When Algorithms Meet Aesthetics

10

October

2025

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Have you ever wondered how your room or house could look better? What if you rearranged your furniture, changed the floor, or added a new color to the walls?

In my case, I wasn’t sure what to do with a particular part of my room. About a year ago I moved, and my new room includes a staircase leading to an upper area. I wasn’t sure how to use that space, so I sent pictures of my room to ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot with a short prompt describing the style I had in mind. Then these AI tools gave me several ideas like placing my bed upstairs, creating a cozy lounge with a couch, or turning it into a walk-in closet.

In addition, I asked ChatGPT and Copilot to generate visualizations of that space, so I could decide more easily. It was impressive to see how that space could be used, and how specific styles like Metropolitan Luxury or Japandi could be applied. This makes interior styling much easier because you already have a clear idea of what you want. Instead of making all the changes and realizing afterwards that you don’t like the result, you can visualize it first. It saves time, effort and money.

However, there is still room for improvement for this feature of Copilot and ChatGPT. These tools don’t always get the room layout completely right, so sometimes the window would be on the wrong side or the shape of the ceiling wasn’t accurately represented. The generated images can sometimes also look a bit unrealistic or cartoon-like. Even so, when you upload inspiration photos as well, the results become better and more realistic. Besides, when you ask specific edits it does not necessarily change the result how you would want. Perhaps other generative AI tools that are specifically designed for interior design perform better.

Overall, using AI for interior design is a nice way to get inspiration and explore ideas quicky. Would you use AI to design or redecorate your room?  

Bibliography

Microsoft Copilot. (2025). AI-generated image [Generative AI output]. Microsoft. https://copilot.microsoft.com

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Can Scent Be Digitalized? The Use of NFTs in the perfume industry

25

September

2025

5/5 (1)

Have you ever experienced how a perfume you used to wear can instantly bring back memories of a certain period in your life? Scents can hold memories, calm you down, strengthen your confidence and influence how others perceive you. Smelling scents is a physical and sensory experience, therefore you wouldn’t necessarily connect digitalization to the creation of scents.

Yet, there have been brands experimenting with digital innovations in the perfume industry involving NFTs. In 2022 Byredo and RTFKT started Alphameta, creating a wearable digital “aura” for RTFKT’s metaverse. The perfume can be made out of 26 ingredients, available as NFTs. Collectors first customized their scent and then the brand produced the physical bottle. The bottle is identified with a NFC tag connecting to its NFT. This allowed people to twin with their avatars (Bargh, 2022) (Mcdowell, 2022)

Additionally, in 2023 Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) launched a two-part NFT campaign called “Black Opium: The Night Is Ours” . YSL combined the purchase of a physical product with a digital collectible; 2000 original units and 14 ultra-rare editions. Owning these NFTs led to early access of the second drop of NFTs, a YSL gift voucher and exclusive content. The ultra-rare edition NFT owners also received a 90 ml Black Opium le parfum and YSL beauty kit. With this campaign, YSL explored the potential of integrating NFTs into the online shopping experience (Chen, 2024).

Besides, the Scent of the Metaverse came on the market in 2024.  Rook Perfumes sold NFT tokens to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and 30 members purchased it, who created the scent. The token gave access to the experience of creating the fragrance digitally with Rook Perfumes, and co-owning the fragrance (Crowe, z.d.) (Graves, 2024).

Ultimately, looking at the various ways NFTs are used, from creating digital aura, to having exclusive treatment or co-creation rights, shows that it can strengthen a sense of belonging to the customer. In YSL’s case it can also strengthen the customer-brand relationship. However, the creation of a digital scent for the metaverse seems extra and unnecessary to me. On top of that, the question is whether NFTs are lasting, as the market has collapsed by 93% since its peak in 2021 (Gherghelas, 2025). Finally, I wonder if some processes such as creating a scent can be done effectively in a digital context. Does it actually smell good in real life?

Bibliography

Bargh, B. (2022, June 13). Byredo’s first AlphaMeta NFT is the ‘scent of the metaverse’. Retrieved September 21, 2025, from Cosmetics Business: https://cosmeticsbusiness.com/byredo-s-first-alphameta-nft-is-the-scent-of-the-metaverse–201456

Chen, O. (2024, april 10). Yves Saint Laurent to Launch “YSL Beauty Night Blocks” NFTs. Retrieved september 21, 2025, from nft evening: https://nftevening.com/yves-saint-laurent-to-launch-ysl-beauty-night-blocks-nfts/

Crowe, N. (z.d.). Retrieved september 20, 2205, from Rook Perfumes London | Unique Unisex Fragrance: https://rookperfumes.co.uk/blogs/rook2020/the-scent-of-the-metaverse

Gherghelas, S. (2025, March 27). NFT Art’s Shocking Collapse: From $2.9 Billion Boom to $23.8 Million Bust—What Went Wrong? Retrieved september 25, 2025, from DappRadar: https://dappradar.com/blog/nft-arts-shocking-collapse-from-2-9-billion-boom-to-23-8-million-bust-what-went-wrong

Graves, S. (2024, January 26). How a Perfume DAO Brought its ‘Scent of the Metaverse’ to Luxury Store Harvey Nichols. Retrieved September 24, 2025, from Decrypt: https://decrypt.co/214283/how-perfume-dao-brought-scent-metaverse-luxury-store-harvey-nichols

Mcdowell, M. (2022, June 10). Retrieved September 2021, 2025, from Vogue Business: https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/a-perfume-in-the-metaverse-byredo-and-rtftk-bet-on-visual-aura

OpenAI. (2025). Image generated with AI. ChatGPT. https://chatgpt.com/

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