kentaro yamada develops fragrance for the contemporary neanderthal

kentaro yamada develops fragrance for the contemporary neanderthal
all images courtesy of kentaro yamada

thinking of neanderthals, your thoughts may not automatically drift to their superior hygiene. in fact, it may be directly the opposite. however, the creative mind of artist kentaro yamada, imagined something else. in an alternative history, yamada considered what would have happened had the ancient beings continued to survive. he found motivation through perfumes, a highly-aestheticized and wide-spread product of the modern world, but also a technology utilized by humans thousands of years ago. 

a hard rock chips away at the brittle flint 

‘neandertal’ is as much a fragrance as it is a piece of art. the bottle was created through close collaboration with a master of knapping –using blunt hand-tools to fracture brittle stones. once the basic shape was created, yamada traveled to portuguese porcelain manufacturer visa alegre. throughout an artist residency, the form was reworked and improved for casting processes. finally, the design was slip-cast resulting in small, rock-like formations of porcelain.

as the bottles were being completed, yamada was working with scottish perfumer euan mccall of les deux garcons. together, they imagined a scent for the contemporary neanderthal. had our close ancestors survived the past 35,000 years, yamada believes they would form an intellectual and sophisticated population. the resulting perfume is modern in its composition, but subtly hints at our ancient, often forgotten relatives.   

constructing a flint hand-axe 

flint sourced from mines in norfolk, england 

bottles are made from porcelain with slip-casting methods

each piece is then fired at 140°c

designboom has received this project through its ‘DIY submissions’ feature, which welcomes readers to submit their own work for publication. see more designboom readers submissions here.