This year’s JIA Curated transformed a forgotten waterpark into a living gallery of design, performance, and cultural exchange. Carrying the theme “Evolving Perspectives,” the week-long event invited visitors to consider creativity as something fluid, shaped by shifting contexts, materials, and collaborations.

Amidst installations of timber, stone, and repurposed materials, Oaken Lab joined forces with Bika Living to present an olfactory dimension to the dialogue. Our booth sought to show how scent, like design, is more than aesthetic, it is atmosphere, memory, and storytelling.

The festival opened with a traditional performance that grounded the contemporary works in cultural heritage. Movements rooted in ancestral rhythm echoed through the park, reminding visitors that creativity evolves when history and the present converse.

The decayed architecture of the waterpark, graffiti-marked walls, creeping roots, and fractured tiles, became a stage for designers to reframe the overlooked. Installations made from reclaimed timber and communal seating crafted from discarded objects gave new voice to materials that carried history in every grain and scar.

In this landscape, Oaken Lab created a sensory pause. Partnering with Bika Living’s interiors, we crafted a space where fragrance intertwined with texture and form. Each perfume invited visitors to consider scent as a design layer: invisible, yet capable of shaping how a room feels, how a memory lingers, how conversations begin.

The experience was heightened by moments of conviviality, shared drinks, casual exchanges, that turned our booth into more than an installation. It became a meeting ground where curiosity about scent led to deeper reflections on the role of the senses in design.

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Beyond installations, JIA Curated’s Design Monologues and cultural programming expanded the dialogue. Architects, makers, and cultural thinkers exchanged ideas on sustainability, heritage, and community, reinforcing that design is not a finished object but an ongoing conversation.

For Oaken Lab, participating in JIA Curated 2025 was about more than presenting fragrance, it was about joining a community of creators exploring how design can be reimagined. The event reminded us that the most lasting experiences are not only seen, but also felt, inhaled, and shared.