APPARATUS • ACT V : AFSANEH

This project is a chronicle of a creative collaboration born of friendship and nourished by shared experience - created with Andrew Cinnamon and Charlie Stackhouse of Cinnamon Projects, close friends of Gabriel and the studio for almost the entire life of Apparatus. It is a testament to process, where time and dialog can create a nuanced emotional language.

I remember the scent… rose petals hidden in her blouse. My violin case. Sheet music. Lavender in the spring sun. Her lipstick. A smoke machine and joyful, dancing bodies. My lover’s skin. Electricity in the air after the storm. My perfectly sharpened pencil. The freshly oiled machines in the factory. Sumi ink. His leather glove against my cheek. A shrine at sunrise. My father’s drum. Geranium leaves brewed into tea. My best friend. Redwoods that have witnessed a thousand years. Air thick with tobacco. Our last kiss. 

Scent is woven into our consciousness - we are born into this world with a fully developed sense of smell. Rituals of smoke are as old as our desire to gather around fire - to ignite, to illuminate, to cleanse. 

In our pursuit of creating the most nourishing stage for human experience, INCENSE is the emotional gateway. We are pleased to present an archive of 10 scents, made for 10 scenes, over the last 10 years of the studio. 

These scents are a journey along the path of inspiration and create portals into the Apparatus universe imagined by Artistic Director, Gabriel Hendifar. From our homes in New York, Los Angeles, and London, to the imagined worlds of our ACTS, these scents were each created in anticipation of the moment we all step into the fantasy together - an invitation to share a collective memory.