Sensory Design: A Conversation with Anna Bjurstam

Anna Bjurstam is a leading expert in the wellness industry, with a particular focus on hotels and spas. With over 25 years of experience, she currently serves as a strategic adviser to some of the world's top hospitality groups, including Six Senses Hotels and Resorts, Raison d’Etre Spas and the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG). She is an investor, a serial entrepreneur and a founding board member of the Global Wellness Summit.

We sat down with Anna to hear which trends in sensory and wellness design she was most excited about, and to explore the ways in which these might be applied in the home.

The transcription below has been edited for clarity and length. Listen to the episode to hear the complete conversation.

Anna, you are a true pioneer in the wellness industry and you've shaped so many of the wellness initiatives that we now take for granted. I know that when you started, it was all new, exciting and truly groundbreaking. There are so many things happening in the wellness industry right now that are making their way into other spheres. I'd love to know more about your journey and how it all began for you.

My own journey started with an interest in fitness and doing sports when I was younger, and understanding that physical fitness is not the only aspect of being fit. You also need to have emotional, mental and spiritual fitness.

I was always doing some course or learning something related to wellness. I went and did a master's degree in finance and it's been incredibly useful to combine wellness and the spiritual side with the financial side. I love wellness, I love making people feel better about themselves, the world around them and getting more connected. And it's wonderful to see how people can bloom with just a bit of knowledge about their own wellness.

I agree, and that's our mantra too. Creating homes that are beneficial to physical and mental wellbeing, so you can feel good in your space.

Sensory design as a discipline is fairly new, but many of its fundamentals draw on central human experience. I know it's something you've been working with, and I'd love for you to share a little about what it is and how it works.

The pyramids, many cathedrals and other buildings were intended to create awe and wonder and to offer a sensual experience with the building itself. A lot of this was stripped away [at the expense of function and efficiency], during the industrial revolution. From there, we've slowly progressed again to interacting with designs that are not only practical but also induce good feelings. That's where we are right now.

Sensory design is highly personalized and specific to each individual. One example I sometimes give is that my partner, Guy, loves mint. I hate mint; I cannot stand it. So, if someone were to introduce a mint scent when I entered my hotel room, for instance, I wouldn't even want to stay there. Guy, on the other hand, would come in and say, “This is awesome. I love it here.” What science has examined is what sensory design entails and how we perceive whatever experiences we have. There are some standards with it. It's a bit like looking at a chair; it could be very practical or it could be more tactile.

I’ve heard you talk about the health benefits and the sensorial experience of certain scents. I find that really fascinating.

Yes, scent is the only one of our senses that is directly connected to the limbic brain, which houses our memories and emotions, including long-term memories. By stimulating that, research has shown that you are able to improve memory, with cognitive function increasing by 226 percent, according to one study.

But it's the same with red light, and you can build this into the design. We're looking at doing this in one of our hotels - to integrate a red light into the bathroom mirror that you can just turn on. Because if you expose yourself to red light for three minutes per week, within the first three hours of waking up, studies have found that you can improve your vision by 17 to 21 percent. So that's another way sensory design can be beneficial for your health and wellness.

I spoke to Dr. Dave Rabin last week, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist, and we discussed why we're so stressed. He mentioned that instead of focusing on minimizing stress, we should aim to increase our sense of safety. Safety is a fundamental need because when we're stressed, it means we feel unsafe. Continuous stress implies feeling unsafe over a prolonged period, leading to stress-related diseases. Sensory design can really help with this.

In terms of other innovations that people should be aware of, are there products or methodologies that are new and upcoming that you could talk to us about?

There's a big movement right now around sound and music which is produced to either relax you or increase your focus. One thing that we're doing in Six Senses is that we want to put speakers in all our showers in our hotel rooms. And then we're going to have a really upbeat music playlist that the guests could choose to play, to kickstart their day.

Another sensorial design intervention is we're going to put in an hourglass. A cold shower is maybe not that pleasant sensorially. But we're going to tell the guests that if you turn it for one minute cold, then you can turn it again and do one minute warm. And if you can endure the cold, and people would want to, it gives them a completely different start to their day.

We also have electrical stimulation. So the Emerge technology, it hasn't come yet, but I'm going to get it, is a plate, which creates ultrasound. When we're apart, my partner Guy could have a corresponding plate and then I will have VR glasses on when I talk to him. I'll see him through the VR glasses, and I can have my hand over the plate and he will have his and that will create ultrasound. So, it actually feels as if his hand is touching mine.

