The Perfumers Neroli Sussed Out

 

So What Variety of Orange Tree Gives us the Prized and Loved Neroli?

The short answer is - nobody knows for sure, but it's pretty certain that it isn't soley the often named variety Citrus aurantium var. amara. I started this quest to find out what variety in my last blog post. I was trying to figure out why Citrus aurantium var. Bouquet des Fleurs wasn't named, since that was the variety I studied at one of the top citrus schools in the world.

Turns out it's probably either/neither/a mix/or a bunch of others. I got feedback on a Yahoo group, and called UCR and spoke with one of the professors there. Neither source wanted to be quoted, since they're giving their opinion, and cannot point me to a source that will quote the facts. Due to their experience in the field, actually having visited neroli groves in several countries, I do accept their statements.

Citrus hybridizes readily and oftentimes there are gaps in the groves due to a tree dying for a number of reasons, and in the countries where the citrus for neroli is grown, it is an acceptable practice to just propagate from the fruit of existing trees, which can give rise to a number of variations in trees.

If the young trees that are raised from the seeds of the bitter orange trees exhibit similar growth and scent characteristics, they plant them. They have seen dozens of different varieties of sour orange, and even some sweet orange trees in the neroli groves. Amara and Bouquet des Fleurs may be the trees in some groves, but there is no guarantee they're the predominant tree, in fact, chances are they are just 'in the mix' as it were, one of many types.

In Florida, we're used to cloned trees, monoculture and the latest scientific information available. If someone has a Valencia orange grove, it's a Valencia orange grove. The neroli groves of Tunisia, Egypt, Italy, Greece and other lands have no such monoculture, so it seems that neroli is a lovely mix.

I kind of like that! If, someday, a disease attacks the amara variety, neroli will still continue to be produced, because other varieties are already in the distillation vat ;-)

It also gives me hope that in the effort I'm joining to attempt to introduce distillation of aromatic plants to Florida, we can spread the net wider in our efforts to identify trees that may contribute to a new neroli industry. Not stuck in the rut of having to choose just one type of variety, we can look at a traveling harvest set up. The blooms from sour and sweet groves can be distilled as they blossom, and the essential oil stored, and blended to create a lovely odor profile that closely matches neroli.

I really enjoyed this bit of research, and I'm hopeful for the establishment of neroli distillation in Florida. After all, the orange blossom is our state flower.

The Neroli Tree Mystery

A photo of the Neroli blossom Citrus aurantium var. Bouquet de Fleurs
I posted this on several Yahoo groups today and I'm hoping to suss out the mystery of the proper name for the neroli tree:

For years, I've questioned why C. aurantium var. amara was named as the source of neroli in all the aromatherapy (AT) books. I studied at a Citrus Research Center at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and two of my professors there were among the authors of the industry Bibles, The Citrus Industry Vols. 1-4. I was taught that C. aurantium var. Bouquet de Fleurs was the source of neroli. We had a beautiful stand of the small, rounded trees growing on campus. Early one Sunday morning, my husband and I went down the row, bucket in hand, vodka in bucket, harvesting as many flowers as possible. The tincture was heavenly!

For years, however, in my dyslexic way, I reversed the name. I called it Fleurs des Bouquet, and I couldn't find any reference to it. I've since lost my Citrus Industry books on moves, and didn't bother to call back to the University of CA, Riverside to check. I figured maybe the variety I remembered came down with a disease, and the amara replaced it in the industry. After all, one book after another, one supplier after another named the  amara as the neroli source.

I had a meeting today with a student and colleague who is moving forward with a grant to look into developing distillation projects here in Florida, and hopefully, Haiti. Neroli came up.  I spoke of my confusion with the AT books and suppliers.

When I went online to google FdB, all I came up with was a post by myself on a perfumery blog in 2005. I figured something was wrong if not one other hit came up with that name. I googled citrus aurantium varieties bouquet neroli and the skies parted and the sun came out.

