Shiseido's research institute is leading an open innovation program called "fibona". The second product, "RETREAT STICK," born from one of the activities of the program called "Speedy Trial,", was launched on the Makuake platform in July.

While being in the midst of everyday life, one can experience the "fluctuations of nature" through fragrance. Developed under the concept of "S/ENSE*," which was created through the collaboration between researchers and the creative team, RETREAT STICK is also being developed in collaboration with "Hanatsubaki Ambient," an environmental music project for the Hanatsubaki website, a corporate culture magazine published by Shiseido. Original ambient music is being released in a series of four installments.

*S/ENSE: A research and development concept that examines how changes centered on "scent" that occur in various natural environments affect people's five senses

Hanatsubaki Ambient connects “fragrance” and “music”

Toda:
My name is Akiko Toda. I am a member of the Art & Heritage Management Department, which manages and curates Shiseido's art activities, historical materials, and other heritage assets and disseminates them internally and externally.

H.TAKAHASHI:
The four of us are working as an ambient group called UNKNOWN ME. P-RUFF, Yakenohara, and I are in charge of composition, and Yudai Osawa is in charge of video production and graphic design for our live performances.

──How did you come to collaborate with fibona's RETREAT STICK and Hanatsubaki Ambient?

Sano:
The concept of RETREAT STICK, which was created against the backdrop of changes in life during the COVID-19 pandemic, was inspired by the wavering of scents in the natural world to provide a time of retreat. Upon its release, someone within the project asked if it would be possible to offer a healing experience not only through fragrance, but also through a combination of poetry, music, and other elements.

While thinking about what we could do, we came across the Hanatsubaki Ambient music content. Ambient music, also known as environmental music, has a high affinity with the concept of RETREAT STICK, and we thought it would be a good idea to collaborate.

Toda:
Hanatsubaki Ambient was originally started as a web project in conjunction with the Autumn/Winter 2021 issue of Hanatsubaki. I got the original idea around 2017-2018. While working on another music project, Hanatsubaki Hour, I learned about an album called "A・I・R (Air In Resort)" (1984), a collaboration between Shiseido and Hiroshi Yoshimura who is a musician that is considered to be a pioneer of Japanese environmental music.

I thought it was very wonderful that Shiseido has such a history. I believe that today's busy people are the ones who need ambient music. This realization came to fruition when the pandemic occurred. The Hanatsubaki Ambient project was launched with the hope of offering a moment to return to oneself in the midst of daily life, where the mind is often in a state of flux.

The pandemic, environmental music for human life

Toda:
Shinzo Fukuhara, the first president of Shiseido, also enjoyed listening to Satie. Shinzo was also the original creator of Shiseido's symbolic camellia mark, and perhaps there is a strong affinity between Shiseido's sense of beauty and ambient music. During the period of refraining from going out or meeting people too much during the pandemic, I often listened to ambient music in order to dive into myself. Once, while taking a bath, I felt as if I was leaving my body, and I was amazed at the power of ambient music.

Sano:
When I was confined to my house during the pandemic, I often selected ambient music to listen to. I remember that I actively chose ambient music whenever I felt the need to lift my spirits, even though I was limited in how much I could go out or meet people.

──Why did you ask UNKNOWN ME to produce the music for the Hanatsubaki Ambient serial project in collaboration with RETREAT STICK?

Toda:
The concept was "music for city dwellers," and I felt the worldview of the songs, which seemed to be designed with elements of nature, had a scent of science that is in line with art & science, a part of Shiseido's DNA. And because I felt that such elements fit perfectly with the image of S/PARK.

Sano:
At Ms. Toda's suggestion, the entire creative team of RETREAT STICK listened to UNKNOWN ME's sound files and unanimously agreed, "We want to work with these people!” We had a gut feeling that they would enhance the image of RETREAT STICK.

──UNKNOWN ME, what was your impression of the RETREAT STICK concept and product?

Osawa:
RETREAT STICK is a fragrance item that you wear for a personal “retreat.” I wear perfume when I meet people, but I felt it was a new idea to wear it alone for myself.

For us, "to make oneself comfortable" is similar to ambient music. Rock and dance music have a strong "enjoy-it-with-others" element, but ambient music is more for individual enjoyment.

H.TAKAHASHI:
I sometimes use fragrance in a dramatic way to create an environment for listening to music, so I was very interested in the concept of "S/ENCE" and agree with it. With the RETREAT STICK, the scent wafts only within a one-meter radius around you. That is what I feel is ambient-like.

UNKNOWN ME and Shiseido share a common interest in beauty

RETREAT STICK is a product that combines two types of scents: the scent of flowers that reminds us of the changes in nature in the morning and evening, and the scent of wind and rain, which reminds us of the changes in the climate. For this project, we asked UNKNOWN ME to create a piece of music based on the theme of a situation that is evoked by the fragrance that mixes each of these two scents.

"A Rainbow in Meditative Air" was released at the end of July and was inspired by a rainbow after an evening shower. In the future, the group plans to produce songs based on themes such as the bride of a fox and a tree-lined street in the evening with dancing, withered leaves.

