Mandy Aftel Mandy Aftel, the Nose Behind Aftelier Perfumes, Is the Author of Three Books on Natural Perfume

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April 18–May 11, 2009 “Natural Perfume, created from natural materials and aromatics is a multi-layered phenomenon: In a breath, we are able to reconnect with the natural world and ourselves in new and profound ways.” — Mandy Aftel Mandy Aftel, the nose behind Aftelier Perfumes, is the author of three books on natural perfume. Essence and Alchemy: the Natural History of Perfume, translated into seven languages, won the 2001 Sense of Smell Institute’s Richard B. Solomon Award, and has helped pioneer the trend toward using natural ingredients. Aroma, a cookbook co-authored with chef Daniel Patterson, focuses on the essential link between food and fragrance. Scents and Sensibilities guides the reader through the history and creation of solid perfumes. Dubbed the “angel of alchemy” by Vanity Fair, Aftel has designed custom blends for Hollywood stars, writers, and restaurants, as well as private labels. For each of her sumptuous, hand-crafted liquid and solid perfumes, she chooses from more than five hundred of the finest pure and “Mandy Aftel is a recognized authority in Natural natural essences in the world. She is passionate Perfume and a true pioneer in the modern field about helping the art of natural perfumery, of Naturals” once near extinction, to evolve and thrive. — Rochelle Bloom, President, Her perfumes have won many awards. Fragrance Foundation

www.aftelier.com and www.livingperfume.com Introduction

A new art form, ripe with beauty, is embodied our sense of smell triggers an authentic in the work of Mandy Aftel, perfumer and relationship with the natural world. owner of Aftelier Perfumes. Aftel stands As Aftel likes to say, “The golden age assuredly at the threshold of the new art form of naturals hasn’t happened. Yet.” of natural perfumery, adding a modern sensibility to the ancient art of blending Julie Anixter pure and natural essences. Brandimage, Desgrippes & Laga This exhibit presents Aftel’s work: her perfumes and oils, research and writings, and her library of rare books and artifacts. These offer a unique view of the world of naturals. We forget how much we rely on our senses to experience the world, the most powerful being sight and smell. But smell is different. As Aftel reminds us, “All other sensory information initially comes in through the thalamus. The sense of smell, however, is first processed in the limbic lobe, one of the oldest parts of the brain and the seat of sexual and emotional impulses. Before we know we are in contact with a smell, we Frankincense, found in the bark of various small trees of the genus Boswellia, has a soft, incense-like have already received and reacted to it.” odor that has an elevating and soothing effect on We hope this exhibit will be a catalyst the mind. In ancient times it was without a doubt for artists, architects, designers, educators, the most important perfume substance. Recently product developers, and innovators of all an international team of scientists, including kinds to learn about the sensual world researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, described how entered through natural scent. We hope it burning frankincense activates poorly understood marks a turning point, and begins a new ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or dialogue on the implications of this insight: depression. — MA Living Perfume by Mandy Aftel

