BON VOYAGE

text by Tomáš Ric

It was the final week of 2019, and I set off alone for Asia for the very first time. With just the bare essentials, a head full of thoughts, and a backpack borrowed from my mother. That long journey was filled with anticipation, uncertainty, and a strange kind of tension — something suspended between joy and fear. It was my first time traveling this way: alone, modestly, and at a moment when pivotal things were unfolding in my life. The aim: Sri Lanka. Fourteen days.

Spiritual reset. Madonna in my ears — a kind of anchor in this other world. Time slowed down. The wild green of the jungle, the damp silence of the tropics, the rhythm of the waves. The tea plantations in Ella reaching all the way to the sky. Places where everything suddenly makes sense — and yet, new questions quietly begin to rise.

On my very first evening, I found myself among locals at a stupa, right in the middle of a vibrant celebration. My first day in Sri Lanka happened to be the last day of the year. The energy was everywhere — embodied in an overwhelming symphony of scents. The air was thick with flowers, fragrant oils, smoke, and fire. Offerings for Buddha. It was a scent that transported you to another world. I didn’t know where to look first, or which fragrance to breathe in before the others

Another day. Another Buddha. This time hidden deep in the jungle — and once again, the air was thick with fragrant incense smoke. Everywhere. I was surprised — these weren’t like the incense sticks I knew from Europe. Those always felt overly intense to me, with unidentifiable, cloying scents that gave me headaches. But here? A whole new world. Dried herbs, spices, the dust of rare woods, and pure essential oils. I had discovered a new ritual. Noble. Refined. Pure. Preserved through centuries.

Pigmentarium had already been alive for two years by then — and I was living and breathing scent. Encountering sacred traditions, artisanal quality, and the deep cultural work with fragrance became a powerful source of inspiration. Memories surfaced of friends in New York and Paris who would bring back traditional incense sticks from their travels — new scent-worlds carried into their artistic homes. I began to search. For the traditional methods of production. For the philosophy behind them. For what made these timeless, elevating creations so different from the commercial ones I never liked.

I discovered a small, family-run workshop — just a few cousins, brothers, and tables. They craft incense in its purest form: a bamboo core, wood and natural materials, essential oils. No machines. Dried under the sun. Vegan, non-toxic, clean. Their clients? Temples, diplomatic residences, and traditional institutions.

And then came the message that changed the tone of the entire journey. At the very moment I lit an incense stick on the hotel rooftop, my grandmother passed away. My life’s key mentor, protector, co-conspirator — and the very first investor in Pigmentarium. In that moment, I understood one of the deeper meanings of this ancient ritual: that the rising smoke is a bridge between us and those no longer physically here. (To this day, I’ve never lit a candle at her grave — only incense.)

Three months later, I was sitting alone in my home office. The pandemic. A kind of isolation my generation had never known. And I kept asking myself: what does freedom mean to me? Travel. Connection. The scent of unfamiliar places. Then it hit me — There are no filters between scent and emotion in the brain.A fragrance can transport us. To childhood. To love. To distant cities. Anywhere.

From my vivid memories, from a blend of emotions, exotic encounters, and philosophical inspiration, the first Pigmentarium home fragrance collection was born. It took the form of incense sticks — and the name Bon Voyage.

Crafted using traditional methods, from the finest materials, and infused with a scent we composed — capturing distant places through a slightly romantic lens of a European traveler. At first, there were four scents. Today, there are six. Each one is a journey. A journey you can take without ever leaving home.

You can transport yourself to Morocco — with refreshing Moroccan mint. To Jericho, with the mystery of the Queen of the Night. To Azerbaijan, with golden saffron. Or stay in Prague, breathing in incense that recalls old churches and forgotten alleyways.

Local roots, ritual, and history — these have been core values of Pigmentarium from the very beginning. And the incense sticks? They’re still made in the very same place in Sri Lanka. By the same hands. With the same care. And dried under the sun, just as they were a thousand years ago.