The futuristic, dystopian world that the New York-based artist Daniel Arsham has created during the course of his career takes a new form with the release of his collaboration with the boutique fragrance and design studio Joya, this week.
The limited-edition object – a slip-cast porcelain exoplanet, inspired by Arsham’s time spent at the Jet Propulsion Lab of NASA (where much of the focus is on searching for these 3,500 moons or planets that orbit around a star outside of our solar system) – is actually a candle in deconstructed form. Comprised of two planetary halves that can be stored as a whole, the avant-garde sculpture requires its owner to insert a cotton wick into the base and fill it up with an accompanying canister of scented soy wax beads for use.
Fragrance-wise, Arsham’s scent is actually something Joya had originally designed and produced for exclusive use within his studio and during international exhibitions.
‘Daniel came to us years ago in search of a signature scent to complement his exhibitions and projects – a unifying, experiential element that could connect to his practice and studio,’ recalls Joya’s founder Frederick Bouchardy. ‘This scent has been around (albeit invisibly) at his exhibitions globally for awhile.’
Essentially a fig-based construction – a preference of Arsham’s, the perfume brings together modern, herbaceous top notes, a heart of jasmine and sweet milky aldehydes that evoke a creamy coconut, and a velvet-like drydown that leaves behind a trail of woody amber.
‘We layered musk and citrus on top of and under these to make everything seamless, so it might blend into the background, but also be present and inspiring, clean and ethereal,’ adds Bouchardy.
In total, the set reflects Arsham’s longtime fascination with the universe and space, while also alluding to the many processes he’s experimented with at his studio. While a visit to Arsham’s studio might be limited to only a select few, perfuming your space in its likeness is now entirely in the realm of possibility. §
