The new psychedelic aesthetic

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Tara Kenny on the interchangeable millennial aesthetics of new psychedelic spaces.

In 2020, looking for a different kind of dissociation than could be found sober in my apartment, I reached out to Field Trip, a psychedelic therapy startup that injects patients with the anesthetic/party drug/depression salve ketamine out of its North American clinics. Confronted with the significant cost of treatment—$5,000, insurance not accepted—the relentless positivity of the intake specialist and the CEO’s comments about wanting to create the Nike of psychedelics, my enthusiasm waned. Occasionally, I’m reminded of my COVID-era flirtation with luxury ketamine by a Field Trip marketing email declaring “Minds are a changin’” or promising “Therapy With A Twist.”

While scanning one of these missives, I came across a waiting room with a faux moss feature wall, suspended overheard globe lights with gold detailing, pink neon accent lighting and a Monstera in a rattan basket. Further Google searches for “Field Trip Health interiors” revealed an abundance of mid-century modern furniture in mustard, salmon and dark red, velvet cushions, sheepskin rugs, pale pink walls, and more houseplants; perfect for a round of what Laura Shocker dubbed “millennial apartment bingo” in 2018, in response to the increasingly homogenous design sensibilities of her peers.

Nushama, another upscale ketamine therapy clinic in New York, showcases similarly familiar design elements, from terrazzo floors, to mini circular marble tables, pastel moon pod chairs, and copious fake plants and flowers. If you regained consciousness after a k-hole at Field Trip or Nushama, you could be forgiven for getting confused and psychically teleporting to standing on line at Sweetgreen, having your teeth serviced at Tend, or coworking at The Wing circa 2017. The millennial aesthetic: a visual shorthand for sanitization.

MILLENNIAL CRIMES

DAYTRIPPING

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