The third annual FRAGments Artisan Perfume Event and Collective, organized by perfumer Maggie Mahboubian of Parfums Lalun and attended by 19 perfumers and olfactive artists, took place on Saturday, May 30, at the Neutra Institute and Museum in Los Angeles. It was a lively time filled with passionate discussion, sniffing and creation of perfume, new releases and debuts of new lines, three winners of the five 2015 Art and Olfaction Awards, much greeting of old friends, catching up on news, and formation of new friendships.
The venue was a contrast to last year’s because the event took place in a sleek, suburban 20th-century modern architectural ambiance instead of an industrial-looking urban art studio. The space was larger, so exhibitors and visitors had more room to spread out. Most importantly, the event has grown to include participation by East Coast and international perfumers. Thanks to Maggie's efforts over the past three years, FRAGments has grown to be one of the premier indie-artisan perfume events in the US, attracting perfumers from the entire North American community and visitors who come from long distances to attend. Maggie has single-handedly done an amazing job and should be recognized for her multiple organizational talents and superhuman efforts to promote the artisan fragrance community.
Elise Pearlstine gave the key note address
The first attraction of the day was the featured presentation by wildlife biologist and perfumer Elise Pearlstine of Tambela Perfumes, who gave a fascinating account of the special relationships between flowers and their pollinatorsin her talk, entitled “The Origins of Floral Fragrance: White Flowers and Moths.” Her talk held the audience’s attention for the entire hour with explicit and little-known stories of sex in the plant and insect world. JK DeLapp (The Rising Phoenix Group) and Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids Perfumes assisted by throwing in extra tidbits of information. Then, in no particular order,we (Ellen and Elise ) circled the room going from one amazing display to another sniffing, photographing, and chatting with the artisan perfumers. Here are just a tease of what was new, exciting and noteworthy.
Ken Corey On the Nose
Kenneth Corey, On the Nose Fragrances, makes perfumes that explore the traditions of structure in natural perfumes. His display featured his new release Momotaro, a juicy peach accord with notes of shiso, cognac, dry woods and, of course, oakmoss. It was interesting to learn that before becoming a perfumer Kenneth worked at a woman-owned sex toy shop and as a DJ at a male strip club.
IAO award winner Jessica Hannah
Natural perfumer Jessica Hannah of J. Hannah Co. was there with her award-winning leather scent Skive. She also brought Sunset Blvd which was inspired by the movie of the same name and Orchard, a light citrusy floral. In a former life Jessica worked at a fruit stand in Missouri, so she knows all about fruit scents.
Marcus McCoy House of Orpheus
Marcus McCoy, House of Orpheus, ( a CaFleureBon guest contributor) brought his nature-inspired, liminal perfumes. The concept behind Arctos evokes the clean and clear feeling of a night of star-gazing centered on the Pole Star. Having worked as a counselor in a psych ward for some time, Marcus brings all of his healing talents to his perfumes.
IAO award winner Isabelle Michaud
Isabelle Michaud, Monsillage, told a wonderful story about her award-winning perfume Eau de Celeri, which is a lovely, light green chypre. She is allergic to celery and was inspired to create the essence of the plant in a wearable form. She started out studying criminology and worked as a diesel mechanic before studying in France to become a perfumer. Everyone has led such an interesting life!
Lisa Fong of Artemisia
Natural perfumer Lisa Fong, Artemisia Perfume, brought La Colombe, a chypre with a heart of refined apple and the second was a new violet-centered one—Violet Blues—with notes of orris and violet. Lisa started out as a classical violinist, so it is no surprise that her perfumes are as refined and beautiful as a symphony.
Jeanette Price newly launched Wax Poetic
Natural Perfumer Jeanette Jo Price, Peachy Keen Perfume, brought out her poetic side with her newly launched Wax Poetic line. Her fascination with natural ingredients began when she moved to Morocco and continues with her new line paired with her poems. Having worked as a teacher in a maximum-security prison at one point, she is yet another example of perfumers having come from psychology and teaching backgrounds.