One source after another names Bouquet de Fleurs as the source of neroli.
I've been wondering what's up all these years. I'm not saying that amara isn't one name for it, but why does everyone cite it as the only source? BdF was #1 according to the old professors, and they were German and quite sure of themselves ;-) I'm German, too, but quite unsure of myself where all this is concerned, lol.

Here's some pages, and of course, you may find some other info independently.

The first site cites my alma mater, UCR

On the Bouquetier spp.

This site mentions production in Haiti and I believe it says BdF and amara may be synonyms (they call the cultivars Bouquetier):

Ah, from UCR!

It's just the beauty and memory of those trees at Riverside that had me cling on to the hope that I could unearth something about their name. Can anybody help? Bouquet de Fleurs (even reversed as I had it) is such a romantic name, and is it possible it's the true, historic name?

Lemongrass, Ylang ylang and verdant dreams for Haiti

Lemongrass plantation - Malaysia

I've always been a dreamer and an optimist. Time to move forward with the project I touched upon in my last blog.


Backstory: I dropped the ball in September of 2008 when I was scheduling a lunch with someone from the biggest vetiver distillation company in Haiti. That week, and the week following, huge storms swept Haiti, causing horrific flooding and loss of life. I figured to just back off as she took care of business, and I just felt superfluous to the problems they/she were facing, and lost contact with her.

As I wrote recently, I'm going to direct efforts into reforestation efforts in Haiti, as soon as I can connect with a local agency. They're impossible to contact this week, but I'll keep at it. I'm also going to recontact my distillation connection for several reasons.

I feel terrible I just gave up when faced with the situation in 2008. I guess I suffer from PTSD from all the hurricanes we get here in Florida, and I just needed some distance from the horrors of similar destruction. Human weakness, I suppose.

This week a student called me to follow up on some talks we had earlier this year - she's received a grant to look into establishing distillation of fragrant plants here in Florida. She wants to pick my brain about some agricultural directions and details and scenarios, and we're both in agreement that the effort can be expanded to Haiti in the second phase.

Lemongrass and ylang ylang are the first plants on our agenda. We'll be researching all of the agronomic and market aspects of this effort, and we know we'll have a lot of hurdles to jump over with the logistics. I'll also involve Natural Perfumers Guild members in the effort at a later date.

I researched a bit about the vetiver distillation plant in Haiti: the owner has about 25,000 families that are part of his work team. They harvest the vetiver and bring it to his plant. I can only imagine what shape his plant is in right now, and the immediate physical and economic fate of those tens of thousands of familis. He expressed grave concerns back in 2000 about the lack of infrastructure - horrid dirt roads for transport - and sporadic, rationed electricity that shut down the plant frequently.

In 2004 he asked, as part of group of businesspeople, for the US to intervene with military help because of the growing violence in the area.

I could take it easy, and just work with Elise here on the Florida aspect, but those who know me know I'm not the type to take it easy. Elise is a very grounded person who is not shy about quietly gong about the business of setting things right.  We'll make a good team on this, me the silent partner - except for my blogging here - as the project is hers and I'm just advising from the sidelines.

But, it does make me feel good insofar as that his week was fruitless for me in my attempts to contact the Green Leaves folks, but Elise and I are sitting down on Tuesday and setting up a game plan.

In my dreams, thousands or tens of thousands of individuals all over the world are doing such brainstorming now, for all sorts of different projects to help the people of Haiti.

And that businessman I mentioned earlier? He was a pioneer in bringing essential oil production to Rwanda years ago, assisting in the establishment of patchouli plantations and distillation units, bring jobs and money to the people of that war-ravaged land.

What goes around, comes around.

A Natural Perfumer Looks at How to Heal the Earth

 After the Haiti Quake:

Heal the Earth, Heal the People

photo source: http://linknzona.blogspot.com/2008/12/environmental-quality-and-natural.html

The Natural Perfumer is Not an artist 100% of the time, 

they're a caring person 100% of the time:

For me, our art is linked with our responsibility to the environment and other people.

