A Guild for Modern Times and Modern Natural Perfumers

The Artisan Natural Perfumers Guild opened its doors on June 1, 2006. It's a Guild for the modern age, uniting artists by the internet rather than the village in which they live geographically. You can click on the Guild website to read the necessary background and glossy stuff, but in this blog I can get more personal as to what the Guild means to me, how it evolved, and how wonderful it is to see this community develop. I'm the Founder and Owner of the Guild.

A little history: Mandy Aftel started another Guild in 2002. After problems managing the Guild, and rancor with local members, Mandy closed that Guild in 2003. Mandy came to know of my work hosting a huge - now almost 1000 members - Yahoo group on Natural Perfumery, and after a phone call last June to inquire how I was doing when the group hit a little bump in the road, she suggested I open a new Guild.



Mandy admitted the main reason she closed the Guild was that she didn't have the knack for managing a group, and that she recognized I did.


For any Guild, the professionals are the key. They, and their products, set the tone of the organization. I reached out and contacted professional natural perfumers to be the core of my Guild.  The natural perfumers in the Guild are not only lovely people, they produce gorgeous perfumes. The Guild suppliers are, for the most part, known to me for years, friends from many aromatherapy and herbalism chat groups. Their oils and essences, bases, alcohols and other supplies are of the finest quality.


An extraordinary number of Enthusiasts have joined the Guild, many perfumers-in-training, honing their skills, perfecting their art, getting ready to launch their businesses. This is the true spirit of a Guild -- apprentices. We are setting up a mentoring program for them, made possible by the wonders of internet communication. They, as everyone in the Guild, also benefit from the discounts offered to the members.

I added a new category to the Guild recently - Associate. Several producers of body care products had applied as Perfumer. When I noticed they did not produce a liquid or solid perfume, I noticed there was only the Enthusiast category, really not appropriate for them. The only criteria is that a member's products contain natural aromatics.... UNLESS...
and I'd like to clear this up here.....if someone, a perfumer or supplier or associate... produces some products with synthetics in them, they can still be in the Guild....IF...they segregate the naturals onto their own webpage, and only display the Guild seal on that page, not on any with synthetic products. We want to cast as wide a net as possible to those who use natural aromatics only, if even only in some of their products. We all have individual tastes and preferences, and that is not an obstacle to supporting the Guild and its philosophy.

The Guild already has a newsletter out, and another one in the works, and a private chat group on Yahoo where we can get to know each other and exchange ideas on the growth of the Guild and our art.  Viva la Guild!