Sounds have temperatures. Cello is lukewarm. Japanese samisens are chilly, but in the comfortable way. Kettle drums are warm.

The art of building fragrance takes a shortcut. Our sense of smell is our sense most closely associated with memory. It’s a poetic truth.

When I was little, my mum would take my brother and me to visit our grandparents, who lived several hours away in Nottinghamshire, near...