The worlds of art, scent and Māori storytelling have come together in Journey of Scent - a new six-part series exploring memory and identity through perfume.
The kaupapa, launched on Monday, follows scent artist Nathan Taare (Ngāti Porou) and perfume enthusiast Whitney Steel (Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Te Ātiawa) as they create bespoke fragrances inspired by the lives of well-known Aotearoa creatives.
Each episode sees Taare craft a perfume for a different guest - including Te Rongo Kirkwood, Troy Kingi and Ana Scotney; acclaimed poet Tayi Tibble; award winning chef Kia Kanuta; and te reo Māori expert Dr Anaha Hiini - drawing on their memories, emotions and connection to place.
Photo: Supplied
The idea for the series came unexpectedly.
Series creator and co-producer Jessica Sanderson (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Ātiawa) first approached Taare to create a perfume for her brother's wedding. However, she did not realise it would spark a whole new kaupapa.
"I asked Nate to create a scent for my brother's wedding - his wife's from the States," she said.
"He asked her where she was from, she shared a few memories, and he put some scents under her nose. She just started crying. She said, 'That's my home. How did you do that?'"
That moment, Sanderson said, showed how scent connects deeply to whakapapa and emotion.
"I lost my father when I was young, and scent takes me straight there. To my loved ones of the past.
"I know how important scent is to everyone. Everyone who's lost someone, everyone who's felt nostalgia - it's a universal experience. I thought, oh, this is a show."
Photo: Supplied
Taare, the founder of niche perfume house OF BODY, first gained attention in 2023 for his scent design inspired by Auckland's Karangahape 'K' Road.
Originally working in film and television as a production designer and art director, scent was never part of the plan.
"It started out as a side hustle," he told RNZ. "Now it's become what it is."
Taare said that perfumery is just another way to express creativity.
"I come from a background of sound and music and visual art. So using colour and ways to communicate an idea through visuals or sound - it's the same with scent.
"These materials just replace those mediums."
Each episode challenges Taare to translate ideas, memories and emotions into a sensory language.
"It's about taking those ideas ... and translating them into a palette I can compose from.
"There's a lot of obvious connections between an idea, a colour, a mood, or an emotion, and that connection to a scent material."
Some ingredients come with deep meaning, he said.
Episode 4 features award winning Chef Kia Kanuta and the creation of his scent 'HOROPITO'. Photo: Supplied
"Te Rongo Kirkwood's scent was very connected to the spiritual and cosmic realm ... it was esoteric, almost fantasy-like, which I love. And Anaha Hiini's scent connected to Ngāwhāriki and the sulphur of Rotorua."
Taare tries to weave local ingredients into every scent he makes.
"Perfumery is very Western in its construct, and they tend to take things from Indigenous cultures and remove them from context," he said.
"So I try to bring something that's very local to our whenua into every one of those scents. We have some of the best botanicals and rongoā in the world right here."
He finds joy in "finding beauty in the unexpected".
"These aroma materials offer me something that feels endless and infinite in terms of possibilities. It's just this constant loop of learning."
He hopes more Māori will find their own place in the art of scent-making.
"We already have it through rongoā," he said.
"Forget the Western construct, forget the top-shelf perfume stores ... just focus on what we have here. That's what makes it special and unique on a global scale."
Sanderson is the co-founder of production company FOURPLAIT. Photo: Todd Karehana
Sanderson, alongside her partner Olly Coddington, founded their production company FOURPLAIT in 2024.
The ingoa, named after the four-plait used to weave a poi, is a reflection of how, like a strong plait, great story-telling weaves together people, perspectives and purpose.
She said te ao Māori naturally informs how she works and the stories she wants to tell.
"What I hope this offering shares is a different version of us.
"You don't often see Māori perfumers. Whitney and Nate are really good at what they do - and they bring such a unique way of storytelling."
That unique storytelling runs deep within Sanderson's whakapapa too.
Her grandfather, Martyn Sanderson, was also a filmmaker, and her nan from Ngāti Kahungunu "had a camcorder in the '90s and would let us use it", which she said "was unheard of".
"She'd let us do skits, edit on the tape. So it came from both sides."
She hopes Journey of Scent shows that Māori storytelling continues to evolve.
"As Māori, we're a full spectrum ... we're not all the same. I hope this series just shows another side of who we are."
In each episode, Taare is tasked by Steel with crafting a bespoke scent for a unique client, including Aotearoa artist Troy Kingi. Photo: Supplied
Sanderson also hopes that those watching are able to reflect on their own memories.
"One of the coolest reactions we had at the launch," she said, "was someone saying, 'I'm really thinking about what my own scent is, the smells of my own memories.'
"If people have that response, then we've made them feel something. That's all you hope for when you put something out into the world."
Journey of Scent is produced by Fourplait Productions with support from NZ On Air.
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