The first perfume The books were charming, beautiful, book I found was and eccentric. I felt the thrill of being the The Book of Perfumes, first one into a cave that harbored the relics by Eugene Rimmel, of a lost civilization—the unsullied pottery published in 1865. and intact arrowheads. In the stories of Discovering it, with perfume, you could see the world being its elaborate illustra- discovered, people searching for spices and tions and royal blue learning to extract aromatic oils from the and gold-tooled exotic plants they were finding in faraway The gold-tooled cover leather cover, was like places. In intricate woodcuts and engrav- of The Book of Perfumes finding a jewel. Mr. ings, old distilling apparatuses looked like (exhibit #503) Rimmel was as much a cross between lab equipment and imple- a frustrated hairdresser as a perfumer, giving ments of witchcraft. It wasn’t just informa- nearly the same attention to the exotic hairdos tion about ingredients and processes in of ancient civilizations and “uncivilized which I was submerging myself; it was a nations” as to their customs of perfumery. whole lost world. This world—sensual, rich, But my foraging didn’t really pick up steam and deep, bringing with it the history of until, in the back of Edward Saragrin’s 1945 peoples and eccentric individuals, secrets The Science and Art of Perfume, I found an extensive of seduction and spirituality, medicine and bibliography of perfume books. I sent my folkways—made sense to me on an almost “want list” to all the rare book dealers I knew primal level. and asked them to contact me if they came Sometimes just understanding the across these or other books on perfume. One history of an essence in civilization after by one the books arrived in the mail, and I civilization brought it to life in my hands. began to fall in love. Gradually I assembled Soon I was buying essential oils on my own, more than two hundred rare and antique getting to know them and experimenting books on perfumery, to my knowledge the with them. The materials were simply too finest existing collection in the world. inviting, too insistent to resist. The names themselves seduced—ambergris and costus, ylang ylang concrete, choya loban, orange flower, boronia, civet, tonka bean, cham- paca. Even those I recognized—jasmine, sandalwood, frankincense, myrrh, bitter orange, vetiver—conjured up ancient civilizations and exotic customs, long journeys and sensual torpor. The endless variations on each theme fanned my obsession. Once Ambergris comes from the sperm whale I discovered rose absolute, I had to try not (exhibit #207) only the Bulgarian version but the Russian, Moroccan, Turkish, Indian, and Egyptian mere traces, whereas synthetic rose is a as well. distillation of only a few of the dominant My reading often suggested experiment- elements. When you smell a real rose essence, ing with a new oil or way of combining you experience a layering of aromas as one ingredients. Every time I came upon a fragrance note deepens and evolves into the passage in one of my books that introduced next, providing texture and depth to the a new essence to me, I had to track it down aromatic experience. This complexity accounts and start working with it. I loved the com- for the nearly inexplicable emotional intensity plicated histories of the materials, and their evoked by authentic smell and the memories complex characters—at once delicate and it sparks and creates. A natural fragrance is harsh, fresh and decaying, floral and fecal— a living, changing thing. It smells different which made the perfumer’s palette so intense. on each person who wears it, interacting with I literally had to get my hands on them. The individual body chemistry to create a scent sweet, the foul, the spicy, and the putrid — as unique as a fingerprint. It grows deeper I found them all alluring. I loved the way and more complex over time, then gradually they smelled and the way they looked, some fades away. Natural fragrances do not like liquid rubies or emeralds in the light, announce their arrival, nor do they remain some thick and pasty, others light and thin. after their wearer has departed; they cling Plants have an inherent beauty that is closely to the skin, subtly radiating outward. reflected in their aromatic component. Until the 1880s all perfumes and Natural aromas are richer and more nuanced fragrances were created from plant—and precisely because they are real. For example, some animal—materials. The displacement the natural essence of rose is made up of of natural essences by synthetic materials in many different components, some of them commercially produced fragrances began at unfortunately, there is little left of the actual relationship except nostalgia. The essences of artisan natural perfumery are expensive, seasonal, and non- repeatable, and their nature varies with climate, growing conditions, and the humans who cultivate, harvest, and distill Workers sorting roses, hand-tinted antique French them. The finished perfume bears the postcard (exhibit #205) imprint of all of these factors, along with the artistry of its creator. It is further the turn of the century. Unlike the natural distinguished by its interaction with the skin essences, synthetic fragrances were cheap, of the wearer. To create with essence is to colorless, stable, and consistent, and these encounter the deepest nature of a thing, qualities—and their “modernness”—made which is in some sense greater than the them irresistible. Eventually synthetics were thing itself. Working with essences, you dive used almost exclusively, and the demand for deep in order to touch the universal. the naturals dwindled. Irreducible and narcotic, they transport you Yet while synthetic essences approximate into the polymorphous intensity of the the odors of natural ingredients, they have present, in all its inchoate sensuality. never attained the complexity, mystery or Essences are at once specific and collective, emotional resonance of the natural materials. earthly and otherworldly. This holistic char- Commercial fragrance houses well understand acter helps to explain why we feel in them the appeal of the “natural.” They know that the effect of beauty, even though we cannot perfume is about the desire to capture what put our finger on just what it is that pleases is elusive, bound up intimately with the way us so much. all species—flowers and insects, animals and What drew me to perfumery was its man—use scent for seduction. Everything creative aspects –falling in love with a new points back to nature—must point back to essence, wanting to see what would happen nature, even when the affiliation is phony— when it was paired with something other and which is why every commercial perfume beautiful, following my instincts. Instead of launch alludes wildly to the world of natural working from a “brief,” I take my cues from essences in its advertisements, and in the the ingredients themselves, and the combi- press releases magazines quote from so nations they suggest to me as I come to know liberally. There is no romance in perfume them deeply. I have in my collection more without its close relationship to nature; than five hundred of the finest natural essences found anywhere in the world, including antique, organic, and wild-crafted ones. Working as an artisan, I enjoy the freedom to use not just one or two but several in a blend, irrespective of expense. Music is the best metaphor for capturing the way great perfume is created. Individual essences are in fact called notes and are Mandy Aftel composing at her perfume organ blended together to form chords. The place where I compose my perfumes is called a experienced—not all at once but unfolding perfumer’s organ: a unit consisting of a over time—a quality that in perfume is semi-circular series of stepped shelves lined referred to as duration. In this unfolding with hundreds of bottles of raw perfume lies that unparalleled power of these arts materials arranged by scent category. Sitting over memory and emotion. Music and scent at the organ, the perfumer can construct can calm us, or they can arouse our pas- fragrance creations in much the same way sions—and in our ecstasies, exalt us. They that a musician chooses musical notes and seize us, they transport us to the highest composes chords. The musical scale serves realms, feeding a desire for intoxication. as an analogy to the perfumer’s palette They alter our consciousness in a way that precisely because its tones do not all fit symbolic systems like language cannot, nor together in easy consonance, but embody can their most transcendent effects be fully discord of various degrees. The same is true expressed by language. They are ineffable. of the idiosyncratic traits and competing I create perfume—and people wear it— intensities of the essences. Musical concepts because beauty and art are a vacation from the like tone, vibration, and harmony resonate in daily grind and takes us into what really matters. perfumery as well, where the relationship Beauty brings about a morally valuable state between essences structures a blend just as in the mind of the beholder. A well-propor- musical structure depends largely on the tioned and beautiful perfume can make those relationship between tones. Each element, who smell it long to enter a realm of such whether it plays a major or minor role in beauty and perfect proportion. The power of the final blend, modifies the character of beauty may derive from its ability to minister the others. A fragrance of perfect balance to this longing. The beautiful object creates in and harmony—rich and mellow, smooth and the mind of those who attend to it the spiritual perfectly toned—is called round. home that reality does not provide. Beauty Music also captures the way scent is sustains an inner life. It feeds us. Deconstructing Parfum de Maroc

