Case studies: what’s new
Aesop
The Australian beauty brand’s Othertopias collection of three gender-neutral perfumes are complemented by three 60-minute Radiomatique Mixtapes – weekly podcasts that will be created in collaboration with internet radio service Worldwide FM throughout 2022. With the scents inspired by spaces ‘traversing the physical and metaphysical realms’, the curated shows demonstrate the crossover between notes of the audio and olfactory kind. Presenters include Seoul-based DJ and producer Closet Yi, who will mix spoken word poetry, pop, soul and ambient music to ‘transport wearers to realms both real and imagined [to] evoke a further sensory dimension for listeners’. Aesop describes the project as an invitation to practise conscious and meditative states around aural and auditory cues.
Folie à Plusieurs
In Japan, Koh-do is the practice of ‘listening’ to incense – a custom of appreciating and interpreting scents in total silence. Updating this for music fans, Folie à Plusieurs has created the Co collection of five olfactory experiences. Created by Japan’s oldest incense company Kungyokudo, each pack of incense sticks is sold with a link to download an album to be played while burning the corresponding scent. Among Folie’s five creations are Fernweh, with notes of jasmine, the sandalwood and aquatic-scented Led by a Blue Bird Through a Mountain, and To Your Borders and Back, with notes of cedar and lavender. The musical stylings are equally eclectic, ranging from experimental operatic vocalist Hatis Noit to synth producer Rival Consoles. As founder Kaya Sorhaindo says: ‘Our aim is to elevate the cultural value of fragrance, and to broaden its meaning and relationship to the human experience.’
Arpa
According to Arpa founder Barnabé Fillion, ‘Everything that I’m doing in perfumery is visual and related to my own synaesthesia, to convey not just a memory but a texture.’ In this vein, the company – aptly named after the arp synthesiser – goes beyond being a fragrance house into far richer territory. It pairs each perfume, packaged in a hand-blown, limited-edition glass bottle, with a unique sonic frequency, sculpture and photograph to convey its sensorial character. Arpa’s first ‘sequence’ is a range of three perfumes that draw reference from the Belgian Blue Forest through to acid bath craters in Ethiopia. Its Arco Spettro scent has notes of opoponax, guaiac wood and vetiver, while Fosforo unites iris, sage and hiba wood. Beyond scent, Arpa also operates as a creative institute that aims to provide ‘an experimental and ritual pathway into synaesthesia, phytohormonal sentience and wider perceptual awareness’.
