Creative Japanese Incense Workshop – Scent from 1000 Years Ago

At this in-person workshop facilitated by scent communicator Hiro Nakayama, experience how to create your own incense with scents like the millennia-old “KAYO” lotus flower blend. All participants will blend and mold their own incense by hand, as well as get an introduction to the basics of Japanese incense history and ingredients, and further develop their own olfactory senses. This workshop is hosted in conjunction with the Japanese Life through Scent display at the WAZA Showroom & Online Shop, which participants can visit to experience more artisanal scents after the program.

Program Schedule

• 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM　 Event Check-in
• 2:00 PM - 2:10 PM　 Introduction
• 2:10 PM - 2:40 PM　 Lecture
• 2:40 PM - 3:50 PM　 Incense Workshop
• 3:50 PM - 4:00 PM　 Closing Remarks

Please be advised that in this workshop you will spend more time smelling materials than you do in your everyday life. Some people occasionally report feeling light-headed. On rare occasions, people experience sensitivities to certain aromatics. We take every precaution for health and safety, and take frequent breaks. However, if you know that you are extremely sensitive to scent, please bear this information in mind.

"Japanese Life Through Scent"
A Limited Time Display at WAZA Showroom & Online Shop

To showcase the diversity of Japanese scent, WAZA Showroom & Online Shop presents a curated display of three artisanal brands from traditional blends to innovative form: HA KO, KOUSAIDO, and BRIDGE AND BLEND (founded by Hiro Nakayama, who will also lead the Creative Incense Workshop). From HA KO’s paper leaf incense, to KOUSAIDO’s classic sticks and stands, to BRIDGE AND BLEND’s “Six in Sense” suite of fragrances, discover three ways that Japan’s scent heritage can be part of daily life.

Speaker Profile

Hiro Nakayama
Scent Communicator, founder of Project Felicia, a platform to explore the true potential of scent and the owner of incense maker, BRIDGE AND BLEND.

She started her career in the advertising industry in Los Angeles, worked in the marketing and human resources industries in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo, and later at ... Read more.

a fragrance house, Givaudan Singapore, as marketing manager. After a 15 year + absence from Japan, she relocated back in 2017. Currently, she works for the top CRM company and serves as a facilitator of #IamRemarkable powered by Google as well.

She writes regularly for "Beyond Magazine" a lifestyle media for the millennial and Gen Z generations, and occasionally contributes articles and comments to trade journals in the fragrance industry.

Graduated from California State University with a master's degree in Communications.

Presently based in Tokyo, pursuing the true potential of scent.

Project Felicia
Project Felicia is the operating company of the incense brand “Bridge and Blend,” founded in New York in 2013 as a platform to explore the possibilities of scent.