After ten years of dreaming, Barb Stegemann, the visionary founder behind clean fragrance brand The 7 Virtues, cut the ribbon to the business’s flagship store, an atelier in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Located at the Queen’s Marque on the Halifax waterfront, the atelier invites consumers to craft their own bespoke perfume with guidance from alchemists and Stegemann herself.For the entrepreneur, the opening goes beyond simply being a new activation point for consumers; instead it’s a watershed moment in the trajectory of the brand that she launched out of her garage in 2010. “It dawned on me that this is not a normal undertaking, because when a dream is so deep inside you that you'll burst if you don't live it and execute it, it's like a calling. There's nothing else you can do about it,” Stegemann tells BeautyMatter.The experiential space, which the founder describes as her “Alice in Wonderland dream come true,” was fashioned by Jean-Pierre Viau—an interior designer who crafted the calm and naturistic Lov Café in Montreal, a place Stegemann has held close to her heart for several years. The duo worked together to create an atmosphere that perfectly captures The 7 Virtues branding—sleek, minimalistic, and elegant from the ceiling to the floor, adorned with large bouquets of red, white, and pink flowers throughout—exuding a sense of serenity while creating an embodiment of conscious luxury.When planning the location's interior, Stegemann wished to create a sophisticated destination with a tight-knit, community-led feel. “I'm very thrifty and scrappy, as we were a little indie brand/family-run businesses before our [Unilever Ventures] investment.