Incense
Incense holders and incense sticks to give a room its own scent: low-smoke sticks from Japan, hand-rolled incense from India and handmade ceramic holders to catch the ash.
Read our guide: Home Fragrance & Objects
Thelma Paris' low-smoke Japanese incense sticks come 48 to a box, about 20 hours of burning in all, in scents such as violet with cypress and sandalwood or, from a collaboration with Après-Ski, lily. Japanese master craftsmen make them in Tokyo without a bamboo core; bark of the tabu tree binds the resins, so the scent comes through with hardly any smoke, which also suits small rooms.
Be Kind Industries' incense is hand-rolled in small batches by artisans in India, from recipes handed down over 200 years, ten 20 cm sticks to a pack. Each scent is named after a place, among them Wicklow's Way with oud, Hill of Tara with sandalwood, Djouce Woods with agarwood and Avoca with orange blossom.
Which incense holder suits you depends on what you burn. For sticks, the Paris-based ceramic artist Jessica Dardar makes holders for Thelma Paris by hand from chamotte stoneware, each signed, one of a kind and 8 cm across: the stick sits in a hole at the side and the ash falls into the centre. OCTAEVO's pedestal in handmade stoneware holds the stick, catches the ash and doubles as a place for small treasures. If you also burn sage or palo santo, choose an incense bowl: o cactuu handcrafts its own in a green glaze in Portugal, 13 cm across.
Light the tip, let the flame burn for 10 to 20 seconds, then blow it out and set the stick in an incense holder on a heat-resistant surface. Never leave burning incense unattended, air the room regularly and let the ash cool completely before you throw it away.
