A visual exploration of Maison Margiela’s iconic fragrance, By the Fireplace. I wanted to capture the scent’s essence: nostalgia, warmth, and the flicker of memory. Something you could almost feel through the screen. The result is a moody, atmospheric animation that glows like embers from a fading dream.

I started by creating a photorealistic 3D model of the bottle, dialing in texture and UV mapping for near-perfect realism. From early sketches to final render, I storyboarded the entire piece. I imagined the bottle not just as a product, but as an emotional object suspended in time.

To push the ephemeral quality, I got a little weird with process—in the best way. I adjusted the frame rate for a flickering effect, printed each individual frame on paper, rescanned them, and reanimated the whole sequence. The result was a blend of digital and analog. A visual that feels more like a memory than a motion graphic.

Archival photos from Maison Margiela’s Fall/Winter 1993 runway served as the aesthetic anchor. Grainy, evocative, and full of texture. Just like the scent, the final piece lingers quietly and hauntingly in the mind.