A Sense of Belonging
Orientation
NOTEBOOK
I have often wondered where the "home" of a practice truly resides.
My own path has been a series of shifts – from a provincial city childhood to formative years in Tokyo, where nature was woven into the rhythm of the city through seasonal rituals. These years gifted me an early language for the seasons, yet it was in London that I spent the majority of my adult life and where I truly found my own voice and direction. It is a city of layers, where diverse histories and global voices intersect – a place that taught me to look at the world through a prism of many cultures. These foundations remained even as life took me to Hong Kong, a city defined by its transient energy and the collision of cultures.
During my years in Hong Kong, I found that working with scent became a way to retrieve a sense of belonging when my surroundings felt transient. Working with scent materials helped me anchor my identity, finding a sense of continuity in the air when the geography felt unfamiliar. This connection has been further enriched in recent years by frequent visits to Kyoto, where I learnt that heritage is not static. It is a living resonance found in the choice of a specific tea, the texture of a ceramic bowl, or the scent of the air after a summer rain.
In the KŌSCENT studio, these geographical borders begin to dissolve. While the principles of Harmony or Respect may find their roots in Eastern traditions, they are, at their heart, universal orientations. They are just as relevant in a London townhouse as they are in the high-density hum of Hong Kong or the raw presence of New Zealand.
The botanical materials I work with are travellers, much like I am. As a practitioner, my role is to facilitate a dialogue between these diverse origins. We are celebrating a shared human experience. Scent is a language that bypasses the need for translation, connecting us not to a map, but to a moment of clarity. For me, "home" is found in that very breath – the space where our personal histories meet the world’s offerings.
