Project location: MGK Day · Cleveland, Ohio · Project context: 2026 · Prepared by POPUP from the project archive in October 2026.
A fragrance counter can tell a story before anyone opens a bottle. For Dossier's Lost Americana collaboration with MGK, a motel check-in gave sampling a recognizable ritual and a place within the artist's world.
How can scenic design make fragrance sampling feel like a story?
The brief called for the fragrance’s Americana identity to become a physical destination within MGK Day. A motel offered a familiar setting with a useful organizing idea: arrive, approach the counter and discover what is waiting there.
Build the experience around a roadside motel check-in. Put the fragrance where a guest expects the front desk, then use vintage furnishings, travel references, graphic details and warm finishes to make the surrounding world feel considered from every angle.
Make discovery the check-in
A long reception counter gave the installation its focal point, with Lost Americana bottles presented across the surface. The Dossier × MGK mark sat behind it, while the fragrance name ran across the front. The product and the scenic idea occupied the same place.
Build a world in the details
A postcard board, analog clock, desk accessories and period furniture brought the motel reference into close view. These small choices gave the counter a sense of place and carried the Americana story beyond the campaign graphics.
Let the setting tell the story
A vintage television, world map, luggage and lamps extended the scene to the edge of the footprint. Together with the finished counter and graphic treatments, the set turned a temporary brand presence into a recognizable Lost Americana destination.
The planning lesson
Choose a setting that helps visitors understand what to do. A reception desk suggests arrival and conversation; the surrounding props should support that encounter. Before commissioning scenery, decide where product discovery happens and how the set directs attention there.
Who delivered the experience
POPUP connected creative development and experience design with scenic fabrication, graphics, set dressing, freight and on-site installation. The remit focused on translating the campaign world into a practical physical environment for Dossier’s team to activate.
Created for Dossier’s Lost Americana collaboration with MGK at MGK Day. Dossier led brand ambassadors and product sampling, merchandise, talent and marketing.
What the experience made possible
The Lost Americana Motel gave Dossier’s collaboration a distinctive physical setting, with fragrance discovery at the center of the encounter.
Project questions
Where did the experience take place?
Dossier × MGK: MGK Day · Cleveland, Ohio.
What was the delivery scope?
Creative concept & experience design; Scenic fabrication & set dressing; Graphics & production; Freight, installation & strike.
