Tomo Laboratory × Dundandind: The Story of Yugen Kettle

For Tomo Laboratory, fragrance is a way to tell stories together. The Indonesian house brings perfumery into conversation with local illustrators and craftmakers, giving each collaboration a world to discover through scent and visual art.

Yugen Kettle, created in collaboration with Dundandind, offers a particularly playful meeting of those two languages. Its starting point is tea; its destination is somewhere more unexpected.

A Small World Inside a Kettle

The collaboration’s illustration turns a yellow teapot into a miniature landscape. Mushrooms, trees and tiny figures surround a swirling brew, while people gather inside the kettle itself. Tea becomes a place to enter, rather than simply something to drink.

Another slide imagines oolong tea with a little world of its own. That idea makes the artwork part of the story: an invitation to look more closely at something familiar.

Tea, Reimagined Through Scent

Tomo describes Yugen Kettle as carrying the spirit of Teh Tjap Tomo, with Da Hong Pao at its centre. Subtle peppery notes and hints of shimeji take the tea theme in an unexpected direction.

In a later post, the house presents this transformation as quieter, aromatic and refined. The scent and illustration approach the same idea from different sides: a familiar tea ritual opening into an imagined world.

Part of Oracular Obscura

The accompanying launch reel places Yugen Kettle within the Oracular Obscura collection and credits Dundandind as its collaborator. It also records special drops at Tomo Land Superm(art)ket and Pesta Muda Mudi Kuala Lumpur, placing the release in a wider creative setting.

More Than a Label

This is what makes Tomo’s collaborative approach worth exploring. The illustrator offers a way into the fragrance, while the fragrance gives another dimension to the picture. Together, they turn a bottle into an invitation to imagine.

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Based on Tomo Laboratory’s collaboration announcement, Oracular Obscura launch reel and scent story. Illustration credited to Dundandind; images courtesy of Tomo Laboratory and Dundandind.