Kan Izumi has completed the scent for the TOKYO CRAFT ROOM. The stone-shaped incense seal, which was created with the image of “Memory device of Tokyo,” will touch the various senses of those who spend time in this room. And this project will move on to the next. Creating “music” inspired by Izumi’s scent. With musician Ayatake Ezaki, another new experiment is about to begin.
The meaning behind the name of the scent
The scent, completed through a process of traveling back and forth between Tokyo and Awaji Island and crossing various inspirations, was finally installed in the TOKYO CRAFT ROOM. At that moment, the various crafts created with the designers and makers scattered around the room seemed to come together as one, which is a strange feeling. This small cluster of scent, which could fit in the palm of one’s hand, made its presence felt in this large space, and made us realize that it was something we needed here.
Memory-unlocking device. This is the name that Izumi gave to this fragrance, and it is a phrase that he himself mentioned many times throughout the process.While confronting himself in the TOKYO CRAFT ROOM, he gradually became aware of the transition of Tokyo’s landscape and land, and converted his experience into a scent. This is a completely new form of scent that is at the same time very typical of Izumi, who continues to create products based on the theme of “reviving of the senses”.
The scent is put in a jar with a lid. It was made by Naoto Ishii, a potter in Kyoto. When we open the lid, which is normally closed, the scent spreads in a flurry. Izumi’s wish to “be aware of the presence of scent and cherish what can be sensed by the act of going to smell it oneself” was realized.
And there is more to this scent project. The project is to create music using Izumi’s completed fragrance as inspiration. The musician Ayatake Ezaki is in charge of the production.
Thinking about “music” through a craft approach
He plays keyboard as a member of WONK, a soul band formed in 2013 and has recorded and produced music for a number of artists. In 2021, Ezaki will begin his solo career, and his activities as a pianist and composer are attracting even more attention. He and Izumi have been friends for some time and have collaborated on the creation of fragrances based on WONK’s musical concepts. We invited Esaki to TOKYO CRAFT ROOM to experience the newly completed fragrance.
“My first impression was “when I suddenly smelled a nice scent in the city. It’s a wonderful scent, not too natural, not too artificial, but somewhere in between.” I was told that the scent was inspired by Tokyo, but when I smelled and touched it, it had a soil feel to it. So I took the liberty of imagining Kan’s studio on Awaji Island, which I have yet to visit. I wondered what the scent from the earthen walls of his studio would be like. In the past, WONK’s scent created in collaboration with Kan were basically based on the content of the songs and lyrics, with easy-to-understand orders such as “smoky and woody” or “citrusy and refreshing,” but unlike those, the scent is very nice in a genre-independent way. It’s very nice.”
In response to the keyword “Tokyo,” he continued with his own thoughts on the city of Tokyo and the area on the east side of Tokyo where the Hamacho Hotel is located.
“For me, Tokyo is a city where interesting things from all over Japan are concentrated, and it is in a state of constant renewal. In terms of the east side of Tokyo, this area has supported Edo culture, and in the past 10 years or so, there have been many moments when I feel the unity of people working on the east side of Tokyo. The band’s office and our wine bar “TEO” are also located in the east area. While the constant birth of new things is what makes Tokyo so interesting, it is also a city filled with the history of the Tokugawa family, which has been here for less than 300 years. Therefore, I was thinking that by digging out Tokyo’s original charm, we could create a synergistic effect through friendly competition with people who create new things. This is exactly what happened with the TOKYO CRAFT ROOM. When I first entered the room, I thought the furnishings were very nice, without the so-called “famous furniture” of luxury hotels. I felt a sense of pride in Japanese craftsmanship that could only come from the East.”
Although they had collaborated before, this project was the opposite of the usual procedure of creating music from scent. In order to create the music, Ezaki thought about not only the scent created by Izumi, but also the concept behind the fragrance and the existence of TOKYO CRAFT ROOM.
“I got the impression of soil from the scent, , so I decided to use music with a sound that is not artificial,” he said. In my work, I often use synthesizer-like instruments that synthesize sounds, but I would like to create music that has an analog texture. I am thinking at this stage of music I would like to make in that direction, not in terms of sound quality, but in terms of, for example, recording the sound of a piano at home on cassette tape.”
Inspired by the scent, Ezaki dares to say that he was drawn to lo-fi music. This thought naturally overlapped with the many craft approaches he has taken in the TOKYO CRAFT ROOM project. Ezaki’s music, which he says is “always about creating beautiful sounds” in any situation, will also revive our senses.
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/
Ayatake Ezaki
江﨑文武
He is a musician, born in 1992 in Fukuoka City, Japan. Studied piano from the age of 4 and composition from the age of 7. In addition to playing keyboards in WONK, he has participated in recording and producing for many artists, including King Gnu, Vaundy, and Kenshi Yonezu. He has also worked on soundtracks for the film “Homunculus” (2021), the dramas “Ohgon no toki : The Story of Hattori Kintaro” (2024) and “Kanzen Muzai” (2024) “#Shinsou wo ohanashi shimasu”（2025）, and continues to work freely across various fields, including serialization in Bungeishunju’s “Bungakukai” and the culture section of the Nishinippon Shimbun, and serving as a personality on NHK FM’s “Ezaki Ayatake’s Borderless Music Dig!”. He is in charge of music lectures in the arts education program “GAKU.”
https://www.ayatake.co/