[Emerge’s Emerge Wave-1 is an innovative ultrasound-powered tabletop device that functions as an upward-firing speaker, introducing touch by enabling users to physically feel what they see in VR through concentrated sound.]

Fascinating. I think Emerge has so many implications for the loneliness epidemic that we have in this country for people who don't have a loved one, a family member, or someone to connect with. And that technology could be used in ways to bring back a sense of community or a sense of connection for those who are longing for that.

There's a paradox between us living these increasingly connected lives and then switching off. How do you find the balance between maintaining that calm and sense of safety and security, with technologies that could alter the entire landscape of what our homes look like and how they function?

As important as it is to use technology, it’s just as important to shut it off. I think the issue arises when we're constantly interacting with technology and don’t get a pause. I heard the other day that in the morning when we pick up our phones, we get as much information in 30 minutes as we did in a week, 50 years ago. Our brains are not equipped to handle all this information. So, it’s important that we have a technology pause throughout our day. What happens is that our brain gets tired. So that's another really important thing: to engage with whatever you're engaging in fully, and not be distracted by too many other things.

The feeling we get when we interact with design is becoming more important. It's not just about being practical or about the user interface. It's about an emotional engagement, how we perceive something - its temperature, its light, what we see, and how beautiful something is. So, I think the way we choose to interact with technology is significant, whether it's aromatherapy diffusers, red lights, circadian rhythm lights, Emerge technology, music, speakers, so on. And then there’s how we work with design to make it more emotionally engaging.

Many of these are accessible things that people can buy, which I think is wonderful. Sometimes when we talk about wellness design, it's such a big word and it's hard to cull it down to actionable takeaways that people can really digest and use for themselves in meaningful ways.

Absolutely. And companies keep innovating. I spoke to a neuroscientist not long ago who is working with designers creating neuro-aesthetic furniture and neuro-aesthetic art where you can have digital art that will either relax or improve conversation or focus. These are all sensorial technical designs where you can have digital and interactive art, where you can write how you feel today, and then the art expresses that feeling.

We also have another thing that we're bringing into Six Senses through Justin Wiggan, an artist known for what we call his plant music. They have plant rooms where you put on a vibrational haptic suit or backpack, and then you touch the plant, and it speaks back to you with music. It's fantastic.

We touched on the traditions and the ancient knowledge that we lost a bit in the Industrial Revolution. I find now that looking to the past can actually propell us forward. I'm really fascinated to hear more about BioGeometry, how that works, and how it could be integrated into design today.

We used to build living buildings that spoke to the Earth; our Earth is a magnetic field and we are magnetic beings. So obviously, that impacts us. BioGeometry is a science allowing you to feel better in your living space, have less exposure to electricity and wi-fi and it can balance the energies in your home.

Switzerland has used it in two cities where they had problems with wi-fi and people were getting sick. They brought in BioGeometric solutions, and the people stopped getting sick; in some instances, it actually reversed conditions like epilepsy and cancer.

We also have Feng Shui and Vastu (shastra), and all these ancient systems that are really interesting. They're all beneficial, and we use them in every hotel, but what's interesting about BioGeometry is that it has a modern approach to working with electricity and wi-fi, as well as satellites and other modern challenges that the ancient sciences don't address.

Looking at our Douro Valley Six Senses in Portugal, we took over what was a repeatedly bankrupt hotel that had been closed. We renovated it and had integrated healing practitioner, Alberto Amura consult on the project. Alberto used BioGeometery, Vastu, Feng Shui and other principles to balance the energies. And from the day it opened, it has been the most successful hotel in Portugal, boasting the highest average room rate in the country. Every guest that comes in says, “I feel so good when I'm here.”

I think it's a design principle that is hopefully gaining acceptance and that we should respect and try to implement in our own homes.

[BioGeometry is a system developed by scientist and architect Dr. Ibrahim Karim that aims to balance the energy of living spaces, reducing the impact of environmental stressors such as electricity and wi-fi. It utilizes shapes, colors, motion, orientation and sound to create a harmonious environment, potentially improving overall wellbeing.]

As Anna highlights, the essence of wellness design lies not just in aesthetics but in the experience, “It's about how you make people feel.” This sentiment goes beyond spas and hotels, inviting us to apply the same thoughtful approach to sensory and wellness design in our homes.

Anna, thank you so much for your time and for speaking with us.

Photography: Anna Bjurstam, Six Senses, John Athimaritis, Frederic Lagrange

Images: Anna Bjurstam, Emerge