We invite you to experience, perhaps for base chords of the perfume, and finally the first time, the complete set of individual smell the perfume itself. essences that make up a perfume. Olfactory fatigue can set in after you Much like music, perfume is composed smell too many scents in a row. The easiest of notes—base notes, middle notes, top way to refresh the olfactory palate is to inhale notes—that are blended into chords. Top deeply three times through a piece of wool, notes are the most fleeting, establishing the which revitalizes your sense of smell. scent’s initial impact, whereas middle notes Take your time. Let your senses respond give body to blends, imparting warmth and and remember as you move from note to fullness. Finally, bass notes articulate the note and experience the beautifully com- perfume’s lasting character, its final percep- plex natural essences that make up Parfum tive note after the others have evaporated. de Maroc. Finally, listen to the song that It is the structure of the chords that give a Donovan has paired with it especially for perfume its innate character and complexity. this exhibit. Tucked into the drawers beneath the bottles of Parfum de Maroc, you may start “‘Dark Eyed Blue Jean Angel” is written for by smelling and touching the raw botanical my muse and wife Linda. . .“My love she’s a materials from which the essences are flower, perfuming the air where’er she blooms.” created. Then you should smell separately The melody is like the composition of the Parfum each of the perfume’s individual essences, de Maroc. . . evocative and exotic.” followed by the individual top, middle and — Donovan Leitch

