Sekizuka’s “Kasane Nioi” is an exhibition that began this spring. Through a fortunate connection, the second installment will be held at A&S. From Kasane no Irome, a book that offers a comprehensive exploration of the beauty of color found in Heian-period dress, Sekizuka selected three colors. Drawing on the impressions evoked by these colors, perfumer Kan Izumi created three fragrances, while Sekizuka created three pairs of footwear.
Color, fragrance, and footwear provide a way to imagine the memories and seasonal scenes they may evoke in each of us. When one sees a color, one imagines its name and a scene from the particular season. When one smells a fragrance, one senses nature and the air of the season. When one sees footwear, one imagines the person who wears it and the way they might dress.
In this way, we invite you to experience a space where, through what lies before you, you can sense the memories and images that unfold beyond them.
In addition, a Sekizuka zori order event will be held. This time, alongside the footwear, A&S Kimono Coats for the autumn and winter season will also be available to order, with three styles—SP Kimono Coat, Balloon Kimono Coat, and Bal Collar Kimono Coat—each available in a choice of ten materials.
Kage 影
[FRONT] Black
[BACK] Nurebairo (濡羽色)
The blue-black sheen of a crow’s feathers deepened by rain, the warmth lingering within them, and a black texture that seems to absorb light are translated into fragrance. Diverse elements reminiscent of ink, charcoal, fragrant woods, roots, and moss are layered one upon another, forming a dry fragrance profile centered on borneol and patchouli. As individual colors gradually lose their boundaries and coalesce into one, black emerges from beyond countless layers, expressing a contemporary “Kage” (shadow). An A&S exclusive.
[FRONT] Black
[BACK] Nurebairo (濡羽色)
The blue-black sheen of a crow’s feathers deepened by rain, the warmth lingering within them, and a black texture that seems to absorb light are translated into fragrance. Diverse elements reminiscent of ink, charcoal, fragrant woods, roots, and moss are layered one upon another, forming a dry fragrance profile centered on borneol and patchouli. As individual colors gradually lose their boundaries and coalesce into one, black emerges from beyond countless layers, expressing a contemporary “Kage” (shadow). An A&S exclusive.
Momiji 紅葉
[FRONT] Red
[BACK] Kokiakairo (濃赤色)
“Kariginusho” (雁衣鈔)
The maple of late autumn, its leaves turned a vivid red by frost. That fiery hue and the dry texture of the leaves as winter draws near are translated into fragrance. Litsea cubeba and cardamom define the clear contours of red, layered with the dry leaves and traces of smoke evoked by patchouli and cade, alongside a quiet Japanese landscape reminiscent of rush and hinoki cypress.
[FRONT] Red
[BACK] Kokiakairo (濃赤色)
“Kariginusho” (雁衣鈔)
The maple of late autumn, its leaves turned a vivid red by frost. That fiery hue and the dry texture of the leaves as winter draws near are translated into fragrance. Litsea cubeba and cardamom define the clear contours of red, layered with the dry leaves and traces of smoke evoked by patchouli and cade, alongside a quiet Japanese landscape reminiscent of rush and hinoki cypress.
Aonibi 青鈍
[FRONT] Kokihanada (濃縹)
[BACK] Kokihanada (濃縹)
“Shikiirome” (四季色目)
A muted, blue-tinged gray, as though indigo had been layered over pale ink. Its subdued color and a faint, wavering sheen, like a film of oil across the surface of water, are expressed as a fragrance. Built around blue cypress, with seaweed, plants growing along the shore, and the animalic presence of ambergris layered in, the fragrance evokes not water itself, but a quiet depth that shifts from blue to violet, gray, and transparency through materials that contain moisture within them.
[FRONT] Kokihanada (濃縹)
[BACK] Kokihanada (濃縹)
“Shikiirome” (四季色目)
A muted, blue-tinged gray, as though indigo had been layered over pale ink. Its subdued color and a faint, wavering sheen, like a film of oil across the surface of water, are expressed as a fragrance. Built around blue cypress, with seaweed, plants growing along the shore, and the animalic presence of ambergris layered in, the fragrance evokes not water itself, but a quiet depth that shifts from blue to violet, gray, and transparency through materials that contain moisture within them.
PROFILE
Shinji Sekizuka
Born in Niigata in 1982, Shinji Sekizuka heads Hakimono Sekizuka. After approximately ten years of training at a long-established footwear shop in Kyoto, he opened his own atelier and gallery in Iwakura, Kyoto, in April 2020. He carries out every stage of the process by hand, pursuing comfort while creating freely, unconstrained by the conventional notion that footwear is synonymous with traditional Japanese dress.
Kan Izumi
Kan Izumi heads Olfactive Studio Ne. Based on Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture, he is an artist whose practice centers on reviving the body’s sensory awareness through fragrance. He is involved in the cultivation of plants, distillation, and research into raw materials.
