What’s That Scent? Find Out at the Element Brooklyn Seaport Pop-Up
June 16, 2026
Element Brooklyn: Gallery of Scent is part of the Downtown Alliance’s RE:Store program, which is bringing six pop-ups to Lower Manhattan for the summer. Learn more about the program here.
When Andrew Nicol realized there was a gap in the market for sustainable home fragrance products at an affordable price point, he rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands and got to work. With the help of his chemical engineer father, he formulated his first hand soap and eventually launched Element Brooklyn. In the four years since, the brand has expanded to include body creams, candles, hair care and home cleaning products. This summer, you can discover your personal scent profile, shop the entire collection and refill your own soap bottles at Element Brooklyn’s “Gallery of Scent” pop-up at 192 Front St. in the Seaport, which is part of the Downtown Alliance’s RE:Store program
The Element Brooklyn team wanted its first retail location outside of its Bushwick factory and showroom to function primarily as a discovery-led experience. “We wanted to do something that felt kind of relevant to the area, and the Seaport has really become an entertainment district,” Nicol said. The Front Street space, designed by Bushwick–based Superglue Studio, presents visitors with a task before browsing or purchasing the brand’s products: sniff 30 individual scent notes from motion activated fragrance misters and rank them by preference. A team member will then analyze your ratings against thousands of fragrances to find your unique scent profile and capture your “aura” with a photo, complete with product recommendations from their own line as well as other brands. So far, Nicol says he’s enjoyed seeing people discover something new about their own tastes. And with everything in Element Brooklyn’s line under $40, it’s an easy entry point to try a newly discovered fragrance note.
Since its founding, Element Brooklyn has diverted over 500,000 single-use plastic bottles from the landfill, with the goal of increasing that number with every new product launch. “Every new product we develop is designed to be refill-first,” Nicol said. “People are really willing to take an extra step [in refilling products] and put more effort into making the environmentally-friendly choice.” And with soap refills at just 75 cents per fluid ounce at its refillery bar, sustainability is also economical. Buy a vessel in the store, or bring your own from home to refill it. “There’s also part of me that feels like not enough is being done by large, multinational conglomerates to really take sustainability seriously,” he said. “We’re trying to tackle that in a meaningful way, and I’m super proud of that.”
This summer, the pop-up will also host candle-making workshops and other events. Follow your nose to Element Brooklyn’s Gallery of Scent at 192 Front St., open now through Labor Day, Wednesday through Sunday 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
