The Perfumery in Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Perfumery in Santa Fe, New Mexico is one part apothecary, (referencing my great grandfathers homeopathic farmacy) one part alchemical lab (where I distill and transform plant matter into golden elixirs), one part naturalist/artist studio, one part wizardress/priestess, and one part stylist.

All these parts are all the aspects of a modern day perfumer and myself as a multidisciplinary artist. If you have not yet watched the video interview with Ron, of our local art supply store here in Santa Fe called Artisan, then follow this link to the YouTube video or the embedded video at the end, from when he came by the visit. The entire video is just under thirty minutes long, thus set aside the time and enjoy!

The first out of the home perfumery, above, was located in Agoura Hills, California, just a short drive to Malibu. In mid-March of 2014 I came upon the location while celebrating Greg's birthday, and rather auspiciously the Universe aligned and the glorious space manifested into a work / showroom / teaching space.

I was there for about three years and would have stayed if it weren't for the shared ventilation system which caused synthetic aroma molecules to drift into the perfumery from the other units as well as a challenge with having any control as to the temperature of my space. Regrettably the landlord was not interested in working with me and thus I left, setting in motion the move to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The current perfumery is located in the mid town area of Santa Fe, New Mexico within a hidden complex called Lena Street Lofts with the anchor business being the original Iconik Coffee, with their roaster situated amidst tables & couches. Iconik happens to be in building A, the same as the perfumery, albeit they are at one end and I am at the other in unit A6.

Although I wanted to be in downtown Santa Fe or along Canyon Road, at the time no affordable or acceptable spaces were available. I was also told that mid-town would be a better location so that people, especially locals, could park easily. I still yearn for a spot in one of those two locations due to the vibe and visibility. It may still happen one day, while keeping the current space more for larger classes and product making.

I'm loving the connection and antique vibe of the perfumery with my great grandpa's homeopathic farmacy in Buenos Aires, Argentina called La Farmacia de la Estrella. Here are a few pictures above and below, so that you can get a flavor for it, there are more in the video linked above and here, or at the end of this post.

Baca Street Arts District Tour

You are invited to the Baca Street Arts District Tour

The 19th Annual Arts Holiday Sale begins at the corner of Cerrillos Road and Baca Street, everything is within walking distance. Glassblowing, sculpture, jewelry, furniture, gem stones, pottery, clothing, paintings, cards, refreshments, and so much more!

I will be part of the tour at CAFECITO
👉🏿 December 7, 2019 / 10am – 4pm
👉🏿 922 Shoefly St. Santa Fe, NM 87505
👉🏿 (505) 310-0089

Have you been to Cafecito yet? This has become my new fave for a delicious meal surrounded by impeccable architecture. Located in the Baca Street Railyard district, international architects Andres Paglayan and his wife Solange Serquis created Cafecito as a tribute to Buenos Aires.

Fellow artisans featured with me are:

Olive Tyrell: Landscaped Inspired Clay Objects

Barro by Lucrecia

Frond: Interiors Plantscapes & Functional Art

Kirstin Mitchell

Bridget Green

Laws of Nature Jewelry

Wallflower: Gifts for the Garden

Wrapped Rockz

The day includes artist demonstrations, music, farolitos, glass blowing workshops, and holiday shopping (me). More than 20 artists will join the galleries and shops in the neighborhood for a weekend of festivities.

The Baca area is the southern end of the Railyard that has been transformed into a mecca of modern and dynamic architecture, a nice contrast to the adobe tradition within this beautiful and historic city.

You can find tour maps and more info at Liquid Light Glass @ 926 Baca Street #3, Santa Fe, NM or by calling 505-820-2222

Foodie

Biodynamic beets from OneGun in Malibu

Our friends from New York recently moved here. As fortune would have it they found an idyllic home in Topanga which they moved on right away and are now settling in. On Saturday we took them over to our local farmers market so that Greg could give them a tour of the best vendors.

Sponges

A couple years ago Greg became the farmers market "Captain", meaning he is the one that heads over there every Saturday morning. We met our friends at the corner of Calabasas Road and El Canon. The first stop was the poultry guys, Pancho and David, who have organic turkey, chicken and eggs. If you're lucky David might do one of his amazing backflips for you.

