Kindred Spirits
Kindred Spirits is a research project by Susana Cámara Leret executed at the Mistral rehabilitation clinic in The Hague. The project uses the associative power of smell as a research and speculative storytelling medium, to explore emotional recollections of addiction patients.
The research led to the design of a storytelling smell-memory kit, The Molecules That Matter, implemented in the clinic’s patient intake conversations. Sensory experiences were used to discuss the impact of the physical space on the well-being of patients and staff.
This led to the co-creation of Kindred Spirits: probes allowing patients and staff to talk about underlying behaviours and motivations surrounding treatment. In an interplay between the mundane and the fantastic, the project balances real needs with imagined desires, building on sensory experiences to encourage the contemplation of future alternatives, promoting long-term behavioural change in the context of addiction therapy.
Nominated for the Dutch Design Awards 2016 – category design research
In collaboration with: Mistral Kliniek (Den Haag) / Brider-PARC, CRISP G-Motiv project (Delft University of Technology + Design Academy Eindhoven), International Flavours & Fragrances