“When a person walks into this space, I hope they have an experience of beauty being soulful, transformative and healing.” – Lisa Staprans, Staprans Design
Step into an immersive sensory environment exploring the connection between beauty, nature and well-being. Designed to engage sight, sound, scent, touch and taste, this Neurobeauty Sensory Room invites visitors to experience how our senses can calm the nervous system, nurture the body and create moments of awe.
The experience begins in a living forest created by Dexter Estate Landscapes, where redwoods and ferns transform the space into an unexpected natural retreat. Music composed by Joe Patitucci and Johanna von Meister of Data Garden, makers of PlantWave, is generated from sensors connected to the surrounding plants, creating an evolving soundscape designed to be felt as much as heard.
As you move through the room, each sense is awakened in a different way: immersive visuals and living plants surround you; natural fibers introduce texture and touch; a scent created by Vintner’s Daughter invites a moment of pause; and a delightful amuse-bouche brings taste into the experience.
Together, these elements create a sensory ecosystem designed to encourage presence, connection and well-being. Guests leave with a measurable takeaway from the experience—and hopefully feeling a little calmer, breathing a little easier, more nurtured, and perhaps touched by a sense of awe.
Visit the Neurobeauty Sensory Experience during Design Healdsburg:
- Opening: October 1st, between 2pm and 5:30pm (Free: Please register above)
- October 2–4th Please check back, hours will be announced soon (Registration not necessary, just swing by during the posted hours)
About Lisa Staprans
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Lisa Staprans designs interiors that embody the soulful, transformative and healing potential of beauty. Since 1986, she has created calm havens for individuals and families, as well as highly functional, quietly luxurious commercial spaces.
Her work is driven by a passion for the neuroscience of beauty and the regenerative power of design—and a belief that beauty can profoundly impact our health and well-being. Each project begins with a deep understanding of place: its light, landscape and surrounding environment, along with the personal stories and experiences of her clients.
Travel is also central to Lisa’s practice, connecting her with places, cultures, artisans and craftspeople whose techniques and values inform her commitment to sustainable and regenerative design.
A sought-after speaker, Lisa began her speaking career with a TED Talk in Jaipur, India, and has since delivered keynotes and joined panels alongside leaders in design and neuroscience. She is the recipient of numerous awards, and her book, The Soul of Design, explores the intersection of soulful design, neuroscience, beauty and well-being. Lisa will be hosting a book signing during Design Healdsburg on October 3rd at 4pm at Maison Smith with dear friend Sandra Jordan.
About Data Garden:
Artist and technologist Joe Patitucci, founder of Data Garden and creator of PlantWave, has spent more than a decade translating signals from living systems into music. For Design Healdsburg, he brings that practice into the Neurobeauty Sensory Room.
Patitucci has created a site-specific, four-plant musical environment using PlantWave, a device that translates subtle changes in plant activity into real-time generative music. Each plant becomes its own musical voice through an individual speaker, creating an evolving composition throughout the room.
The installation also marks the first public deployment of PlantWave Labs, Data Garden’s research instrument for exploring the relationship between plant music and human physiology. Guests who choose to participate can wear a sensing headband during a short listening session as the system records heart rate and brain activity.
Rather than assigning a score or telling participants how they should feel, the system observes changes in each participant’s own physiological measures across the listening session, with each person measured against their own baseline.
The project extends a line of inquiry Patitucci has pursued since beginning his work with plant music in 2012.
Joe Patitucci: “For years, my work has been about listening to signals from living systems. With plants, that opened up an entirely new way of paying attention to another living being. It’s exciting that we are beginning to turn that same curiosity toward the listener. Now we’re exploring what’s happening in our own bodies while we’re hearing plant music. For me, that creates another layer of listening— to the plants, to the music, and ultimately to ourselves.”
Patitucci’s work spans art, technology, biosonification and immersive experience. His work has been shown at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, SXSW, Copenhagen Fashion Week, Stanford dSchool, TED2019 and Aspen Ideas Festival. Through Data Garden and PlantWave, his work explores how sound can make the activity of living systems tangible.