Aesop brings fragrance into dialogue with Japanese craftsmanship and the ethereal language of paper in Of Scent and Stanza, a multisensory exhibition at The Hyōkeikan, Tokyo National Museum, running from September 4th–7th, 2026. Created around the house’s Fragrant Fables collection, the exhibition traces the ways scent can move beyond the bottle into literature, sound, performance and visual expression.
A weightless landscape of Japanese craftsmanship
For Of Scent and Stanza, Japanese washi paper artisan Yuko Tanino has created a series of bespoke works inspired by the character and botanical notes of selected fragrances. Delicate handmade sheets hang throughout the museum’s historic interiors, seemingly suspended in mid-air and giving tangible form to the elusive nature of scent.
The exhibition introduces Aesop’s Fragrant Fables collection of Eaux de Parfum, revealing the literary, olfactory and aesthetic ideas that shape its fragrances. Across each room, scent enters into conversation with storytelling and visual composition, reflecting Aesop’s enduring connection between perfumery and the arts.
The exhibition also marks the arrival of Unforeseen Aer, a new fragrance within the Fragrant Fables collection. With Of Scent and Stanza, Aesop treats perfume as more than a sensory object: it becomes a cultural language—something to be read, heard and imagined as much as smelled.
Photography courtesy of AESOP
