by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Black Iris is making progress, but new problems keep coming up. Should the perfume replicate the smell of orris, the authentic aroma of iris root, or peoples’ fantasy of it? I fear few people recognize the smell of orris and my hard work and extravagance may be for...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
In the 1970s, when it was still manageable for someone with a minuscule income to drink the world’s greatest wines, I was invited into a group of professional wine connoisseurs who met every week to drink rare and otherworldly vintages. At the time (and presumably...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
At the end of day two, Mandy gave us our final assignment. We were to take two—only two—ingredients to explore together and use them as the basis for a new perfume. I went home (I’m staying at my brother’s, right up the hill) and as I stared at the sunset behind the...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Once she demonstrated this approach, she set us loose. She’s incredibly generous with her ingredients as I realized while measuring out drops of red champaka absolute into my mixture. The assignment was to construct a fragrance. We were allowed up to three different...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
On day two, things got even more exciting. Mandy introduced a system I had never seen before and that completely blew my mind. She works by adding drops of fully-concentrated absolutes or essential oils to five milliliters of ethanol. She starts out with only two...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Mandy started us right off the bat by discussing how to look at ingredients. First, she described top, middle and base notes in terms of how long they last on a blotter strip—an hour for tops, maybe four hours for middles, and longer for bases. She has her organ...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Last weekend, I had the privilege of taking a 3-day class from perfumer, teacher, and writer, Mandy Aftel. Mandy lives in a lovely house right behind Chez Panisse. In the sunny front room, where she teaches her small classes of eight, she has her “organ” of naturals...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
I’ve been nervous about this whole thing, certain that I was going to be in a room of master perfumers who could recognize every scent by smell, something I’m rather terrible at. But none of this panned out. The environment is relaxing, yet serious; the whole thing is...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
I recently took a big step and signed up for a natural perfumery course with Mandy Aftel, author of several important books about perfumery and scent. She has a classic Maybeck Berkeley home right next to Chez Panisse. When I asked her excitedly if there were time to...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Several years ago, I took a Photoshop workshop. The instructor told us not to work endlessly on an image, searching for perfection, but rather, to make a series of trials and finish by comparing them and, perhaps, combining them. Following suite, I’ve taken the same...