Ellen Covey Olympic Orchids
Ellen Covey, Olympic Orchids, brought a selection of her most popular scents including Dev One from the Devil Scent series, and the award-winning Woodcut, homage to ancient trees and primitive wood spirits. Ellen provided a sample of her new perfume African Orchid for us all to sniff as an example of the moth-pollinated floral fragrances described by Elise in her talk. After learning about other perfumers’ backgrounds, it is no surprise to know that Ellen is a professor of psychology.
Paul Kiler PK Perfumes
Paul Kiler, PK Perfumes. Paul spoke of his new workshop where he is creating a series of fresh florals including the recently released Tama N Tuberose ( to honor CaFleureBon Managing editor Tama Blough) which he calls a headspace soliflore with a bit of musk. Paul works as a professional photographer when he is not perfuming.
Iris Moore and Elizabeth Tanner
Iris Moore is an artist working with Elizabeth Tanner on a pairing of fragrance with literature in a serial subscription format. Her perfume Inconsolable illustrates the heartbreak in Elizabeth’s graphic novel ‘The Pearls of Shanghai.’
Beckie Sheloske of Rebel Intuitive
Natural Perfumer Beckie Sheloske, Rebel Intuitive Perfumes, looks to the darker side with her perfumes. Her blends are created to speak to the animal within for the modern hedonist. Winterlewd was created with partner Katy Knuth and is a dirty citrus. Beckie comes to perfumery from a background in fashion and music.
Laurie Stern Velvet & Sweet Pea
Laurie Stern, Natural Perfumer and founder of Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery, brought a fun new product, Beard Balms, three lovely formulas using natural oils including a blend of juniper and cypress for the modern man. Laurie was in the wedding flower business for 15 years and says that as a perfumer, “I still get to make bouquets!”
JK Delapp of The Rising Phoenix Perfumery
JK DeLapp, also a natural perfumer of The Rising Phoenix Perfumery in Atlanta, brought an amazing array of custom oud distillations. The various scent profiles fascinated visitors and perfumers alike and reflect the country of origin and different in-country distillation styles. JK is also a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Chinese medicine.
photo of Heather Kaufman courtesy of Maggie @lalunnaturals instagram
Natural Perfumer Heather Kaufman, Jolie Laide Perfume, brought a new fragrance, Bande Á Parte, inspired by the 1964 Nouvelle vague film (Jean-Luc Godard) of the same name which intertwines a trio of disenfranchised youths, love triangles and crime. It is a slinky and sexy fragrance. Heather and her husband are both graphic designers, so her perfumes have beautiful and distinctive labels and packaging.
Mesha Munyan
Mesha Munyan, Meshaz Natural Perfumes,also a natural perfumer has been a lavender grower and distiller for 20 years and has an extensive knowledge of lavender varieties. Her lovely perfumes speak to her deep knowledge of natural materials. Abzinthe, for example, is a boozy fragrance with Artemisia and anise. In a past life, Mesha worked as an engineer – the kind who drives trains!
Dana El Masri Parfums Jazmin Sarai
Dana El Masri, Parfums Jazmin Sarai, combines jasmine and jazz with the concept of an oriental palace. The combination of music and scent come to you at the same time in Led IV, inspired by the Led Zeppelin song ‘Going to California’. It’s no surprise that she is also a Jasmine award winner, music and art writer.
Natural perfumer Elise Pearlstine, (whose column on ingredients in perfumery for CaFleureBon will be back this week), of Tambela Perfumes, brought two Florida-inspired perfumes among her samplings. Carmen Dances was the pick of the day. It evokes tropical summers, nearly over-ripe mangos, and a slow tango among the flowers. As a biologist, she certainly knows her flowers and fruits!
Brian Goeltzenleuchter
Brian Goeltzenleuchter, artist-in-residence at the Institute of Art and Olfaction, presented his project, Sillage, a participatory scent-scape project about Los Angeles with fragrances and olfactory descriptions of various Los Angeles neighborhoods. His project ‘Olfactory Memoirs’ asks writers to reconstruct childhood memories through the sense of smell.