──What do the members of UNKNOWN ME focus on when writing songs?

P-RUFF:
For each theme, we try to avoid putting in any sound that is too straightforward as much as possible. Even if it is a rainy song, we think about how can we create a rainy atmosphere without putting in the sound of rain. I hope that our trial-and-error approach worked well, and that we were able to incorporate sounds in the songs in a way that gives the listener a sense of the situations in which the themes were set.

Yakenohara:
We hope that our music will expand the worldview of RETREAT STICK, and RETREAT STICK may change the way our music is heard. We feel that the synergistic effect will be a good one.

Toda:
We are all very impressed with the research and consideration that everyone has put into Shiseido since we first started talking about this series.

Yakenohara:
Actually, I have personally liked Shiseido for a long time. I don't buy a lot of their products, but I have read their books and have been on factory tours. I also have the collaborative album with Hiroshi Yoshimura, "A・I・R (Air In Resort)," which Ms. Toda mentioned earlier.

Toda:
Oh really? Thank you very much.

Yakenohara:
The theme of our latest album, "BISHINTAI," was "beauty," and we referenced many Shiseido things. Not only the artwork and fonts on the album cover, but also the content of the album was strongly influenced by Shiseido's chic and cultural beauty and its history. When we were making the music, we were talking about "that feeling of a shuffling Mincho font.” So, to be honest, when I heard about the Hanatsubaki Ambient project, I thought, "Here it is at last!”

Toda:
I see that was the case. Actually, when I was looking for someone to produce the music, I took one look at the BISHINTAI album jacket and thought, "These are the people I want to work with!” I was so happy. I am very happy.

A new time created by fragrance and music

──I hear that the September 17 RETREAT STICK pre-experience event is a collaboration with Hanatsubaki Ambient where you can enjoy UNKNOWN ME live.

Toda:
Yes, we have a new RETREAT STICK scent for you to experience. In addition to the RETREAT STICK scent retreat experience, there will be a live performance by UNKNOWN ME and a conversation between UNKNOWN ME and the development team about S/ENSE and the ambient music.

P-RUFF:
Since the event is held on a weekend, it would be great if people who are usually leading hectic lives could have a relaxing time and go home thinking, "I want to start working hard again next week.”

Yakenohara:
As for UNKNOWN ME's live activities, we are very much looking forward to a musical experience in a large space with high ceilings, where the music is one element of the space. This suits our musicality better than a place like a live music club. Since this event focuses on the "environment," we hope to expand the event beyond the usual live performance. Even though it is a live concert, we hope that people will experience the fragrance and music while spending time as they like, rather than just gazing at us.

Osawa:
For the live performance, we will be playing a video on the wall-sized crystal LED display on the first floor of the GIC. This is the first time we have had such a large screen, so we are looking forward to seeing how everyone reacts to it. We hope that the good smells and music will help people leave social anxiety behind, even if only temporarily, and lead them to a richer life.

Toda:
It is exactly “a rich life.” Shiseido mainly produces cosmetics, but at the same time, we have been working to help create a culture based on a rich, beautiful lifestyle through activities and art in addition to our products, such as Hanatsubaki. I feel that this event is the embodiment of that. The event will be an opportunity to detach, even for a moment, from overthinking and to awaken the dormant senses of the body. We hope to provide such an experience to visitors through the "environment" of fragrance, music, and images.

Outline of the event for consumers who bought the RETREAT STICK on Makuake

●Date: Saturday, September 17, 2022, 15:00-16:30 (Open: 14:30)
●Venue: Shiseido Global Innovation Center (S/PARK) 1F, 1-2-11 Takashima, Nishi-ku, Yokohama
●Contents:
-Scent-focused service by the RETREAT STICK Development Team
-Live sound and video performance by UNKNOWN ME
-Talks by the development team and UNKNOWN ME
●Makuake project page (Japanese only)
RETREAT STICK, created by Shiseido's fragrance research, consists of four scents to apply to the skin to feel closer to nature

[Profile]
UNKNOWN ME
The four-member ambient group consists of three composers (Yakenohara, P-RUFF, and H.TAKAHASHI) and graphic designer and video artist Yudai Osawa. In July 2016, they released their debut cassette "SUNDAY VOID". The 7-inch "AWA EP" was launched in November 2016. The subtropical-themed "Subtropics" on the long-established LA-based indie label “Not Not Fun” was released in February 2017, and in December 2018, also on “Not Not Fun”, “ASTRONAUTS," a 20th century space-themed project, was released. “Subtropics" was selected as a buzzworthy work by "FACT Magazine" in the U.K., and performed live in Japan with "Gigi Masin," a key figure in the ambient revival, and at "MUTEK," a global festival of electronic music and digital art, etc. In April 2021, their long-awaited 1st LP "BISHINTAI", which is the environmental music for urban dwellers and is based on the theme of the unknown beauty of the mind and body, was released.
https://unknownme.bandcamp.com/



(Text: Yue Arima, Edit: Kaori Sasagawa)