Escentric Molecules is ten

How do you celebrate a decade of maverick art and singular chemistry? With a monster great party in Berlin, of course.

Escentric Molecules is ten

Last month we invited a few hundred friends and collaborators to celebrate our big birthday in Geza Schoen’s hometown of Berlin. The idea was to create a synesthetic experience that brought together scent, taste, colour, light and sound in one spectacular night of revelry at the Musikbrauerei.

A synesthetic experience that brought together scent, taste, colour, light and sound.

As guests arrived at the vast semi-ruined factory, they were met with kinetic light installations that riffed on Escentric Molecule 01’s visual language. Lighting designer Tomek Ness created the installations to synchronise with a ‘deconstructed techno’ soundscape by Orlando Roberton of Pixelphonics. For the light installation at the entrance to the building Orlando hooked up the music to a dark pool that mirrored the light piece “so that a high impact in the music triggered ripples across the liquid floor” while further inside, he used the architecture to play with the acoustics, creating skeins of sound that wrapped and echoed.

In a cavernous space in the depths of the building, a five course flavour adventure was served by Tim Raue, Berlin’s most exciting young chef. Lauded by The New York Times for his “electric currents of flavour” and ‘moments of crazy delight’, Tim’s Escentric menu was an audacious tastebud workout, intensified by the drinks chosen to harmonise or contrast with each course.

With tastebuds hyper-stimulated and olfactory neurons tingling, it was time to plunge into a sonic cavern of beats curated by mega-DJ Marusha.

Som-tam-o (green papaya) and langoustine were served with a delicate and lukewarm osmanthus tea. Scallops with elderflower and sage were complemented by an iced 2014 Botani tinged with elderflower and a kick of lime. But the prize for ‘moment of crazy delight’ went to the suckling pig roasted with fried white pepper and parsley, to be eaten while sipping a glass of coxorange apple juice infused with smoked hickory wood and a shot of almdudler and tonic. This extraordinary drink was smoky, sweet, tart and refreshing all at once, the Almdudler a nod to Escentric 02 which features the aroma of the Austrian lemonade. Subtle accents of fragrance accompanied each course, whether it was bowls of sage in dry ice placed on the tables, or flowers sprayed with otherworldy aroma-molecules from the Escentric palette that had never been near a bloom in nature.

With tastebuds hyper-stimulated and olfactory neurons tingling, it was time to kick off the party … plunging into a sonic cavern of mind-warping beats curated by mega-DJ Marusha, together with Richard Davis, Marco Ash and ending at 4 a.m. with a minimalist techno wind-down from Hobta.

And thus ended a birthday party to the power of ten.

PS Catch our limited edition bottles of Escentric 01 and Molecule 01, specially made to celebrate our first decade with designs that riff on the mathematical concept of the power of ten. The bottles are presented in aluminium sheaths in purple [Escentric 01] and gunmetal [Molecule 01] that make sleek keeper travel cases for the full-sized EM eaux de toilettes.