Brief Explanation

Tokyo is voracious. It snaps up the world's brand-name fashions, readily absorbs cultures from all over the globe, and is highly receptive to change. Amble its streets, and the aromas of New York and Paris and a myriad other cities and cultures caress your nose. We decided on the idea of capturing the essence of Tokyo by giving visual shape to the city's scents. Our aim was to create a surreal effect with fragrances virtually emanating from the page.

The Brief

The brief from WWD Japan, publisher of the fashion periodical WWD Magazine, was to produce a ten-page spread for a special issue dedicated to Tokyo. In the special, they wanted to capture a magical side of Tokyo no one had ever seen.

How the final design was conceived

We carefully laid out a vast number of perfume bottles — more than a thousand — to represent the buildings of the city, and thus produced several fanciful cityscapes inspired by the likes of Tokyo, New York, and Paris. While using the same perfume bottles for each, we succeeded in achieving completely different effects by varying the staging. By doing so, we challenged to convey Tokyo's protean character.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

When the issue went on sale, the response from readers was so incredible that to the client decided to produce a set of posters using the visuals from the magazine. The posters were displayed at the party held in honor of the issue's appearance, the publisher's gallery space, and certain bookstores. Thanks in part to their impact, the magazine kept selling until it was completely sold out — a first in the magazine's history.