A fragrance house, a kiln and a design studio

Shiono Koryo has been blending fragrance in Japan since 1808. In December 2016 it set up Kitchibe in Tokyo as a wholly owned company with a much narrower brief than the parent: room fragrance for Japanese interiors, made with two outside partners rather than entirely in house.

Housen-gama, a Mino ware kiln in Toki, Gifu, makes the ceramics. Qurz Inc., the Tokyo studio of Takumi Shimamura, does the design. Shimamura is best known outside Japan for the monacca bag, a shoulder bag pressed from Japanese cedar. The kiln had launched its likestone ceramic at Maison et Objet in January 2016, and Kitchibe followed later that year.

Where the name comes from

Kitchibe has never published an explanation, so this is inference rather than fact: the likely source is the founding shop name. Shiono Koryo traded as Shionoya Kichibee. Nothing on the company’s own pages confirms it.

Nine scents

Each is published with top, middle and base notes the way a perfumer would write them, and in several cases the base note is not an ingredient at all but a place or a material.

What we carry

All nine oils in 100ml bottles, split as Kitchibe splits them: Akafuji, Ikebana and Karesansui in the Sense line, and Sakura, Washi, Matcha, Yuki, Kitchibe and Yuzu in the Signature line.

With them, the Tumi diffuser, replacement diffuser sticks, and the Mica starter kit, which pairs a diffuser with an oil for anyone starting from nothing.

The whole range is oil and reed. Kitchibe does not make a room spray and does not make incense, so there is no aerosol and nothing to burn.