Lavandula angustifolia bunches

Next stop was avocados from Antonio, followed by a bunch of organic produce booths that I don't remember a loaf of Buckwheat bread from an artisan baker. Just where the market spreads out toward the back is the Stephen who has absolutely marvelous goat cheese, yogurt, etc. From there we proceeded to get fish from Ale, pasta, kale from One Gun (a biodynamic farm in Malibu that we love to support) and fresh English lavender bundles, Lavandula angustifoila, from a horse ranch in Santa Inez. One of our favorite vendors is Domenicos who offer fresh pasta and a variety of delicious sauces including our personal fave sun-dried tomato pesto with marcona almonds, their tapenades are pretty amazing too!

Berry season has arrived!

Along the backside of the market there is a french fellow studying to be a nurse who has absolutely delicious chocolate croissants, by the time we reached his booth he was sold out. We hit up a few more organic veggie and fruit vendors before heading back to our cars and praising the fellow handing out Marianne Williamson flyers.

Alien looking blossoms from local flower vendor.

When we arrived back home and put everything away, lunch was John Dory fish sautéed with pieces of fresh lemon basil, a tossed fresh mesclun salad with a slice of toasted buckwheat bread.

An Interview - Artisanal Perfume

During the Summer 2013 FRAGments show the perfume blogger Stevie Wilson went around and interviewed several of the artists exhibiting their scented potions. Since she wasn't able to get around to all the exhibitors she decided to interview many of the others by phone and via e-mail.

Stevie was very gracious in giving me the link to the interview to share with you all.


This interview was posted as part of the collective at the LA-Story.com.

American Maker 2013

The team over at Martha Stewart have a competition at the moment titled American Made Audience Choice Awards. Artisans entered the competition by selecting the category (food, craft, design, style, gardening, or technology) their work best fit into then filling out information and adding photos, some even entered videos.

I submitted myself into the Style category and am currently recruiting votes daily, find me here. People who sign in have the opportunity to cast six votes within a 24 hour period. Meaning if you vote at 10am on Tuesday, you can't vote again until 10am the next day. The six votes can go all to one person, hint-hint. Plus, every time you vote, you’re entered into a sweepstakes drawing for prizes from Martha Stewart and their sponsors.

Voting ends on September 13th, 2013. The six nominees with the most votes in each category will receive an American Made Gift Basket and be featured on the Martha Stewart website and on Sirius radio. From this group of finalists, the audience will choose our Grand Prize Winner. I'm not sure how many votes I'll need to win, at this point I am doing everything I can think of to get the word out. If you have any suggestions for me please e-mail me. (roxana illuminatedperfume com) There are some nominees that as of August 27th have over 6000 votes. Not quite sure how they managed that (cyber robots?) luckily votes don't seem to be the only determining factor.

If I am selected it would be a huge PR boast for my business, as you can imagine. The Martha Stewart audience is an ideal niche for Roxana Illuminated Perfume, specifically since I weave together elements of the artisanel movement (gardening, beekeeping, flavor) with an authentic handmade item that is very much about beauty and high craft.

To cast votes, here is what you do:
1. Register, create an account with an e-mail addy and password.
2. You have six votes to cast every twenty four hours.

I'm working on a daily newsletter that would prompt you to vote daily. If this is something you would like to subscribe to until September 13th send me an e-mail (roxanailluminatedperfumecom) and I will add you to the list.

At the site you can see some really nicely done videos of the winners from previous years and others they have chosen to highlight. Some of them really choke me up, like the one of Erika Allen of Growing Power, Inc.

LOVED this one for Shane Confectioners.

While on her site I came across a video of Aerin Lauder sharing How To Make Perfume. Aerin showcases natural raw materials and talks about them as if they are contained in the fragrance, even mentioning Indian jasmine. My guess, since this is big brand perfume company, the fragrance is composed by a perfume house that are using something they term Indian jasmine recreated with synthetics. There is also a video on Capturing Peony Scent where chemists analyze the aromatic components of a peony from Martha's garden using via head space technology, they then recreate the scent in a lab using synthetics.