The image above shows the stark reality of the deforestation of Haiti in contrast to its contiguous neighbor, the Dominican Republic, to the right (east). The first thing that came to my mind when the horrific quake hit was that the people of the cities of Haiti can't flee the city for refuge in the countryside, because their countryside is bare, eroded earth. When it rains, and it will soon, those hills turn into mudslicks, and mudslides follow. Haiti has been plagued by mudslides for decades due to the systematic deforestation of the countryside. Thousands of years of topsoil, created slowly by the breakdown of the underlying rock has been washed away because of the poverty of the people - they had to use the trees to survive, so they were cut down.

People so poor can't be concerned about leaving the forest canopy intact: they need charcoal now, for dinner tonight. So the machetes chop down the trees, saplings actually, since there are few large trees left there, and they set them on fire and create charcoal to be transported into the cities for food and heating homes.

Something as simple as an international effort to give solar stoves to the people, in that land of sunshine, could help immediately.

Long term? I'm taken back to my education in botany and agriculture, and my first reason for studying landscape management so many years ago in California: I wanted to learn how to prevent land erosion gullies that I saw everywhere in Northern California. Improper landscaping practices, including tree felling, caused the erosion problems there, also.

In undergraduate and graduate school, I researched the history of plains, valleys and waterways and the concomitant human settlement patterns and documented how those waterways and landforms, if improperly managed, resulted in the civilization declining, and sometimes going extinct. I presented a paper at the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture on my findings, but with no funding, my research dwindled into nothing. Simultaneously, I was authoring a Primer and Annotated Bibliography on Alternative Futures Planning for Water Resources for the U.S.G.S. The dangers of not have alternative plans in place when and if a disruption of watersheds occurred were laid out. What does this prove? 

Well-meaning people, like myself have tackled these problems for decades. Many have led successful projects that have halted deforestation, protected watersheds, brought civilizations back from the brink of destruction - but the successes are few. 


So, for many years, I got more involved in design of luxury gardens, and the passion of my passions, natural perfumery. I didn't make the choice to not be involved in environmental efforts, my life just gently led me down another path.

Perfumery, in particular natural perfumery, is a luxury. We NPers import rare and costly aromatics from all over the world, they're delivered to us by FedEx, no muss, no fuss. We're proud to say we strive to source only organic, sustainable, wild-crafted yada yada. The finest vetiver comes from Haiti, we all know that. Recently, frangipani absolute from Haiti has appeared on the market. Luxury aromatics from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Will those industries survive the next five years?

Many of the tropical, Third World countries we source our aromatics from also suffer from deforestation, if not for the same reason as Haiti. In Madagascar, many thousands of acres are as bare and vulnerable as Haiti. No vegetation, no birds or other animals, and no man can live there.

photo used with permission of Rhett Butler of Wild Madagascar.org

Most natural perfumers know the intimate link between the earth, the people, and the fragrant bounty we use to adorn our bodies, uplift our souls, and in many cases, heal us.

We need to heal the land and people of Haiti. By that I don't just mean rebuild the cities and tend to those injured in the earthquake. They're facing months, if not years or generations of homelessness and possible hopelessness. The Haitians have an indomitable spirit, and now it will be tested to the maximum.

Where to start? With a seed, a rooted cutting, a plant growing in a pot. So simple.

A simple solution that needs to "take root" in Haiti.

I have deep roots in the Haitian community here in Miami, but I admit I have neglected those roots in recent years. I was the public relations person for the Haitian Roots and Culture Festival for many years, and I also assisted up and coming Haitian bands with publicity. Many of my neighbors are Haitian, and I shop in Haitian stores and live right next to Little Haiti. When I first moved in my house the fence was covered with a funky-smelling weed Momordica. I would see elderly Haitian ladies collecting the herb and that led me to find that it was used for a medicinal tea. So then I embarked on an ethnobotanical study of the use of local plants (many exotics transported in during the diaspora of Haitian and Caribbean peoples). It didn't work out, though, too many time constraints, I just had too many other businesses to tend to.

Now I regret not being more involved in organizations like Operation Green Leaves. I attended a few of their functions in the late 1990's, and contributed a bit of my expertise to their efforts, but really didn't get involved.

