CAFE (Contemporary Art Fragrance Exhibition) in Kyoto
In 2025, not long after Naoko and I had completed our first collaboration Olfactophone in Tokyo, we were talking about ideas we had come up it, completely independently, around creating a space where people can sit and enjoy scent in a dedicated space. I had an idea about a lofi lounge, but Naoko had developed an idea about a full-immersive cafe… where there were cakes or pastries on the menu, but little treats in the form of fragrances.
Before I knew it, she had made the announcement on instagram and I was along for the ride! We thought it would be fun to have a menu full of perfumes from different perfumers. Naoko mocked up the concept, I mocked up the menus and the brief, and we searched our rolodexes (I don’t have a rolodex, actually, because they are too ugly. I need one though. Does anyone make Clockpunk rolodexes? Or ones that look a bit Art Deco? Sadly they were invented in the high of the office cubicle dynasty) for perfumers who had an artistic practice based on bespoke perfumery. We were delighted when Katrina Cochrane from Archer Farrar, Clayton Ilolahia from Fragrances of the World (and soon to be C.ilo Fragrances), Bhakti aka Nastré, and, unable to be there in person, Daniel Pescio.
Our concept was simple: With so many cafés in the world, why are there no places where we can sit back and appreciate perfumes?
Clayton, Katrina, Bhakti and I all flew to Kyoto and were welcomed by Naoko and Toshi, her husband and also photographer, administrative assistant, handyman, and most importantly, barista. I arrived first and sat down with Naoko to set up the space: a beautiful restored machiya townhouse in the garden-adorned suburbs of Kyoto.
Dear reader, I was so ill. I think it was a result of a depleted nervous system, but my throat was on fire, my nose was running, and my body felt heavier than lead. Naoko and Toshi got me a pharmacy’s worth of remedies and I trusted the process. We had a deadline and I had to do everything I could to pull through. I took a 3-hr nap (!!) whilst Naoko diligently put together booklets, made labels, and masterfully executed all of the tiny detail jobs whilst I let the medicine do its thing as I slept on the tatami. She is amazing.
We got it done. Clayton and Katrina turned up the following day and I introduced everybody in a bagel shop of all places. Katrina and Clayton got along so well that I joked to Naoko that I think I reunited two people who were best friends in a former life. Back in the machiya, we pre-labelled mouilletes, practised our customer service script, and memorised the menus.
The next day, Bhakti arrived, and we sat down to present our artworks to each other so that we could comfortably present all of the fragrances equally. Reader! These are true artists. The brief specifically asked for scent profiles that were artistic and challenging, not commercially appealing. Everyone rose to the opportunity, and myself and Clayton, in an act of creative self-flagellation, made four perfumes each. Katrina made two and Bhakti and Naoko wisely poured their souls into a single masterpiece each. Daniel sent one across from Paris as well.
I won’t spend six pages explaining all 13 perfumes - you are better seeking out the artists themselves and learning about their artworks through their own words. So I will just explain my own.
In alphabetical order, we have Burning Bouquet
And Poison Princess:
Then Purple Sawdust:
and finally Soil Ice cream:
Reactions were not what I predicted! Clayton and Katrina were really into Soil Icecream - they said it could be sold in a niche perfume store and not be out of place, whereas the Japanese guests were overwhelmingly drawn to Poison Princess. I wondered if Burning Bouquet would be too smoky for East Asian audiences, but a week later, Sarah Pae (Seoul perfume expert mentioned in previous post) had it sitting in her car for frequent use. Meanwhile, my favourite, Purple Sawdust, generally got the comment that it smells exactly how it sounds, which honestly was a deep compliment for me because it’s so important (and completely futile as an endeavour) that people get what I’m trying to say with my perfumes.
Anyway, the experience. A completely immersive, interactive, installational, experiential art exhibition. Perhaps a form of performance art - I recently meet a food-based performance artist whose most recent show was a dinner subverting the Last Supper - if I do say so myself.
Guests arrived, swapped their shoes for house slippers, and entered a beautiful wooden space with greenery outside the windows and music gently playing. They took their seats and were handed menus depending on their ticket type (degustation - all 13 perfumes - or a la carte, which was a smaller selection of the perfumes as well as a choice of a mini-bespoke bottle or a cafe-themed perfume that guests can design themselves.)
Opening night was a full house - we had a performance from a graduate of the University of Kyoto’s masters programme, and the full gamut of artist talks… yes, we all got up and talked through our fragrances. Mine were the silliest so I was happy to go last.
Most tickets were degustation, but all of us artists received at least one bespoke order (somehow I ended up with the doozies: my first bespoke customer was a fisherman who wanted something that would be in harmony with the smell of fish that pervaded his life, and the other was a visual artist with a sensitive nose who wanted something uplifting and empowering). The DIY was popular with the younger guests, and there was an architect couple who were both drawn to Katrina’s clever delicious-but-industrial scent Suburban Summer, which they ordered from the a la carte menu.
In the evenings, Naoko and I conducted perfume pairings. Guests with pairing tickets were served three teas with three perfumes each, and two perfumes across three wines (Naoko created the perfumes to match the wines, which personally I thought warranted a ticket price increase, but she has a softer heart than I do).
It was honestly the most gorgeous and sumptuous exhibition. The machiya felt like a Japanese nirvana full of beautiful scents and calming music, and the guests were serious in their appreciation of the artworks - contemplative, curious, fascinated, and sometimes moved.
We hope to re-created CAFE elsewhere - we will have the artworks, as well as the collateral - but it needs the perfect venue (and to be honest, some institutional support or sponsorship. It was an enormous effort from everyone but particularly Naoko and myself, even though we are seasoned at executing our own exhibitions these days!) in a destination that will appreciate fragrance as art.
Please get in touch if you think you could make it happen…
In the meantime, Naoko and I are bringing Olfactophone to Sydney in June at Airspace Projects in Marrickville.
June 5: Opening Night 6pm
June 6: Meet the artists 10am-4pm
June 7: Olfactophone workshop 2:30pm (at St Peters Town Hall nearby - tickets here)
June 20: Artist talks (we are 1 of 4 rooms in the gallery)