Parfum de Maroc

Top Bitter Orange + Fresh Ginger + Galangal + Saffron + Black Pepper = Top Chord Notes

Middle Nutmeg + Jasmine + Rose + Cinnamon = Middle Chord Notes

Base Cardamom + Myrrh + Labdanum = Base Chord Notes Living Perfume Exhibit Items

Outside 102 Top Note: Saffron absolute 112 Middle Note Comparison: Synthetic Rose. A synthetic rose Cleanwell Soaps fragranced by 103 Top Note: Black pepper to compare to the natural Mandy Aftel essential oil Turkish rose absolute Cleanwell Hand Sanitizers 104 Top Note: Fresh ginger 113 Middle Chord. Each essence fragranced by Mandy Aftel essential oil from this level is blended in a Hand-tinted perfume postcard, 105 Top Note Comparison: specific proportion to compose “Gathering Roses,” Bruno Dried Ginger Essential Oil. A the middle chord. Court Perfumes, Grasse, France comparison of the fresh ginger and the dried demonstrates the Base notes articulate the perfume’s Map of Europe by Lucien enormous range in character lasting character, its final perceptible Boucher from The Antoine and qualities within the note after the others have evaporated. Chiris Establishments Throughout universe of natural essences. the World, 1931 114 Base Note: Labdanum 106 Top Chord. Each essence absolute. An amber aroma from from this level is blended in a the rockrose plant specific proportion to compose Deconstruction 115 Base Note: Myrrh essential oil. the top chord. The Deconstruction of This gum resin was an ancient Parfum de Maroc: Middle notes give body to blends, incense ingredient Inspired by the traditional Moroccan imparting warmth and fullness. 116 Base Note: Cardamom spice recipe ras el hanout, this absolute balanced blend of spices centers 107 Middle Note: Nutmeg absolute 117 Base Chord. Each essence around a heart of roses. 108 Middle Note: Cinnamon from this level is blended in a Top notes are the most fleeting, essential oil specific proportion to compose establishing the scent’s initial impact. 109 Middle Note: Jasmine Absolute the base chord. 100 Top Note: Bitter orange 110 Middle Note Comparison: 118 Composed Maroc. The three essential oil Synthetic Jasmine. A synthetic chords are blended in an equal 101 Top Note: Galangal essential jasmine to compare to the proportion to compose the oil. A popular ingredient in the natural jasmine absolute completed perfume. foods of Southeast Asia 111 Middle Note: Turkish rose 119 Music by Donovan absolute. 120 Botanical: Orange Rind 121 Botanical: Galangal Root 122 Botanical: Saffron 123 Botanical: Black Pepper

124 Botanical: Ginger 203 200 125 Botanical: Nutmeg 126 Botanical: Cinnamon 127 Botanical: Jasmine 128 Botanical: Rose

129 Botanical: Labdanum 204 130 Botanical: Myrrh 204 Hand-tinted perfume postcard, “Sorting Tuberose 131 Botanical: Cardamom Flowers,” Bruno Court Perfumes, Grasse, France Raw Materials 205 Hand-tinted perfume postcard, “Sorting Roses,” 200 Engraving of a beaver Bruno Court Perfumes,

201 which produces castoreum, Grasse, France an essence for perfumery 206 Hand-tinted perfume 201 Engraving of Syrian Hyrax postcard, “Gathering Orange and Cape Hyrax which produce Flowers,” Bruno Court Africa stone, an essence for Perfumes, Grasse, France perfumery 207 Chromolithograph print of 202 Engraving of a musk deer sperm whale. Ambergris, one which produces musk, an of the most beautiful perfume essence for perfumery ingredients, is produced in the digestive system of the sperm 203 Hand-tinted perfume whale, 1880 postcard, “Sorting Violets,” Bruno Court Perfumes, Grasse, France 202 213 Boswellia sacra, the finest wild-harvested howjary frankincence resin from Oman is characterised by a warm, woody balsamic fragrance so sublime as to be otherworldly. Frankincence is often burned as incense and was given to baby Jesus as a gift.