When hurricanes tore through Florida in the early and mid 2000's, I got involved with the Red Cross and local relief agencies. I renewed some of my old contact there this past week and worked for a few days helping coordinate collection and pick up efforts for supplies to be sent to Haiti. My fibromyalgia, however, made me quit that. Emotional and physical stress can trigger a "fibro flare", and between the demanding work of the relief effort and watching the misery of the people of Haiti on TV, and talking to my Haitian friends, I felt a flare coming on that could have sidelined me with pain and extreme exhaustion. I stopped just in time, but I realized at the same time I could not not be involved.

So I have decided to go back to the skills learned as a gardener and student, and work at helping the reforestation effort in Haiti. Can I dream that fragrant and/or edible plants and trees that I help establish in Haiti can be part of the solution? I hope so. I'm not a policy maker, but I'm good at raising money, coordinating efforts, and I sure know how to propagate plants, collect seed and teach agricultural methods. Here's a little look into my seed-testing work with Organic Gardening magazine. I wrote them in '94 or so and said "hey, why don't you have seed testers and writers from Zone 10"? :-) I have always been a bit pushy about "starting things" (natural-born activist) - and now I'm going to call the folks at Operation Green Leaves this week and offer my services to them.

I'm also going to call the daughter of the owner of one of the largest vetiver oil processing plants in Haiti and renew our acquaintance. Did you know that the vetiver plant is used worldwide to stabilize earth, to prevent erosion? A sustainable replanting scheme is probably already in place, and I'd like to learn about it. These are the same folks who helped bring patchouli plantings to Rwanda. (when I just revisited my blog I was shocked to see a man from Kenya had written me asking for help. I never saw that post! I'll write him now.)

So much to do, so little time. Please, everyone, get involved in any little way you can. The world is hurting, and people are needed to heal it.

Boronia boudoir

About 1.5grams of pricey, rare boronia absolute, just in from Tasmania, just spilled in my studio

I posted about my Patchouli panties in 2008. This undergarment scenting occurred by accident when I put a washcloth that I had mopped up a minor patchouli essential oil spill with into the laundry with my undergarments.

Due to a farktabulous spill I had about an hour ago when pouring the 2010 boronia absolute for the Natural Perfumers Guild buy, I'll now have a boronia boudoir. This was the biggest spill I've ever made, with one of the most expensive, rare aromatics in the world. We in the Guild are fortunate that the Tasmanian producer sells to us, as he had in 2009, since their supply is so low. They're just servicing their longterm corporate clients, but made an exception for the Guild, realizing that it is lovely to get some spread around amongst the artisan natural perfumers. About 25 Guild members are anxiously awaiting their boronia, and one is coming by this afternoon to pick hers up.

So there I was, red in the face and orange in the hand. I don't even think I was distracted, and the brown bottle wasn't too opaque as I poured from one to the other in an attempt to get a little of the "newly extracted note" to dissipate.

Thank god I practice what I preach, and teach all my students the importance of using a spill tray to catch klutzy splatters. There was a 'spill tray' underneath and it caught the ooze out of the overfilled bottle. All the labels: orange-brown. Ditto my hands. I did was any self-respecting scent addict would do - I rubbed the sides of the big bottles that were covered in the thick aromatic, into my hair. Then I wiped down the bottles with the paper towel you see on the tray. Then I pipetted up most of the spill, admired the abstract art of my clumsiness, took this photo, then wiped up the rest of the spill and laughed.

My lingerie drawer is going to smell so good! This stuff stains due to the high carotenoid content, so I'll put the towel in a little open box, and enjoy the scented beauty each time I open the drawer and put something on from there.

Full Blue Moon, Perfume Swoon

The New Year - Two Thousand and Zen - and a Starry-Moon Full Swoon

I've had my nose to the grindstone. There are so many projects, all with varied needs and timelines, I haven't had time to "keep up" with much that's going on. I do have my google alerts set to let me know when "Anya's Garden" pops up in the Internet, and I had to stop and pay attention in the past few days when one after another, alerts came in.

