Setchu unveils minimalist fragrances that smell like river fish and tatami mats

At one point in our conversation, the Japanese designer Satoshi Kuwata takes off his cape and turns it into a hoodie, then he deconstructs it again and places it on the floor to show me how it looks like origami. Designs like this – versatile, fluid, part Western streetwear, part traditional Japanese – are the cornerstone of Setchu, the brand that won Kuwata the LVMH Prize for Young Designers in 2023 and is steadily earning him a reputation as one of the most promising designers working today.

The brand takes its name from ‘Wayo Setchu’, an aesthetic movement that began in the 19th century and saw Euro-American codes incorporated into Japanese design (‘Wayo’ signifies Japan and ‘Setchu’ means compromise). That same compromise carries into Setchu’s line of perfumes, which debuted at Pitti Fragranze last week and have just become the first fragrances ever to be stocked in every Dover Street Market store in the world. Each of the six scents within the collection combines notes inspired by a certain aspect of Japanese life with a Western counterpart. The result is fragrances that, depending on where you are from, can be familiar in some respects and strange in others, but are altogether unique.

Kuwata knew he wanted fragrances to be a part of Setchu from the very beginning, having been fascinated by scent since he arrived in London for the first time 20 years ago. ‘I arrived at London Heathrow in January and I was immediately shocked by the different smells,’ he says. ‘I realised I was familiar with Japanese smells from spring, summer, winter, but this new country smelled so different.’ Kuwata would go on to study at Central Saint Martins, train under the tailors of Savile Row, work alongside Gareth Pugh and Riccardo Tisci before launching his own brand. Still, that memory of stepping off the plane at Heathrow has stuck with Kuwata, and it's the desire to preserve a moment in time that inspired him to create scents associated with a particular time and day.

The collection starts off with Monday 9AM Genmaicha. Inspired by the tea Kuwata drinks at the start of his working week, Monday 9AM mixes genmaicha, a Japanese green tea blended with roasted rice grains, with sweeter-smelling European-style tea for a scent that is malty, slightly syrupy and, most interestingly, has a subtle burnt note.

The next scent in the collection, Wednesday 5PM Yuzu, is the brand’s take on a citrus fragrance with a combination of bitter and sharp Japanese yuzu and fresh lemon reminiscent of that found in European men’s colognes.

Thursday 1PM Ayu is the line’s most surprising scent considering it is inspired by fish. Specifically, it is inspired by the ayu, a vegetarian fish that only lives in very clean water and, according to Kuwata, who is an avid fisher, has ‘a beautiful cucumber water smell rather than a metal fish smell’. Because fishing is Kuwata’s primary way of relaxing, he asked the line’s perfumer, Julie Massé, to suggest a Western equivalent to the smell of relaxation. She suggested the smell of rocky beaches in the south of France and created a scent that blends Mediterranean solar accord, notes of a salty breeze and the dry scent of everlasting flowers with the watery cucumber and watermelon notes inspired by the ayu.

The next scent, Friday 2AM Tatami, is the most provocative in the collection. ‘I was born and grew up in a room with tatami,’ says Kuwata. ‘It’s in my DNA, but I realised there’s no scent inspired by tatami on the market right now. So I want to express something unique and also sexy, the smell of a night after a party, so it has this woody but also peppery smell.’

The final scent, 8AM Saturday Hinkoki Buro, is for the day after the party. Inspired by bathing in a tub made from hinkoki wood and its Western equivalent, taking a shower, the scent combines the depth of cyprus wood and musk with fresh touches of warm steam accord and fir needles.

All of the scents in the collection are subtle enough that you might not consciously perceive them at first, but curious enough that they work their way into your mind, like a song you heard in the background and have been humming ever since. On the day I’m introduced to the fragrances, I’m told by three different people that they never wear perfume but will be wearing these; proof that it's a perfume equivalent of the maxim, ‘you say more with less’.

laesetchu.com