Rediscovering a Perfumery Text Classic

Mandy Aftel is an unstoppable force of nature.
With over twenty years of experience in fragrance creation, she continues to share her generous knowledge with the world in the most creative and innovative ways. Mandy is not only a perfumer, but also a teacher, a writer (often intersecting the art of cooking with natural essences), and a museum curator and owner (her Aftel Archive of Curious Scents in Berkley, California is an unmissable destination for fragrance lovers). It is difficult to summarise in one article her contributions to perfumery and the legacy her passion carries all over the globe.

Her bestseller, Essence & Alchemy, first published in 2001, has organically created an inter- generational fanbase, and still continues to spark interest in natural essences and fragrance creation in young artists and enthusiasts. To many, it represents a first introduction to olfactory education, holding an immeasurable value within the ongoing access revolution to fragrance education. As the fragrance community has been celebrating the print of the 2022 revised edition of the book, we join the marking of Mandy's legacy with a special interview exploring her very own teaching process, the present (and future) of artisanal fragrance, and all the behind the scenes of the making of one of most culturally significant perfumery texts . Happy reading!

Considering the impressive legacy of the book, what are some key differences readers can expect from its 2022 revised edition?

It was really interesting to revisit my book Essence & Alchemy.
I wrote it in the very early part of my career, and since then the largest change has been about teaching.

My teaching has vastly improved and my understanding of how to work with materials has changed too.
When I went through the book and saw the old teaching, I really wanted to fix it...

In the 2022 revised edition, I also had a lot of thinking about how you create, and the learning process- I think that any creative practice is about learning to learn.

I added a lot of user-friendly creative psychology, in order to make the book accessible for readers starting out with discovering the world of natural fragrances.

How did your creative and learning process evolved throughout the years?

I've been teaching for over 20 years. Thousands of people bought my workbook, and I taught hundreds of people. I'm a great believer in learning how to edit your work: first of all understanding the blending capacities of natural essences; and then how to edit something and re-make it. I also believe in failing. Anyone who has a rigorous creative process fails a lot; but knowing how to re-direct judgment is very important. You need to learn from how you're doing, and I find that your learning goes up exponentially once you start thinking that way.

Teaching can be a very emotionally demanding task, as you have to deal with a very commonly experienced feeling of fear of failure among students. How do you navigate this topic?

Most people have very unrealistic expectations at the beginning, with an erroneous understanding of the learning process, which causes people a lot of unhappiness. But the actual learning process is a thrill, once you get that out of the way. It's all about redirecting those feelings: I am very cautious of this both in my teaching and writing. If you work on things, and you're rigorous, you can get somewhere. I like how essences enable an act of transformation, that's why I got into alchemy and why I feel like learning fits very well with alchemy.

What did your initial research process look like? When you started writing the book, there weren't yet many resources available to consult publicly...

When I started researching essences, finding resources was difficult.
I would go to book fairs and I would look for old books on perfume... It was very fun, as I always loved to research.

I made a list of the books' bibliography and asked sellers to look out for these resources. When I started reading additional books, I found them so fascinating for the rich cultural and social meanings scent held.

It was truly an exciting process! With alchemy, my editor and I weren't sure at the beginning of the connection, but it fits perfectly with natural essences.
Apart from its magic aura, there was a psychology, and it always felt like a very rich vein to explore.

I wanted to include a bibliography at the end of Essence & Alchemy, as I really wanted people to deep dive and fall in love with researching as much as I did.

I love the discovery that you find in the timeless things that makes us human, which I felt was what I was dealing with.

Metaphorically and poetically, it was the same process as with studying the chemistry of those raw materials and their molecular evolutions.

When it comes to natural perfumery, what developments or challenges did you notice in terms of its community and manufacturing?

In our Museum, we see many visitors engaging with natural perfumery everyday. I see a lot of good change in the world, particularly coming from consumers.

It's a great time to be a natural perfumer - you have extremely knowledgeable and attentive consumers and bloggers, shipping and brand communication is so much easier!

In your book you write that historically the Western culture has been heavily neglectful of our sense of smell. Has this changed in recent years? Do you think that our society is now embracing our sense of smell? And what are your tips to improve scent awareness?

We have become more conscious about smell during the COVID 19 pandemic. In my other book, Fragrant, I talk about how to improve our sense of smell.

I feel it's all about <<wanting to>>, and not feeling intimidated.
I always say to my visitors and students to smell stuff around you: close your eyes and smell.

When you do it, you become more present. And you begin to get the language. I make Natural Essences Wheels too, making the vocabulary process easier. When people become interest in their sense of smell, and take pleasure from it, it just expands naturally in their mind.

Any sensory experience is important in relation to smell - cooking is hugely influential in our understanding of everyday, which I explore further in two cookbooks- Aroma, The Magic of Essential Oils in Foods and Fragrance, and The Art of Flavour: Practices and Principles for Creating Delicious Food, with Michelin star cher Daniel Patterson.

You've been one of the earliest pioneers campaigning for access in perfumery and the art of fragrance creation through education. What does access mean to you, and how do you approach the current access revolution?

Access is everything to me. There is an extraordinary world frequently limited by commerce and marketing, while there is such a deep sense of who we are as human beings in our sense of smell, and in the access to ingredients, history, rituals... Providing access is like opening the door to great beauty, and people can enter it and discover more rooms.

There is a big discussion around marketing developments and the legacy of marketing in fragrance consumption. What is your stance on the topic?

When I hear about this, I always think of a class I taught to only men for Google. When participants had to pick their favourite scents, an overwhelming majority chose florals. So for example, with gender and fragrance, it is pretty obvious how scent has no gender, and it is great we are evolving from this concept. I think it starts with the truth, and respecting the customer, and their real interest in materials. Any step in that direction is important. And it's great to see how people are starting to feel free to pick things that speak to them. The more a customer knows, the more dedicated they are.

What roles do perfumers have in modern society, and within the global market nowadays, in your opinion?

Perfume is an expression, an art project from its creators. And the internet has made it really possible for every brand size to find its demographic. When a product is genuine, it will sell on its own. And it's a wonderful opportunity, because it allows you to really use quality materials and improve your art practice. Personally, I have stuck with the artistic side of fragrance creation.
There's lots of room to do work you believe in, I strongly believe it's a very optimistic time for artisanal perfumers.

What is next for you?

Everything I do brings me pleasure. I feel privileged to do work that I believe in and love. And it's wonderful that other people are interested in it. A guide to our museum is about to come out in fall 2023.
It would be wonderful to find a publisher in the UK too to share with my english audience the history and developments behind our museum. And Essence & Alchemy is also about to be published in french by the fragrance magazine Nez!

Essence & Alchemy:A Natural History of Perfume (2022) is available on Amazon Uk both in e-book and paperback. To follow the latest news from Mandy and discover her creations, check Aftelier.com .