Daniel Krasofski and rare AVEDA perfumes
Daniel Krasofski, scent artist, who once worked at Aveda and studied with Horst Redenbacher, displayed his extensive and rare collection of vintage Aveda perfumes. Daniel created an all natural fragrance preservative which was inspired by the one used in Aveda scents. It is a key component of the Exquisite Corpus project, created on-site during the event.
FRAGatini anyone???
Rounding out everyone’s visits were frequent stops at the refreshment table brought to us by Veronique Tschopp of a Muse Bouche Catering. Wonderful healthy-yet-decadent deserts, all handcrafted. Perfumers and visitors loved her creamy, citrus-y confection created with the unusual finger lime. There was also chocolate. Maggie’s fragrant, perfume-based cocktails were a big hit, the crowd favorite being Mid-Century Malibu made with blue curacao infused with jasmine from Maggie’s garden. Several perfumers were serendipitously wearing matching blue dresses, so were the target of jokes about color-coordination with what they were drinking.
Maggie with Dion Neutra
Maggie Mahboubian, our lovely and talented host, made it all happen and provided the crowning touch with our collective perfume project, Exquisite Corpus. Each perfumer brought one or two fragrant ingredients and took turns in the creation of the perfume.
The ingredients for Exquisite Corpus
The result was an herbal-citrusy fragrance that turned out surprisingly well, reflecting the time taken by the talented perfumers in contributing to the communal work. We both wholeheartedly say, “We are immensely grateful to Maggie for organizing FRAGments and look forward to many more such events in future!”
–Elise Pearlstine, Sr Contributor and perfumer for Tambela and Ellen Covey, perfumer for Olympic Orchids
Editor's Note: A round of applause for Elise and Ellen for putting together this fabulous recap or FRAGcap. All photos are from Elise and Ellen and are not to be reproduced. Unfortuntately, they were so busy and could not clone themselves so we were missing a photo of both Paul Kiler and Heather Kaufman. I grabbed an instagram photo Maggie took of Heather and Paul Kiler was photographed by Ken Corey. -Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief
Thanks to Maggie Mahboubian the organizer extraordinaire and the incredible generosity of these artisans, we have a FRAG bag of 61 samples representing each olfactive artists' perfumes:
On the Nose: Dark and Stormy, Fougère Orange Blossom, Rosa Ardiente, La Catrina, Momotaro
J. Hannah Co: Skive, Sunset Blvd, Orchard
House of Orpheus: Arctos, Cunning Man, Guru Deva, Enodia, Djinn, Charuto, Seraph
Monsillage: Eau Fraiche
Wax Poetic: Fruition, Flight, Ember, Mercy
Olympic Orchids: Dev One, Woodcut, California Chocolate, Mardi Gras, Blackbird
PK Perfumes: Ginger Zest de Citron, Tama N Tuberose, Velvet Curacao, Café Diem
Iris Moore: Inconsolable, LaMancha, Quercus
Rebel Intuitive Perfumes: Winterlewd, Ninon, Grace at 67th
Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery: Fleur de Caramel, Honey Perfumes and Forest, Desert and Breeze Beard Balms
Jolie Laide Perfume: À Bout de Souffle, Jules et Jim, Cléo de 5 À 7, Baisers Volés, Masculin Féminin, Bande À Part
Meshaz Natural Perfumes: Abzinthe, Mimoza, Zauvage, Ozmanthus, Yuzzu
Parfums Jazmin Sarai: Otis & Me, Led IV, How You Love, Neon Graffiti
Tambela Perfumes: Carmen Dances, 305, Verdigris, Wild Chypre, Aerheart
To be eligible you must be a registered CaFleureBon reader in the US. Please leave a comment with what appeal to you about this wonderful event, what you learned and which perfumes tickled your nose. Draw closes 6/5/2015
We announce the winners on our site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize wil be just spilled perfume