The Three Levels of Essensorie

We'd like to invite you for a little digital excursion, an e-visit if you like. We’re taking you on a behind-the-scenes photographic expedition of the three flights of our beautiful Block Arcade premises. The tour starts now!

Ground Level

Visitors to the Collins wing of Melbourne’s iconic Block Arcade tell us that they smell our boutique before they see it. You never know which Essence Blend you might smell puffing from our famous diffuser upon entering The Arcade.

Our iconic diffuser is crafted from a one-of-a-kind Portuguese essential oil distil. The two most common questions we get about it are: “Why isn’t it hot?” and “Can I buy it?”…

When founder Nicole (pictured above) was designing the interior, she noticed a patch of brickwork where the existing plasterboard had chipped off. Having gained the blessing of Arcade management she proceeded to have much of this plasterboard removed to reveal the gorgeous original brickwork below. The arch visible below was formerly a walkway to the adjacent store.

Although quite a challenge on a daily basis for our staff, the original staircase is just stunning. The chandelier and shelving were actually transplanted from our previous store in Maling Road, Canterbury. Bizarrely, they all fit just perfectly. This store was meant to be.

Mezzanine Level

Perhaps not the prettiest of our spaces, the mezzanine level (pictured below) is a highly functional one critical to the day-to-day operation of our brand. Here, we store our inventory for the shop below and pack our internet orders. Whenever you place an order on our site, one of our team quickly gets to packing it. All of our shipping packaging is recyclable and biodegradable. We’ve recently implemented the EcoBin colour-coded waste disposal system site-wide. This makes it easy for us to properly recycle any waste we produce. The pedal-controlled machine on the left of the bench unfurls reams of our honeycomb paper packing mesh.

Level One

We’re so thrilled to showcase this space. In the midst of one of Victoria’s lengthy 2020 lockdowns, we took a leap of faith and leased a gorgeous light-filled studio space directly above our store and mezzanine level. It’s a totally separate title and accessed through a different door. Nicole actually wanted the studio before even entering having fallen in love with the door and handles!

When moving in, The Arcade elevator - which is conveniently located next to our studio door - was being replaced. Everything in the studio had to be taken the long way around from the Elizabeth Street entrance. It was a logistical nightmare and quite the workout to say the least.

Formerly the home of the renowned Van Der Toorren photographic studio, the space is just perfect for the production needs of our growing business. Every Essensorie product is now handmade in this studio with love by Nicole and Lachlan.

Upon entering, the first room is our perfumery and chill (read important work meeting) couch space. These couches are where the big decisions are made and the best naps are had.

The second space is our assembly area. This is where we label products that have been filled out the back, pour Soy Wax Candles, assemble Desk Diffusers, so on and so forth. On the right hand side is where we neatly store a variety of our signature calico printed bags.

We have a third space out the back which is our sink and bottle filling area. It became home to a bunch of boxes and containers when these photos were taken so we chose not to feature it.

Pictured above is Nicole at her custom-made perfume piano. Each small bottle contains an individual essential oil such as frankincense, sandalwood, jasmine or rose. There are one hundred and fifty bottles in total. As a perfumer or “nose” Nicole blends these to make our signature fragrances. From inception to completion the fragrance creation process can take months. It’s both art and science, a skill that takes years - decades even - to master.

Above, Lachlan at work at our bottle labelling machine. For about a decade, we printed labels at Officeworks, cut them by hand with a Stanley knife then applied them by hand. It's only been recently that we've had our labels printed on rolls that can be run through a machine like this. It's been a life saver!