Distilling 208 300 208 Engraving of a civet cat 300 Aboriginal distillers from which produces civet, an Queensland, Australia essence for perfumery 301 Distilling apparatus from The 209 Flower engraving from Volatile Oils by Guildemeister & Flowers: Their Origin, Shapes, Hoffman, 1900 Perfumes & Colours by J.E. 302 Chinese still for cassia oil Taylor, 1906 from Schimmel & Co. Watercolor illustration of a semi-annual report, 1895 210 301 person returning from Grasse, 303 A distilling apparatus from France with baskets of flowers. The Factories of Schimmel Note the sentence: “One of the & Co., Leipzig-Prag and most remarkable achievements Fritzsche Brothers, 1894 of the House of Pinaud … is its continued refusal to adulterate its 304 Cassia oil from Fritzsche perfumes with synthetic bases.” Brothers From Toujours de L’Avant published 305 Unopened cassia oil from by Pinaud Perfumes, 1928 Fritzsche Brothers 302 211 Two pieces of ambergris, the 306 Flask for distilling from legendary perfume ingredient Chimie Des Parfums by Septimus from the sperm whale Piesse, 1987 212 Various civet cats and 307 Paperweight from 1946 castoreum from beavers from commemorating the 75th Manuel de Parfumerie by anniversary of the Fritzsche Lazennec, 1922 Brothers, purveyors of essential oils 303 Essences

400 Jasmine from Roure Betrand Fils 401 Rose otto from Ungerer 402 East Indian vetivert oil from Dodge and Olcott from Lehn and Fink 403 Nutmeg oil 409 404 Tincture of ambergris from 406 Fritzsche Brothers 405 Tincture of tonquin musk from Fritzsche Brothers 406 Mace oil from Lehn & Fink 407 Coriander seed from Antoine Chiris 408 Patchouly from Lubin 410 409 Map of the world by Lucien Boucher from The Antoine Chiris Establishments Throughout the 408 World, 1931 410 Map of Africa by Lucien 308 Pine cone distilling from Boucher from The Antoine Chiris Schimmel & Co. semi-annual Establishments Throughout the report, 1911 World, 1931 309 Palmarosa distilling in India 411 411 Map of Asia by Lucien from Schimmel & Co. semi- Boucher from The Antoine Chiris annual report, 1910 Establishments Throughout the 310 Lavender distilling from World, 1931 Schimmel & Co. semi-annual 412 Map of North and South report, 1912 America by Lucien Boucher 311 Lemongrass distilling in India from The Antoine Chiris from Schimmel & Co. semi- Establishments Throughout the annual report, 1910 World, 1931 412 602 Four die-cut perfume cards from D.S. Brown and Co., a well-known New York perfumer, 1880 (two shown)

413 602 413 Invoice for perfume supplies, 1891 414 Indian sandalwood oil from Dodge & Olcott bottle 415 Clove oil from George Lueders & Co. 603 603 Serenade de Fleurs, Rimmel 416 East Indian sandalwood Paris, perfume label marked as oil from Magnus, Mabee & 12-color printing, 1925 Reynard 602 604 Eau de Cologne Superieure Giraud Fils, Paris perfume label 505 The British Perfumer by Composing Charles Lillie, one of the earliest perfume books in 500 Unknown perfumer’s England, London, 1822 notebook 506 Bates Dispensatory by 501 Various perfume recipes from William Salmon contains Complete Treatise on Perfumery by recipes for tinctures and Dussauce, Philadelphia, 1864 elixirs, 1720 502 Hand-written book with recipes, 1838 Perfumes 503 The Book of Perfumes by Eugene Rimmel, one of the 600 Cover from A Romance of most famous early books on 605 Perfume Lands or The Search for perfume, London, 1865 Captain Jacob Cole, 1881 605 Old label for cologne 504 Gamut of Odors from Supérieure 601 Old advertisement from The Art of Perfumery, by G.W. Practical Perfumery, 1892 Septimus Piesse, 1867 606 608

