Issey Miyake | Le Sel d’Issey

It’s no secret that nature was central to the philosophies and creative currents of the late Issey Miyake. The House’s 1992 debut scent L’Eau d’Issey and its masculine counterpart, released two years later, reflected the Japanese design legend’s perception of water as the alpha and omega of the natural world. Now, 30 years since that first men’s fragrance hit shelves, the ultimate elemental flavouring – salt – as the brand describes, “a condiment of life, that awakens the senses and stimulates energy,” takes centre stage in Le Sel d’Issey – a name chosen by Miyake himself.

Whilst the resulting scent - an irrepressibly fresh coalescence of marine and earthy notes – unravels with such ease you’d be forgiven for thinking it was merely the mineral’s natural aroma, nailing down a brief with such expansive range for symbolic interpretation required one of Grasse’s most innovative alumnus working today. Enter, Quentin Bisch (known also for work on the likes of Gucci Guilty Elixir and Gaultier Divine), who looked to the constant, undulating dance salt undertakes between the sea and land, a fluidity that lends itself to The House’s fashion legacy, to embody Miyake’s brief. This natural relationship is mirrored in the olfactory experience of the final product, with the traces of seawater found in extracts of laminaria seaweed and oakmoss, and the natural vetiver cultivated in sand and cedarwood that offers earthy depth, rising and falling in an infinite medley of sensations throughout one wear.

And it’s only right that a product so indebted creatively to the natural world would prioritise being kind to it. With a bottle destined to remain in grooming routines for years to come, it’s made from 20% recycled glass and becomes the brand’s first refillable men’s fragrance. There’s a symbolic poignancy to its ability to hold such a definitive scent too – envisioned by Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka, its design was signed off by Miyake before his passing.