the memory of the process while repoussé elements conceal miniature moral cues. These pieces can function as objects yet carry the authority of guardians. What elevates the garden further is its daily activation through live readings by actors from Cours Florent. They shift the garden from presentation to performance, allowing visitors to encounter the stories as living rituals. Each guest receives a talisman upon entry, a quiet reminder that this space expects active participation, not passive admiration. Scent becomes the installation’s invisible architecture, drifting through the garden as molecular evidence of the making. The experience invites visitors to rethink how design can influence perception, responsibility, and instinct.
THE MINDS THAT TURNED METAL, MYTH, AND SCENT INTO A SYSTEM
Vikram Goyal anchors the project with a practice shaped by deep technical discipline and cultural memory. His work consistently draws from India’s rapport with animals, where creatures carry wisdom rather than ornamentation. For The Soul Garden, he chooses figures with distinct temperaments. The elephant stands for communication and remembrance, the tiger for unforced strength, the tortoise for perseverance, and the crocodile for adaptability shaped by survival.
Each sculpture begins as a wooden maquette before stepping into metal, balancing monumentality with refinement. Goyal’s nod to twentieth-century animaliers such as Lalanne and Bugatti situates the work in a global lineage while keeping its foundation entirely Indian. His studio’s construction method gives the pieces a structural intelligence that feels deliberate rather than decorative.
The installation gains its emotional charge through scent researcher Sissel Tolaas. She gathers molecular traces from the metalwork process, the air of the studio, and ecological cues tied to each animal’s environment. Her nanotech diffusion system releases these scent compositions with such subtlety that the garden feels responsive. The project is presented by The Future Perfect, under the guidance of David Alhadeff, whose gallery has long championed collectible design with conceptual depth. Their involvement frames The Soul Garden as a piece of design discourse rather than a static display.
Walking through The Soul Garden didn’t feel like observing another high-concept installation. It felt like being held accountable. The project reminded us that storytelling in design gains power only when it moves beyond visuals and enters behaviour. The way Goyal and Tolaas integrated craft, scent, and narrative made the space behave like a thinking organism. It pushed us to reconsider how cultural memory can be utilized without romanticizing or oversimplifying it. There was a clarity to the intent, a refusal to dilute complexity for aesthetic convenience, and that struck us immediately.
HOW BONAFIDE EXPERIENCED THIS PROJECT AS A CREATIVE TRIGGER
As a platform that thrives on human-centric design stories, we found ourselves absorbing how the installation used mythology not as nostalgia but as structure. The live readings, the talisman, the textures of the metal, the science woven into scent, everything worked together without competing for attention. It showed us that design can be emotionally intelligent without becoming sentimental. That lesson stays with us.
The Soul Garden left us with a very direct influence. It sharpened our appetite for narratives that hold cultural weight, not just visual appeal. It nudged us to build stories that don’t hover around objects but trace the intentions, contradictions, and responsibilities behind them. It reminded us that design becomes memorable when it respects depth and isn’t afraid of intensity.
For us, this project becomes a reference point for future storytelling. It reinforced our belief that creative work should remain conscious, culturally awake, and uncompromising in detail. The Soul Garden didn’t just inspire us. It calibrated us.
THE GARDEN BREATHES BACK
Not your average art show. Sissel Tolaas literally bottled the air, heat, and metal from the making process and turned them into a scent. Through nanotech diffusion, the garden exhales what the artisans inhaled. Welcome to olfactory storytelling 2.0.
WHERE KARL ONCE LIVED
L’Hôtel de Maisons, once Karl Lagerfeld’s Paris residence, now plays host to a new kind of luxury. Less couture, more consciousness.
TALISMAN TALK
Every visitor leaves with a talisman, not a souvenir. It marks you as a “caretaker” in Goyal’s ecosystem of empathy. Think of it as your ticket to mythic responsibility.
DESIGN DNA CHECK
From repoussé panels hiding mini Panchatantra stories to hollowed joinery that makes metal look weightless, Goyal’s craftsmanship doesn’t imitate heritage; it reinvents it.
BEYOND DESIGN
The Soul Garden questions what design can be less about how it looks, more about how it makes you feel. The moral? Maybe empathy is the new aesthetic.
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VIKRAM GOYAL : The Soul Garden at Design Miami/Paris DECOR | 09th Nov, 2025 Where mythology breathes through metal, scent becomes memory, and design turns into an act of empathy.
BONAFIDE is a digital design platform that goes beyond aesthetics. We spotlight the thinking, intent, and craft behind
meaningful design- not just the finished product. From architecture and interiors to product design and independent
brands, we cover work that challenges the norm and pushes ideas forward. Our content is visually sharp, editorially
bold, and purpose-driven. We ask better questions, tell smarter stories, and put creative minds in focus. If you’re
building something original with substance and clarity, we’re the platform that gets it, and tells it like it is.
BONAFIDE is a digital design platform that goes beyond aesthetics. We spotlight the thinking, intent, and craft behind meaningful design- not just the finished product. From architecture and interiors to product design and independent brands, we cover work that challenges the norm and pushes ideas forward. Our content is visually sharp, editorially bold, and purpose-driven. We ask better questions, tell smarter stories, and put creative minds in focus. If you’re building something original with substance and clarity, we’re the platform that gets it, and tells it like it is.
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