Nis
For our sixth conversation we sat with Nis — known as enscentsual online — a café and restaurant owner in Pekanbaru with degrees in both fine arts and philosophy. She is an enthusiast of world cinema, literary fiction and non-fiction, and, lately, perfume, and an introvert who prefers a controlled room and good company. For her fragrance began as a checklist and became a form of self-knowledge. We spoke about the scent of rice and her family table, tea against the Pekanbaru heat, something dark for the night, and why taste is only ever a way of knowing yourself.
Depeche Mode, Songs of Faith and Devotion — the record she keeps closest.
I have a degree in both fine arts and philosophy. As an enthusiast I enjoy world cinema, literary fiction and non-fiction, and, currently, perfume. I am introverted, so I prefer to surround myself with people who understand me and the things I like, and I prefer a controlled environment with controlled variables.
Your relationship with fragrance
Fragrance might start as a checklist to fill throughout my day: the need to spray so I am presentable, to refresh after a pungent meal, to lift my mood, to set the character I present to the public, to hint at the kind of person I am underneath the mask of expectations. But as I ventured into perfumery as an enthusiast and collector, fragrance evolved into a form of self-knowledge. It is easier to analyze my mood and my thoughts by seeing the perfume I currently favor.
A tool to translate my thoughts when words fail me, even if it is a language only a few understand.
A scent that takes you somewhere
Rice always takes me back to dinnertime, my most cherished time of day. After I finished my Master's and moved back to Pekanbaru, I would sit close to my father and watch him eat, my mother helping him, my sisters nearby. He has limited mobility, so dinner is when he is most relaxed — when we joke, gossip, and bond as a family. I wait for him to finish before I eat. Rice, to me, is that familial togetherness: the aromatic steam, a satisfied palate, a belly full of happiness, and time well spent with the people I treasure most.
What you are wearing now
Lately I gravitate toward tea and rice scents by day because of the heat — Oolong Tea by One Day and Nashi Toro by Anti. Pekanbaru is notorious for it; we say “a sun for each person”. But at night, inside the air-conditioned room, I want something much louder: woody, boozy, dark. Miles Dewey Davis by HoM Haute, and Baraonda by Nasomatto.
A daily ritual
Besides carrying perfume everywhere as a conversation starter, I always need my matcha to fight the afternoon sleepiness, and time to be alone — to focus on myself, sort out my thoughts, and refill my social battery.
On good taste
There is no such thing as “good taste.” In the end it is all preference — but you must know your predilection like the back of your hand. To know your liking is a form of knowing yourself, and that is what makes your taste special and personal.
One belief you would defend
Kindness is a choice. Evil, on the other hand, is lazy and easy. To be human, one must always choose kindness — and do not forget to be kind to yourself.
Free Palestine and Sudan. Fuck capitalism. Power to the people.