I had no idea there was a "Best of the Best 2009" plan among perfume bloggers, but my goodness, am I the beneficiary of some lovely mentions by them! One after another they flowed:

From the lovely Elena at Perfume Shrine blog:

Best of Niche: Anya's Garden Starflower A gourmand with guts! Unusual combination, great lasting power for an all-naturals.

Anya's Note: I was one of a number of niche perfumeries mentioned, but surely the tiniest microbusiness of all, so this knocked me out.

From a devoted lover of Anya's Garden Perfumes, thoughtful Maria of Bitter Grace Notes blog:

Best New Perfume: Moondance from Anya's Garden, of course. This gorgeous white floral proves that a natural perfume can be easy to love and satisfyingly complex. It also confirms that Anya is an extremely versatile perfumer. It's amazing that the same woman who created Temple and Fairchild also produced the ethereal Moondance.

Anya's Note: Yes, Temple and Fairchild are fierce and independent perfumes, quite a diff, eh? ;-)

From the beautylicious Gaia of The Non Blonde Blog:

Anya McCoy of Anya's Garden, an all-natural, uncompromising perfumer, has already brought us Kaffir and Pan, two of the most interesting and non-traditional scents I can think of (the first is a lime and leather concoction, the second is all about goat). Her two newest perfumes, MoonDance and StarFlower and stunning in their power, magic and pure sensuality. They are a must-try for any perfume lover.

Anya's Note: Gaia pegged me - uncompromising and non-traditional. Hey, I have several facets ;-)



Finally, not a "Best of the Best 2009" participant, Kevin of Now Smell This blog did make a nice gesture in my direction:
“Wish Came True”: First, a wish I made in 2008 came true in 2009; Anya’s Garden made a perky cologne version of its Kaffir Eau de Parfum (thanks!)

My little perfumery is only 3.5 years old, although I have been making and selling perfumes since the early 1990's (they were oil-based then). I've created several private label perfumes and couture lines, and many dozens of custom perfumes, but aside from lovely reviews, I've never scored any "Best of" year-end awards. I must say I'm humbled and encouraged. And as Mandy said "should be over the moon" ;-) yes, the MoonDance can do that, lol.

Most of all, I'm so deeply, deeply happy that natural perfumes - because several other natural perfumers were mentioned on several blogs - have now surfaced as a luxury commodity, an artform that we pour our talents, time and hearts into, now is so well-recognized.

As we move into Two Thousand and Zen, my predictions for the New Year are all positive. Thank you, dear bloggers for being so independently supportive of my perfumes, and natural perfumes in general. I only hope I can encourage many other shy natural perfumers to get their perfumes, body oils, lotions, soaps and other gorgeous products into your hands so that you can become acquainted with them. The community of natural perfumers is small and rather shy, yes, and I had to force myself to mail out all the samples on my birthday, so that MoonDance and StarFlower could get into some noses that traditionally love mainstream perfumes that contain synthetics. Well, it paid off, big time for me, and I hope others follow my lead, and be more proactive with promoting yourselves.

Happy New Year Everyone!

A Beautifully Perfumed Home - and an Artisan Product

This holiday my home is scented with the heady, floral, spicy beauty of white tuberoses. I just got a shipment in of several hundred flowers, and I now have trays filled with the vegetable shortening and scented beauties.

I made several pomades "recharges" with this shortening last spring and summer, but I just wanted a bit more scent in the fat so this latest refreshing with flowers. I also had a tray worth left over for a student who stopped by, so she's going to get some more pomade going herself.

Ah, the fragrance. It's giving me two beautiful experiences: once when I'm putting the flowers in the tray, and later on when I wash the fat with alcohol and create a usable product for my perfumery.

Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute: Registrations for February 2010 course now being taken

Distance Learning also available beginning February 2010 in addition to the two online study options at Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute.

Registration applications and tuition payments for the Basic Natural Perfumery Course that will launch the end of February, 2010 are now being accepted.. The website is being rebuilt with more features than before, and it will be faster and more interactive for the online student.

