Hermessence is a couture version of an accord. You must smell it on the skin. Hermessence has a special finish that you can feel when it settles into the skin, although I cannot put it into words.
Jean-Claude Ellena
Hermessence, Hermès’ highest-end collection, is not often discussed. These are works that pursue art to its fullest, described as “olfactory poems” by Jean-Claude Ellena (in Japanese), the house perfumer who created Hermessence. By poems, I mean the Japanese haiku that Ellena loves so dearly. In fact, there were actual haiku for each of these creations.
According to its rules, a Japanese haiku must be no longer than a single breath, and it should be born of a sudden flash at an unexpected moment. What I wanted for Hermessence was something that would resonate with this haiku form, evoke its mysterious feeling, disconcert us, express an understanding of simplicity, come as close to nature as possible, and yet reflect the heart.
Jean-Claude Ellena
The story goes back to 2011, when a letter arrived for Seigan Mabesoone, a French-born haiku poet and scholar of Kobayashi Issa. Written with a blue fountain pen, it came from Hermès Japon. It asked for representative works by several contemporary Japanese haiku poets on an accompanying list to be translated into French for Hermès’ house perfumer, Jean-Claude Ellena.
“I am writing to ask whether you might translate representative works by a dozen or so contemporary Japanese haiku poets into French. Our perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, who lives in Paris, has in fact developed a great interest in Japanese haiku, and I am writing on Ellena’s behalf with this personal request…”
The letter came with a list of the “dozen or so contemporary haiku poets” proposed by the person in charge. It was a good selection, one that made perfect sense. I chose a few outstanding poems by each poet, translated them into French and sent them by email.
From Sangetsuan Nippon Nikki (Sangetsuan’s Japan Diary)
Ellena was deeply moved on receiving them and sent a reply saying that a meeting with the poets to discuss haiku and perfume would be welcome. And so, in January 2012, Jean-Claude Ellena and seven contemporary haiku poets met at Hermès in Ginza.
Ellena introduced the poets to Hermessence, the ultimate expression of the haiku-like perfumes the perfumer sought to create, and each poet chose a favorite scent and dedicated a haiku to it. Has there ever been such a beautiful encounter between Japan and France? I can picture the delight on Ellena’s face.
And so, genuine verses came to inhabit the haiku perfumes that Ellena had pared down to their very essence.
Poivre Samarcande
Such coolness: living on a planet with oases (Shūgyō Takaha)
Iris Ukiyoé
Passing by, sharing the scent of iris (Teiko Inahata)
Vanille Galante
Colored shells wash up on the shore: the lengthening day (Minoru Ozawa)
Paprika Brasil
Blossoms sway: a great tree in the cool of night (Kai Hasegawa)
Brin de réglisse
A wind through green leaves has polished the evening star (Madoka Mayuzumi)
Santal Massoïa
For me, a poem: you, a deer crossing the hill (Saki Kōno)
Osmanthe Yunnan
Deep within the apricot, a jade hairpin: Venus (Dhugal Lindsay)
Ambre Narguilé
Eyes narrowed, a cat in Carthage smells the harvest moon (Seigan Mabesoone)
Vétiver Tonka
A spring, as though it had stolen the sun (Michiko Kai)
Rose Ikebana
As I bite an ear shaped like a rose, a rose gives off its scent (Yūmu Yamaguchi)
