Astier de Villatte, Incense

Incense handmade in Japan by the Koh-shis (Masters of Aroma) using ancestral traditions and techniques. Packaged in a gorgeous little box from famed Parisian home goods company Astier De Villatte.

Sold individually. Each box includes 125 sticks. 

Awaji: Delicate smoke exhales a delicate scent of driftwood, resins, jasmine and immortelle. Legend has it that, one day, a trunk of Agar wood was washed onto the beach. The island dwellers burned it, and the smell was so intoxicating that they  offered it as a gift to the Emperor.

Buenos Aires: On a summer night, in an old, lively quarter of the city, sip a drink on the terrace of a milonga, as the figures of tango dancers sway in the darkness. And let yourself be intoxicated by the languorous rhythm of the music and the exquisite scent of white flowers carried on the warm breeze. 

Hollywood: The delicate dusting of iris and patchouli leads us down the yellow brick road of Hollywood studios, blending with the sunny cedarwood, eucalyptus and vetiver scents of Southern California’s luxuriant vegetation.

Namche Bazar: Black tea with its scent of dried hay and slight smokiness of tobacco. Breathe with pleasure the scented streams of Patchouli, Yerbe Maté and Musk, tempered by the delicate freshness of Verveine and Aromatic Lavender. 

Opera: The splendor of the Palais Garnier: thick streams of honey are collected from hives which spread forth giddying notes of Absolute Beeswax, rendered sublime by minute additions of Sandlewood and Styrax resin.

Porte Des Lilas: The mauve lilacs overflowing garden fences, mixed here and there with puffs of rose and jasmine, paying homage to the exit of the Paris Métro 20s metro station.

Tucson: Intoxicating scents of the Far West float in the air: lightly smokey and sweet aromas of wild grasses, parched wood, immortelle flowers, and red earth, burnt by the sun.

Villa Medicis: Lavender, oregano flowers, lemon leaves, and cedar invoke the woody aroma of majestic Roman gardens and the inexpressible fragrance of ancient stones in the heat of the sun.

Yakushima: The marvelous and delicate earthy aroma exudes from the dense and luxuriant vegetation of the mysterious rain forest on the island of Yakushima, with its enormous yakusugi trunks and limpid waterfalls.

Oulan Bator: In the rough: soft leather infused with tobacco, incense, ambergris and angelica root essence. An escape into the wild desert steppe. Contains essences of angelica root, Indonesian patchouli, Balkan Tabacco absolute, Birch-wood, Incense, Ciste absolute, Vanilla Ambergris accord and Leather accord.

Aoyama: Damp wood, incense, and freshly laundered linen, evoke for Sonya Park the typical smell of an old, wooden Japanese house from the neighbourhood of Aoyama. Exquisite traces of highly-chic Patchouli (damp wood) of smoked wood (Gaiac and Vetiver) and of cloves. A harmonious chord of moss accentuates the feeling of freshness. Contains essences of Clove, Lignum Vitae, Vetiver, Patchouli, Hinokiwood Accord and Moss Acccord. Perfume designed with Françoise Caron.

Atelier De Balthus: In the painter's studio, all covered in wood panelling, time seems suspended. Through the big bay window overlooking green altitude meadows, the Northern light pours her powdery rays all over brushes, palettes, tubes, paint pots, sketched canvasses and rags still wet with linseed oil. The air is fragrant with the heady smell of turpentine mixed with lovely wisps of smoke, honey, woods, tobacco and cedar wood. Contains essences of Spanish Turpentine, Texan Cedar and Indonesian Patchouli. Perfume designed with Alexandra Monet.