Kan Izumi extracted “Tokyo” from TOKYO CRAFT ROOM and gathered various keywords from it to derive the concept for creating the fragrance. He brought the plants and stones collected in Tokyo back to Awaji Island, the base of production, to further sharpen his senses, and the prototyping process began. We visited Izumi’s atelier “Hai” to learn more about his production process and all the inspirations that live there.
Facing “Tokyo” on an island with roots of scent
Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture is located in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea. Fascinated by the abundance of plants used as raw materials for fragrances, Izumi has been living on the island since 2017. Awaji Island is one of Japan’s leading incense production areas, accounting for 70% of the nation’s total production. Behind this was its ancient history as the first place in Japan where the culture of incense originated. In 595 A.D. (Suiko 3), islanders lit a piece of driftwood that had drifted ashore on Awaji Island as firewood, which produced a wonderful aroma, and the island was presented to the Imperial Court. The driftwood is said to have been agarwood, which is still used as the raw material for various fragrant products including incense sticks.
In 2021, Izumi established his own atelier, “Hai” on the “Island of Fragrance,” which has such roots. Since then, he has not only been creating fragrances, which until then were mainly based on projects, but he has also begun to spend more time with his own creations, sharpening his five senses beyond the realm of perfumery,sharpening his five senses and valuing the time he spends facing his own creations. It has been three years since this place was completed, and it finally seems to have become his own atelier.
“This space is surrounded 360° by soil, which absorbs various smells and noises, and when I open the window, everything becomes clean. It’s a place where I just face the invisible thing called fragrance and concentrate my consciousness to create. It is a place where I can do nothing but face it. In the beginning, I didn’t make good use of the atelier; after three years, I finally feel like I’ve become friends with this place.”
The range and precision of ideas and techniques related to fragrance is also expanding rapidly. We also visited the Awaji Island factory of Kunjudo, a long-established manufacturer and seller of incense sticks and indoor fragrances, with which he continues to collaborate on a variety of projects. Masahiro Tsumida, manager of the company’s research and development section, also has a high regard for Izumi’s creations.
“I have known Izumi for about five years, and we have continued to try and error together. I am always surprised by his ideas that I have never seen before, such as choosing unique materials that are not usually used in the incense industry. Incense sticks have a strong image of being Buddhist ritual utensils, and I believe that we need to dispel this image to expand the market. I would like to continue to improve while maintaining a good relationship with people like Izumi.”
In addition to his own production, Izumi also has his eye on the future of the Incense industry on Awaji Island.
“The demand for incense itself is declining, so we should consider other products in line with the times. Awaji Island not only has good raw materials because it is a production area, but also has the technology and know-how to make it possible. I am gradually taking on this challenge in collaboration with Kunjudo.”
It is truly tradition and innovation. Having faced Tokyo, Izumi now faces fragrance. While tracing the history of Awaji Island, which is the root of fragrance, it seems that he is ready to create new creations.
Convert the materials into the memories
“I spread out the collected items and information in my atelier and organize them first,” Izumi says. The plants selected were those that had been in the city of Tokyo for a long time, and those that were more fragrant, such as Japanese sedge, Japanese silver leaf, and mugwort, were selected. He dries the fragrance of these collected plants and then checks it again. He grinds the seeds and sometimes soaks the plants in boiling water to test their aroma and taste as a tea, an approach that is typical of him. Izumi imagined a “memory device” in Tokyo that held the scents of the plants, and compared the smell of the land to that of the soil, using the roots of the plants to verify the scents.
The selected plants are then blended with tabunoki flour*, coconut charcoal, and water, kneaded together, molded, and dried for about three days. Depending on the ratio of the ingredients, the ingredients may not fit well in the mold or may crack during drying, so the recipe for the TOKYO CRAFT ROOM scent is created by repeating this process over and over again.
*The bark of the camphoraceous tabunoki is ground into a powder, which is used as a base material for making incense and incense sticks.
Mayumi Utsunomiya has also completed a copper mold made from a stone. The “rugged, not round, mountain-like stone,” which she chose for the first time because of the relationship between Japanese people and mountains and the landscape she imagined, will also be part of this memory device.
When we smell the completed fragrance, what will we think as we face Tokyo? Will it sharpen our consciousness like the “Hai” for Izumi? Will we think of something? Plants, stones, the underlying soil, and the landscape that unfolds there: ……. The keywords that form the core of the fragrance that Izumi saw and collected in Tokyo and faced in Awaji Island are finally taking shape.
Kan Izumi
和泉 侃
He is an artist working on the theme of reviving the physical senses through scent. He studies plant production and distillation, as well as raw materials, and works on his creative endeavors based on inspiration he absorbs through his five senses. In parallel with his work as an artist, he has launched a scent design studio, “Olfactive Studio Ne”. Working with his team, he is expanding the possibilities of the world expressed through scent, with direction that goes beyond the realm of perfumery.
https://izumikan.jp/
