Hagastrand, Autograph Collection, launches spa with Gongmatic experience
– Alla Sokolova, Nobis Hospitality Group
Nobis Hospitality Group’s wellness destination, Hagastrand, Autograph Collection, has launched in Stockholm, Sweden, with an immersive gong experience at its spa.
Hagastrand is a 215-key property that has been designed by Wingårdhs Architects to incorporate Nordic features and create spaces for guests to work, connect and relax simultaneously.
The 2,500sq m Hagastrand Spa has four treatment rooms, a wellness suite for private group experiences and a private spa area with a duo of suites for holistic treatments.
It also has a 60-person capacity event sauna for aufguss rituals, alongside a thermal bathing circuit that includes a snow room by TechnoAlpin Indoor.
Read more about the development of the project in an earlier article here and read what Alina Hernandez had to say during a visit to the newly-opened destination here.
Gongmatic experience
Nobis’ wellness expert Alla Sokolova incorporated the installation of a new kind of immersive gong experience called Gongmatic at the Hagastrand Spa as part of the facility’s concept.
Sokolova told Spa Business: “We wanted the spa to also serve as a cultural destination with a transformative, immersive art installation as part of the guest experience. When we discovered Gongmatic, it was clear that it matched our ambition to offer innovative, restorative therapies that are both artistic and meaningful, combining ancient wisdom with modern science and creative application of technology.”
Inside a 70sq m acoustically-insulated room, a 60-inch self-playing gong is hand-tuned to resonate on its own, without mallets or speakers.
Specialist gong manufacturer, Grotto Sonora, has created the Gongmatic experience using customised programmes that combine sound, light and vibrations, tailored to the space.
The 15-minute experience marks the conclusion of a three-hour hydrothermal journey and sees guests reclining on ceramic heated loungers by Sommerhuber, while listening to the hypnotic sounds.
The experience is included in the price of entry to the spa, which costs €110 (US$128, £96) on average.
Sokolova added: “Gongmatic offers deep nervous system recalibration through resonance, helping guests reach profound states of rest and balance in minutes.
“The power of sound is a throughline theme throughout the spa, realised through different touch points and offerings, such as spontaneous concerts and soundscapes curated in the social wellness area and the event sauna,” she added.
Grotto Sonora
Grotto Sonora is a manufacturer of gongs with a permanent installation in a cave in Italy of the same name. Gong craftsman Madhava Carrara and sound alchemist Margherita
Cioffi teamed up with art technologist Simon Morris to create the self-playing Gongmatic experience.
Morris, told Spa Business that the partnership with Hagastrand will continue to develop: “Having Gongmatic as a permanent wellness offering at Hagastrand means that it is available to people all year, offering visitors a deep restorative sensory experience. It is a long-term collaboration that allows Gongmatic to evolve, with new compositions and experiences.
Morris added that the company’s goal is to bring Gongmatic into spaces where sound, art and wellbeing intersect, with a permanent flagship location opening in New York later this year.
Check out more about Grotto Sonora here:
Hagastrand
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