The front pages of the course site have been posted with the new Syllabus, a Registration page, an informative Home Page, and Testimonials from former students. Started in 2007, Anya's Garden course is the first of its kind for natural perfumers. The online interactive aspect allows all the students to take part in the classes from their home base anywhere in the world. This feature allows the students to save money that might have been spent in traveling, while still enjoying the camaraderie of the other students and one-on-one contact with the instructor.

To read more about this extraordinary opportunity to learn the basics of classical perfumery techniques, read more on the Perfume Classes site.

Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute: Student Registration Starts December 1, 2009

The next basic perfumery course offered by Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute will commence in late February, 2010. The exact date will be announced at a later date. The revised syllabus and details on the course schedule will be available November 20, 2010.

The homepage for Perfume Classes.com has been updated and the latest information for the newly-revised curriculum can be found there. There are now three options for study:

Web-based:

1. An interactive, fast-paced course that is six-months long and
2. A self-paced option for those who wish to study on their own.

Distance learning non-web-based:

3. Textbook and kit supplied, no website access

Since the opening of the school in 2007, about one hundred students have enrolled, and dozens have received their certificate of completion. Since some students fell behind in their studies due to family, work or other issues, it was decided to open the self-paced option. Students can enroll at any time for that option, but the interactive course starts in February and requires a commitment to stay apace of the studies. If the student falls behind, they will be placed in the self-paced option.

Instructor Anya McCoy is an accomplished artisan natural perfumer with a history of helping people from all over the work learn about perfumery in the Yahoo group she has hosted since 2002, and her perfumes receive rave reviews from many perfume bloggers. Also available for individual consultation, she conducts her artisan perfumery from Miami Shores, Florida, where she maintains a garden of fragrant tropical plants, many used in her perfumes. Anya is the President of the Natural Perfumers Guild and in that role maintains a roster of the most respected names in perfumery, all dedicated to the use of natural aromatics.

All students will have full access to the numerous resources on the website as they move forward in their perfumery studies.

Registration is open to a limited number of students, and will begin December 1, 2009.

StarFlower and MoonDance from Anya's Garden Perfumes Reviewed on Perfume Shrine - comment and you may win samples

Elena at Perfume Shrine reviewed MoonDance and StarFlower from Anya's Garden Perfumes, and if you leave a comment, you will be entered in a drawing to win samples - click here to read and enter

"Everything I do is Illegal" - relevant for food producers, perfumers, bath and body businesses and many other microbusinesses

With some chat going on following my blog yesterday quoting article showing the problems with government regulation in microbusinesses, especially businesses that produce items for our body, whether they be perfume, food, herbal medicine and the like, this great article Everything I Do is Illegal was sent to a busy herb list I'm on. He's a food producer - meat products, to be exact - and he's an intelligent voice calling for some common sense. Our country has turned into a corporate- and industrial- business machine, and the small businesses are being regulated out of business.

Regarding the post yesterday, the most chat is going on in the herb list. Herbalists are traditionally plant gatherers and processors. They're also traditionally a bit apart from mainstream society, aside from those who have grown their businesses into huge corporations, such as the ones mentioned in the Cruel Stepmother and Good Father Who Will Not See article. Many of us are familiar with them, and are happy that they have brought the healing power of herbs to the general public, but we can also wonder what their success means to the little herb company trying to comply with the GMP regs that are unfriendly to small businesses.

Microbusinesses must be allowed to exist and prosper in our country. The herbalists are happy that they feel they can find ways to fly under the radar of the FDA. But I ask should they be forced to go underground, become outlaws in a sense? What's wrong with warning labels? What's wrong with concessions for microbusinesses?

If "fight" is too strong a word for some who may think that capitulating to legislator's whims and the FDA's edicts, I disagree. This country was formed on the notion of fighting for our rights. Don't let the cooing sounds of some fool you - you must fight.

