Ok so, this all started in the winter of 2017 in Brooklyn, New York. Every weekend for about three months, I took the G train from Lorimer to Clinton Hill to dive nose-first into the world of perfumery. I never considered perfumery to be an industry in which one could work, TBH, but a hookup a few months prior told me he worked in the fragrance industry mid-stripping. I looked around and noticed a dozen and a half perfume bottles sitting around his room like mini glass castles filled with personalities.
I was in my “find my creative” voice era and thought, Why not perfumery? After my hookup with Prince Heaven Scent, I started to look into how one gets into perfumery. Who are the people that are actually making the perfumes? Fortunately, I discovered Pratt Institute’s Perfumery certificate program, and I had educational credits to use. This was destiny! I thought (delusionally).
The students in the course ranged from a mom, son, and daughter trio who drove in from Long Island each weekend to a gay Argentinian architect turned perfumer to me, fully twinked out and pre-transition.
Our teacher for the program was a zany New Yorker who would always read the fragrance industry down. I’m still not sure why he was so jaded, but maybe that’s what happens when you work in an old-guard, ultra-luxury industry driven by profit instead of creativity. He’s not the one making the perfumes but the guy who translates between the perfumer and the client, turning creative visions into another musky scent.
In Raymond's class, I learned to sniff out the subtle nuances in fragrances (did you know that rose has lychee, honey, hay, and jasmine notes in it?) and discovered the broad-scale impact of fragrance not just as a product but as an experiential medium.
After I completed the program, I kept exploring the path beyond the doors I had opened. I started writing about how AI is shaking up the perfume world and the rise of gender-fluid fragrances. My adventure took me to Los Angeles, where I taught an olfaction class at the Institute for Art & Olfaction. That’s when I realized the artistic implications of perfume and fragrance as a whole.
Think about it: whether it’s a grungy basement club or a chic hotel, the smell is what hits you first and sticks with you. We're so focused on what we see that we often overlook scent—until it’s so fab or bad that we can’t help but notice. Scents are directly tied to our brain's emotional center, so a whiff of something familiar can instantly take you back to memories of your ex or your trip to that one beach resort. I wanted to use this power to create experiences that connect people more deeply.
Enter KŌDŌ, my fragrance brand. Kōdō translates to “way of the fragrance” in Japanese, and is part of Japan's traditional artistic practices like flower arranging, tea ceremonies, and calligraphy. Historically, Japanese fragrance appreciation involved incense (which, spoiler alert, we might start carrying soon!), but I’ve expanded this to candles because who doesn’t love a candle?
I mixed my Japanese heritage with my love of fragrance to create KŌDŌ. Our candles, for instance, bring an extra touch of intimacy and luxury to the fragrance experience, making every moment with them feel special.
I mixed my Japanese heritage with my love of fragrance to create KŌDŌ. We’re starting with candles and will continue to expand on fragrance-forward experiences that shift your experience with scents and spaces. Come along for the ride and find your way of the fragrance.