606 Un Parfum d’Aventure, 616 Title page from The Romance L.T. Piver Paris, calendar on back of Perfumes by Richard Le 1932-33. Perfume card with Gallienne, 1928 civet cat 607 Eau de Cologne Grand 617 Bronze plaque for Perfumes Marque perfume label Fontanis by Lalique 608 Old label for Cologne au 618 Antique silver box with Printemps, Paris morning glories, leaves and bug 609 Perfume bottles from 619 Coin silver watch case with Christmas Novelties, 1886 green & rose gold basket of flowers, 1880s 610 Perfume label mold for Lilas, 1919 620 Antique French niello watch case with swirls and stripe 611 Perfume label mold for Rose Darline, Paris 621 Antique silver French watch case with rose and green gold 606 612 Perfume label mold for Le Parfum de Gabrielle Dorziat, 622 Antique silver locket with Volnay, Paris, 1925 chrysanthemums 613 Perfume label mold for Du 623 Antique silver watch case filled Chevrefeuille Volnay, Paris with solid perfume 614 Small Volnay logo stamp 624 Antique silver watch case filled with solid perfume 615 Fountain finger-ring from 607 Art of Perfumery by Septimus Piesse, 1987 Kudos to Mandy Aftel and her commitment to Naturals, her artistic passion and generosity in sharing perfume’s rich and layered history!

Cenveo and Aftelier: Environmental Stewards Our shared approach and commitment to perpetuating sustainability.

The Natural Perfumers Guild congratulates its Founder Mandy Aftel on her Living Perfume exhibit and the beauty of natural aromatics that it celebrates.

naturalperfumers.com HB-Mag_Full-v6.pdf 3/31/2009 3:59:29 PM

CMY

Our Best Wishes to Mandy with our love and admiration

Frances Aftel Eisenberg, Kenneth Eisenberg and Family

Natural Attraction

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Congratulations to Mandy Aftel on understanding the importance of lifting the human experience through scent . . . Look. Listen. Respond. Remember your musical memories.

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Congratulations! with love from Donovan & Linda Leitch

www.donovan.ie We caught her eye. Will your packaging?

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The New York Botanical Garden sNYBGORGs"RONX2IVER0ARKWAYAT&ORDHAM2OAD So Much Spring is sponsored by Acknowledgments Sensory Runway, the exhibit producer, would like to thank the following contributors:

Sponsors Partners Arcade Marketing Brandimage, Desgrippes & Laga, Concept, Identity and Exhibit Design Cenveo Jody Hanson, Graphic Design, EA International Catalogue and Web The Family of Kenneth Cheryl Heller, Creative Advisor and Frances Eisenberg Marcus Neto, Web Development Henri Bendel MWV And very special thanks to. . . NovoArts The Fragrance Foundation Pernod Ricard The Institute of the Sense of Smell Robertet The Natural Perfumers Guild Samsung The New York Botanical Gardens Shutterstock Donovan and Linda Leitch Henri Bendel Chef Johnny Iuzzini, Jean Georges Cover photo by Egils Kronlins © Aftelier Perfumes Chef Daniel Patterson, Coi All other images from the Collection of Mandy Aftel © Aftelier Perfumes Audrey Saunders, Pegu Club We invite you to share your scent memories

www.livingperfume.com April 18 –May 11, 2009 Henri Bendel 712 5th Avenue at 56th Street Third Floor