THE PERFUME OF TOMORROW: NEANDERTAL IS & WAS

A scent house that merges primal memory, design and artificial intelligence into perfume for a restless age.

Neandertal perfume

In the 1960s, cultural movements demanded new ways of seeing. Today, Neandertal perfume demands new ways of smelling. Founded in 2017 by artist Kentaro Yamada, the house treats fragrance not as decoration but as philosophy. Each creation asks two timeless questions: Where do we come from? Where are we going?

Rather than selling fantasy, Neandertal links prehistory to speculative futures. It transforms scent into a cultural provocateur.

A Philosophy in Dualities

Neandertal thrives on duality. Light and Dark. Us and Them. Is and was. These oppositions define its perfumes and candles, turning each release into a meditation on human existence.

Light and Dark

Neandertal Light™ channels green mineral clarity with violet leaf, hinoki, and ambergris. It won four stars in Perfumes: The A–Z Guide and was praised among the best animalic perfumes.

Its counterpart, Neandertal Dark™, is smoky and resinous, built with tomato leaf, incense, kelp, and oud. Turin and Sanchez also rated it 4 stars, ranking it among the top smoky perfumes.

Us and Them

Later came Us™ and Them™. Us is aquatic and futuristic, a skin scent shaped by magnolia, carrot seed, and leather. Them is woody and citric, with cade, black pepper, and vetiver. Both exist as perfumes and as sculptural candles in porcelain vessels.

The Shape of Memory

Moreover, design anchors Neandertal’s philosophy. Its bottles echo the flint-knapped hand axe found in Norfolk, one of humanity’s earliest tools. Originally slip-cast in stoneware and vitrified. Today, however, the form now lives on in porcelain and glass.

Therefore, each bottle becomes both container and artefact. The object holds fragrance yet also carries history forward.

Toward Is & Was

In October 2025, Neandertal will launch Is & Was, its most daring chapter yet. The fragrance explores the evolving bond between humans and artificial intelligence. If Light and Dark mapped instinct, and Us and Them mapped belonging, then Is & Was will examine memory and presence in the digital age.

Composed with experimental molecules, it suggests that perfume can embody contradiction: ancient yet futuristic, organic yet artificial. Furthermore, to wear it is to step into tomorrow.

A Collective Effort

Although Yamada leads the vision, Neandertal thrives on collaboration. Perfumers Euan McCall and Chris Maurice give form to ideas. Scholars like Dr. Stephen Chan and Dr. Michael Neill shape its intellectual frame. Even musicians such as DJ Fumiya Tanaka contribute. Thus, the house reads more like a creative collective than a commercial brand.

From Cult to Canon

Despite its niche scale, Neandertal has gained critical acclaim. Its perfumes appear in Perfumes: The A–Z Guide and have been profiled in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Kinfolk, and Hypebeast.

Consequently, Neandertal proves that perfume can ignite thought as powerfully as it delivers scent.