Erica Vinskie of HENNY FAIRE Co.
Profile: As a child, I was fascinated with the vanities of the older women in my Northeastern Pennsylvania coal-mining village. On summer evenings, my mother and I would visit the homes of elder women around our hollow. (Here in Northern Appalachia, we call the small valleys between mountains a “hollow”; in Southern Appalachia, they say, “holler”.) While the women talked in the kitchen or parlor, I would sneak into the bedroom or bathroom to sample our host’s perfumes and toiletries.
Henny “Henrietta” Heher a legendary herbalist from Appalachia photo from Erica Vinskie
Although Appalachia is commonly associated with rusticity (at best)—or poverty and tackiness (at worst)—the vanities of the women in my community evinced a unique blend of practicality and refinement and of high- and low-brow. Bottles of Chanel, Guerlain, and Dior mingled with Jean Nate, Avon, and Dana. Caswell-Massey, l’Occitane, and Yardley guest soaps graced the bathroom sink, while rough bars of potash soap scented with mountainmint or blue vervain were ready at the laundry wash basin. Merle Norman cold creams sat atop vanities alongside bale jars containing compounds of medicinal plants the women had foraged in the hills. HENNY FAIRE Co. was born of my desire to memorialize these women and share them with the world. Much like their vanity tops, our fragrances blend wild, hyper-local ingredients with rarefied, exotic materials from around the world.
HENNY FAIRE Co Crispa (gold currant and clove)
My process for creating a HENNY FAIRE Co fragrance begins with a native Appalachian plant. After studying the plant in the wild, or here on my property where my husband grows many natives, I enter my workshop and build the accord molecule by molecule—using some of the actual plant material wherever appropriate. When creating the native plant accord, I aim for naturalism and photorealism. When blending in the other notes, I endeavor for beauty, intrigue, harmony, and elegance. My goal is to give the wearer an authentic, yet elevated, experience of our Appalachian wilderness.
Northern Pennsylvania
Alongside operating HENNY FAIRE Co. as a solo-entrepreneur, I teach Appalachian Culture & Literature part-time at a local college. During the pandemic, I am running HENNY FAIRE Co. entirely out of my home studio outside of Reading, PA.
HENNY FAIRE Co. Lucida, Mala and Junipera
On American Perfumery: I echo previous American perfumers profiled here on ÇaFleureBon in saying I am proud to be an American artisan perfumer and would not wish to trade the independence it affords me for Old World pedigree. Nevertheless, I believe American and European perfumers (along with perfumers the world over) have only to gain by learning from and collaborating with one another. My muse is always “Henny’s” vanity top, where Old Word meets New World.
Joseph Cornell Untitled Paul Virgina1946-48 www.ibiblio.com
Favorite American Artist: Joseph Cornell. His approach to visual art is similar to my approach to olfactory art: Assemble lowly, found materials (in my case, plants) in such a way as to create an entire, surreal world for the viewer (or, wearer) to enter. Like Cornell, I am obsessively self-taught and forever experimenting.
–Erica Vinskie of HENNY FAIRE Co.
HENNY FAIRE Co. Discovery kit includes Junipera, Crispa, Lucida and Mala foraged fragrances
Thanks to Erica Vinskie. we have a draw of for a registered reader ANYWHERE IN THE WOLRD for a HENNY FAIRE CO. Discovery Set of all 4 x 2ml foraged fragrances To enter the draw, you must be a registered reader. Please leave a comment with what you found fascinating about path to perfumery, and where you live. Which of the four fragrances appeal to you the most? Draw closes 10/19/2020
Erika Vinskie of HENNY FAIRE Co. is the 156th in our American perfumer series, which officially began in 20011 with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes.
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