ARPA is a perfume house and sensory research project founded in 2020 by French perfumer Barnabé Fillion. Conceived as an Institute of Synesthesia, the house explores the points at which fragrance intersects with sound, colour, texture, memory and the natural world.

Fillion’s route into perfumery was distinctly unconventional. With a background in botany, phytotherapy, photography and visual art, he developed an approach to fragrance shaped by close observation, experimentation and an instinctive understanding of raw materials. His wider practice includes a longstanding creative relationship with Aesop and olfactory collaborations with figures across contemporary art, architecture and design.

For Fillion, perfume is a medium capable of translating a landscape, memory or physical sensation into another form. His compositions draw from travel, literature, botanical research and natural phenomena, balancing scientific curiosity with deeply poetic storytelling.

ARPA extends this philosophy beyond the fragrance itself. Working with artists, musicians and designers, the house creates a complete sensory language around each composition. Scent becomes part of a wider dialogue between object, image, sound and environment—positioning ARPA somewhere between a perfume laboratory and an evolving art studio.