Tansu Silk

In Japan, it’s customary to store one’s things of value — books and kimonos passed on from generation to generation — in wooden chests known as tansu. A rare combination of beauty and utility, each tansu carries the history of the family it belongs to. The scent it exhales upon opening — the warmth of precious textiles kept fresh by incense — is at the core of Tansu Silk, a perfume imbued with golden patina of the past.

A woody musk to keep your memories alive, gently preserved by Maria Golovina.

‘The osmanthus accord — that sweet scent of tiny golden flowers blooming in аutumn — is central to Tansu Silk. I remember my amazement at discovering how different the fragrance of a living osmanthus tree in bloom was from that of its absolute: the osmanthus we usually find in perfumes smells like suede and jam, while the “real” one, the one I was going for, sparkles like peach soda. When the wind blows in Tokyo, moving all that golden, fragrant, fizzing air through the streets, I always want to expose my face to it. It makes me feel like I’m in love. Like it’s spring amidst October.

I wanted to give this perfume a sense of time — without making it a retro one. This is where the modern musks came in handy, clean, but with a touch of carnality, like the sweet, warm scent of your loved one lingering on his clothes. Cosmone, a musk I used in Tansu Silk, is warm, rich and elegant, with those amazing sweet aspects of nitromusks from the 1920s. Only better, because it’s modern, safe and biodegradable.

‘I must confess there’s no raw material I love more than the sandalwood oil from New Caledonia, its scent so smooth and intoxicating I can’t even imagine being replaced with anything else. I could “listen” to it indefinitely, a bit like they do during incense ceremonies in Japan. Powered by osmanthus, bracing hinoki, powdery ambrette and vintage musks of Tansu Silk, all sandalwood’s colors — creamy, woody and green — begin to breathe,’ — Maria Golovina.