So what does fighting mean? It doesn't mean attacking your legislator verbally, of course it doesn't! It means putting some backbone in yourself, getting off your rear end and going to work for the cause - rolling back regulations and working to get microbusiness-friendly regs in place.

Fifth English Language Article by Famed Perfumer Edmond Roudnitska uploaded to Anya's Garden Perfumes site

The latest in the series of articles in English has been uploaded to Anya's Garden Perfumes, and in it Mr. Roudnitska shares his thoughts and philosophy on "Concerning the Circumstances Favorable to the Creation of an Original Perfume" from Perfumer and Flavorist Magazine April/May 1984.

Just click the link above to view it and the four previous articles in PDF form for download.

The next article is quite large at 48 pages. It will take me some time to scan it all, and I hope I figure out the way to create PDFs in bits and pieces so I can scan over time, not having to sit down for a marathon scanathon! If anyone can help me with the logistics, I'd appreciate it.

Lovely series: North American Originals: Perfumers on Fall &Winter

Natural Perfumers Guild members Mandy Aftel and Anya McCoy featured on The Scented Salamander website series: North American Originals:Perfumers on Fall & Winter.

Mandy's take on what Aftelier perfumes are best suited for the colder seasons is in Part One andnd Anya's Garden Perfume's two new colder season scents, MoonDance and StarFlower are explained in Part Two

From the Scented Salamander:
American perfumery is as varied as its landscape. One of its most notable traits is the fact that in spite of the presence of giant corporations like Coty or Estée Lauder, there exists a strong breed, I am tempted to say, of independent perfumers who appear by contrast even more like the necessary missing pieces of a vast puzzle. And without them, one could argue, American perfumery would be forgetting the flip side of anonymous efficiency, large-scale organization and big business, that is, originality, primitivism, naïveté, a sense of community, intimacy, individualism and let us not forget, the can-do attitude. If we only had the big labels, we would still have rivers of perfume, but we would have less of a certain moral spirit, the individualist one. And I don't know really what is America without the individual.

She or he is like the flavor of home-grown local herbs added to a standard national recipe.

Nonetheless, we still need the giants because without the Leviathans, perfumery would not be as democratic an art, a pleasure and a way of life. Mass-marketed perfume may be a French invention borne out of the intuitions of François Coty, he who knew perfume could both be a sign of luxury and a household name, but mass-market perfumery particularly thrives in the United-States thanks to sheer size and a deep culture of consumerism.

Ultimately, the ideals of democracy and pluralism that are the bread and butter of the American psyche open up enough room for independent perfumers to be not isolated and too rugged but an expression of a particular sensitivity.

In this series we meet with a number of North-American indie perfumers who reveal a naturalistic approach. They can be distinguished from so-called "niche perfumers" easily by realizing that their reference point is their own personal experiences. Indie perfumers are more hands-on and are usually less inspired by a tradition, genres, a cannon or the market. And as far as independent perfumery goes, this means to me also that independent perfumers make their perfumes themselves almost from scratch, even sometimes devising their own ingredients or searching for new sources of natural inspirations in their self-cultivated gardens. Due to this sensitivity to the naturalist context, their catalogs tend to be colored, more or less explicitly, by real-world references like the seasons in an impressionistic sense, or the fruits of the seasons. Some of these perfumers have extensive libraries of scents, others concentrate on a more compact collection.

To develop one step further the food metaphor, American Originals are more like non-processed food. Even though indie perfumers do not necessarily use only natural ingredients, the creative process itself seems more natural and unmediated. An art of the vignette is born where nature is approached in an interpersonal manner, where scents refer to a precise point in time, evoke warm, nostalgic memories.

After asking a group of independent perfumers for their thoughts on Fall & Winter fragrances, I have weaved their voices and their beautiful words into a virtual conversational exchange. Some perfumers who have contributed longer answers, I have taken the liberty to interrupt for a day to let them pursue their thoughts on the next not because what they said was too long but because it creates a balance and a rhythm, a journal-like quality that echoes for me, the charm of truly seasonal fragrances as natural clocks of time, images of the ebb and flow of the days.

I will add short bios on the last day of the series.