I was introduced to the Della Chaung KyotEau project through Michelle Kydd of Glass Petal Smoke. Actually, I was first introduced (via Twitter) to Della Chuang (Ms. Chuang was in Helsinki at the time, and I love Twitter and Facebook for the ability to instantly connect to people around the world) and her project immediately careened onto my radar.
Della is a professional graphic designer and has worked as an art designer at Ralph Lauren Fragrances (where she had a hand in the packaging/bottle design for Polo Blue and Pure Turquoise), as well as for Tom Ford Beauty in New York (White Patchouli).
In February of 2006, Ms. Chuang quite her job with Ralph Lauren and embarked on a journey of self-discovery through art, photography, writing and design. She set out to create her own piece of fully realized fragrance design, from the scent itself to the bottle and packaging in which it would be contained. The finished fragrance (KyotEau) is the result of an intensely personal collaboration with perfumer Christopher Laudamiel, and her book, "KyotEau: Bottled Memories", is like a stream-of-consciousness journal that reveals -- layer by careful, artful layer -- the inspiration behind the creative process.
"It was not easy to find a talented and open-minded perfumer who would be able to relate to the sensations of Kyoto," she writes in the preface to her book. "I was hoping for a true collaboration, someone with whom I could discuss my draft articles and my photographs and throw around ideas. I was extremely lucky to come across the exuberant French perfumer Christopher Laudamiel. We clicked after his strong resonance with 'If' -- a poem I wrote to capture my sensory adventures in Kyoto."
The KyotEau fragrance has not yet been released on the market as it's very much a personal project, and while Ms. Chuang has completed the full bottle and packaging design, with a sample of the finished fragrance included in a hollowed-out paper slab at the back of the book, getting a one-off project like this produced, bottled and onto store shelves is a lesson in humility, if not the staggering economics behind the marketing and success of any perfume.
KyotEau, as a fragrance, is a quiet, meditative work that comes across like the love-child of Christopher Laudamiel and Mark Buxton -- a curl of incense dancing on a knife's blade. You can literally see the influences behind the scent's creation as you page through the book: rows of glowing paper lanterns; a conversation on the steps of a temple, voices as hushed as the surrounding trees; thick strokes of blank ink calligraphy spreading across parchment; a burst of red maple leaves in afternoon sunlight.
KyotEau smells of cypress trees, stained hardwood floors, lacquered boxes, horsehair brushes dipped in ink and slowly ascending streams of temple smoke shot through with a delicate sweetness. It's everything I wished Comme des Garcons' Hinoki would have been, and showcases perfumer Laudamiel's wistful, tender side. If Skarb (the fragrance Laudamiel designed for Humiecki & Graef) was intended as an olfactory representation of "how men cry", then KyotEau is olfactory shorthand for how a young, talented graphic designer from New York sounds the depths of her own cultural history to find her future.
In another part of "KyotEau: Bottled Memories", Della Chuang writes: "Many in the fragrance and beauty industry have observed that this industry is spending huge amounts of money on elaborate and seductive perfume ads, while their creative department is asked to churn out truly hideous packaging and point-of-purchase materials untouched by good design or by good taste."
In her own effort to produce something both deeply personal and satisfyingly creative for the contemporary fragrance market, Ms. Chuang has embraced the Japanese ideal of simplicity, with its lack of pretension and overt ornamentation, in order to allow the beauty of the scent itself to shine. But KyotEau is "simple" in the way that the human heart is simple -- i.e. deceptively. Yes, we all want fulfillment, but there are a thousand and one roads to get there. Chuang took the one less traveled (and it makes all the difference).
You can read more about Della Chuang -- and her thoughts on design, art and commerce -- at her blog, Nomadic Design.
***Note: "KyotEau: Bottled Memories" is not yet available for consumer purchase (I was given an advance copy by Ms. Chuang), but Della tells me that Lucky Scent will be offering the book for sale on their website within the next few weeks. She's still in negotiations over how to bring the actual fragrance to the market in bottled form.
UPDATE:
I was just told that Della's book is now available online directly from Lucky Scent: KyotEau: Bottled Memories
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