Nike Air Max Day celebrates its 12th birthday this Thursday, March 26, 2026. An age in our adolescent lives that signals a shift in perspective, where curiosity begins to take form and early ideas of identity and direction emerge.
To celebrate Air Max Day 2026 and the launch of the Nike Air Liquid Max, we connected with creatives in our community whose sense of curiosity and childhood wonder have shaped their path. Working outside the trend cycle, they remain devoted to their craft, grounded in authenticity.
Meet Clara Chanisheff of xtrascentsory, a Sydney-born, Melbourne-based installation artist who explores scent as a spatial and cultural medium. Her early sensitivity to smell naturally evolved into a sensory-led practice, resulting in a body of work presented through solo and select exhibitions globally.
This Air Max Day at Above The Clouds, Clara will lead an olfactory workshop, guiding guests through a bespoke perfume creation experience using scents inspired by the rainforest and its ecosystems.
ATC: Please introduce yourself and tell us about your practice as an olfactory artist.
CC: I’m a sculptural installation artist working with scent as a spatial and cultural medium. My practice moves across olfactory research and embodied environments, where I use smell to translate emotional and material conditions into something you can physically experience. I’m really interested in using scent as a tool for sensory communication.
ATC: Tell us how you found yourself in such a niche & unique field? How did you get here?
CC: I was always interested in art and sensory experience, but scent felt like this underexplored language. I’ve always had a really strong sense of smell — it runs in my family — so it was something I was instinctively attuned to from a young age. I undertook foundational perfumery in France and worked with olfactory artists across Europe, which opened up a whole world of what scent could do beyond fragrance. From there, it became less about perfume and more about using scent as a tool for thinking and making.
ATC: How do you think about the idea of “good” and “bad” smells? Do those distinctions matter in your creative process?
CC: I don’t necessarily believe in good or bad smells ~ every smell is simply a smell. What we perceive comes from layers of personal context, culture, memory and learned behaviour. Within that, ambiguity or discomfort can be just as significant as pleasure in shaping how something is experienced.
ATC: In your work, where do you feel you’re challenging expectations around what scent should be, or how it should make people feel?
CC: That scent should be aligned with traditional ideas of fragrance and perfumery. In my recent work, I’ve been engaging with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry as a way of translating scent into data, and then using that data to construct coding systems that generate their own olfactory language. This shifts scent from something purely sensory into something structural, shaped by systems and context. For me, it’s not just about the act of smelling; I’m interested in how scent can shift perception and position the body within space.
ATC: What do you hope people take away from experiencing your work in this project, whether intellectually, emotionally, or physically?
CC: Something like a forest smell isn’t just one thing; it’s made up of layers, materials, zones and conditions that we don’t always notice. Through the work, I’m interested in unpacking those layers through the lens of engineered or built environments. It’s a bit of fun, but also being open to how and what we experience through smell beyond the ~ obvious ~
ATC: How do you maintain authenticity and stay true to your own perspective in your work?
CC: I don’t try to fit my work into what the perception of scent is supposed to be - I follow my own sensory instincts and build from there. My process is research-driven, so I’m always working from something real, whether that’s (scent)data, material or lived experiences.
Join us Wednesday, 25 March, 6–9 pm, for an immersive sensory lab exploring the shoe and its creative influences; featuring a custom scent bar by xtrascentsory, floral installations by Soya Florist, music by Crÿbaby, cocktails, snacks and cake!
The Nike Air Liquid Max launches exclusively in-store at Above The Clouds Melbourne from 10:00 am on Thursday, 26th March. Stop by for coffee from Goodside Coffee and cookies from Hareruya Pantry. Limited numbers. First-come, first-served.
