Discover VITRUVI

   Product of Canada


Modern, edgy, and personalised aromatherapy

VITRUVI is a modern aromatherapy brand creating luxury products designed specifically to be used through the day. Custom blended in Canada and made with the purest high-grade essential oils available, VITRUVI is a modern twist on an ancient art, the art and design of scent in our daily lives.

Founded by Canadian siblings Sara and Sean Paton, VITRUVI products are made for people who live with intention and curate an edited life. They help bring a sense of ceremony and ritual to our modern lives as we move throughout the day.

Each blend is made like a perfume; with top, middle and base notes. This technique results in extremely complex products that have the benefits of aromatherapy but the aroma of something special.

The essential oils used in VITRUVI products are sourced from 30+ countries. They extract only the best botanicals from the best places they grow and are motivated by using obscure and luxurious oils such as Elemi, Rose, and Peru Balsam. They also love that their oils help to share and connect cultures from around the world.

That essence is grounded in the name. VITRUVI is derived from the Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio who outlined the first principles of design. He became best known for his belief that anything undergoing design should exhibit three core principles; utility, functionality, and beauty. And these three principles are the underlying foundations of VITRUVI.

Why scent?

When essential oils (or any scent) are inhaled through the nose aromatic molecules are carried through the lining of the nasal cavity via small olfactory nerves where millions of sensory neurons lie in a strip of tissue called the olfactory epithelium. The tips of these cells contain proteins called receptors that bind odour molecules. The receptors are like locks and the keys to open these locks are the odour molecules that float past.

People have about 450 different types of olfactory receptors (for comparison, dogs have about two times as many). Once an odour molecule binds to a receptor, it initiates an electrical signal that travels from the sensory neurons to the olfactory bulb (a structure at the base of the forebrain that relays the signal to other brain areas for additional processing). This signal goes to an area on the piriform cortex, a collection of neurons located just behind the olfactory bulb that works to identify the smell. Smell information also goes to the thalamus, a structure that serves as a relay station for all of the sensory information coming into the brain. The thalamus is the "switchboard" of the brain and quickly sends the impulse to specific regions of the brain depending on the type of scent molecule.

The quick signals from the thalamus to different parts of the brain are what conjure up emotions and even specific memories, like when a whiff of cologne at a department store reminds you of an former boyfriend. This happens because the thalamus sends smell information to the hippocampus and amygdala, key brain regions involved in learning and memory. The effects of some scents such as citrus scent molecules can also travel to the pre-frontal cortex of the brain and affect wakefulness and decisiveness. The effects that certain scent molecules have on the receptors which they are places explain why we feel more energised after smelling coffee and citrus or more calm after smelling lavender. This occurs before the reasoning part of the brain can be cued and quick response to scent can explain why scent often affects our mood or sparks a memory without us being aware of why. 

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