Kan Izumi

About Kan Izumi

Kan Izumi is a Japanese artist working with fragrance and bodily perception. Based on Awaji Island, he makes wearable perfumes as well as scents for spaces, exhibitions and collaborations. His practice connects an invisible medium with physical materials, places and the people who experience them.

Career

Izumi has lived on Awaji Island since 2017 and established his atelier, Hai, in 2021. Cultivating plants, distilling materials and researching their properties form part of his creative process. He also collaborates with Kunjudo, an incense maker on the island. His commissions extend to fashion brands, hotels, restaurants and musicians, allowing scent to appear in different settings and forms.

Creative Style and Philosophy

Direct contact with plants informs his understanding of materials. He develops ideas through the senses and studies the context of a commission closely before composing. For a TOKYO CRAFT ROOM project, he brought plants and stones gathered in Tokyo back to Awaji Island to begin experiments. This movement between locations shows how research into a place can become a practical part of scent creation, alongside work with the materials themselves.

Signature Works

• *NOISE CANCELLATION*: a perfume presented with an installation at DDD HOTEL in 2024, exploring bodily perception through scent.
• *EQUIP for CFCL*: a fresh botanical fragrance incorporating Cuban mint, created as part of his collaboration with the fashion brand.