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.

The fabric of everything is beauty

This lockdown period, although excruciatingly painful, has been very beneficial in providing us with time to contemplate, even though some of us, like many of our awesome health care and other essential service providers continue to work.

While contemplating the oh so very wise words of the young, visionary medic Dr. Zach Bush I came to the realization of a few things:

• Beauty has pretty much always been at my core, specifically the kind of beauty that has to do with harmony, whether it was as a little girl organizing my grandmothers spools of colored thread or my grandfathers drawer of nicknacks and 35 mm film canisters.
• The reason creating beauty & harmony is so important to my makeup is because the act of putting things in order gives me a sense of peace, and yes is might have something to do with my Leo Sun, Taurus Rising, Pisces Moon, Libra in Venus, etc.
• Thus as a teen I pinned magazine images on a small bulletin board in my room, a few years later that shifted to pasting images from magazines into sketch books. I would even take those books along with me when I traveled so that I could sit quietly and gaze at what I wanted to manifest.
• Then I met Marilyn Neuhart, a Queen of beauty and harmony, who had huge pin boards in her cubicle at the design office with her husband John. From then on I abandoned the books and went back to the bulletin board idea, but used big pieces of homasote, a type of fiber board, so that the boards could be expansive, like Marilyn's.
• That was in the eighties when “Vision Boards” were becoming popular in the lexicon of the transformation and personal growth movement.
• The last piece of this puzzle was working with Jennifer Butler, who provided me with a color palette and themes that worked in harmony with my souls expression in the physical world.

The new realization, is that the act of creating beauty & harmony is healing, I bet that many of you reading this feel it too. The end product of creating the boards is of course the feeling of peace that comes from hanging out in your right brain, the realm of the feminine, but also that now you have something that acts as a pillar to support and nourish you.

Every morning I look forward to heading to the perfumery, my cocoon of beauty, it’s my happy place and am thrilled that it has become a happy place for many of you who have visited and will visit in the very near future.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a vision board. Start small, start online using Pinterest if necessary, but do it and watch what happens, here are my Pinterest boards.

The photo above is one of the pin boards here at the Santa Fe perfumery, in the top right corner is a magazine ad with Carmen Dell'Orefice, I included that image after Tom Ford asked me to be his “Carmen” as an extra on the set of Nocturnal Animals. Interacting with Tom was a highlight of my life which is evoked every time I see that photo and also has me aspire to age as elegantly as Carmen.

Here is a short video from the Art of Botanical perfume where I share the expansive pin board from the perfumery at the Agoura Hills perfumery.

2019 Santa Fe Studio Tour #44

The 15th annual Santa Fe Studio Tour began this morning at 10am with over fifty artist's studios participating. It's a great chance to chat with local artists, learn about their process and support their work. For more information visit the Santa Fe Studio Tour site.

The perfumery is “un-officially” part of the tour since Greg is showing his work in the school portion  of the space. We are STUDIO 44 (an auspicious number), conveniently located in the mid-town Arts District of the city at Lena Street Lofts. Come be enchanted in our synergistic sensorium, grab a matcha from my neighbor Iconik Coffee or hand-made, vegan ice cream from Sunset Swirl across the way. Then head over out to visit the rest of the artists in our collective participating in the studio tour. Todays visitors shared that our space was there favorite!

The scent bar is available for instant olfactory adventures, memory stirring and stories, as well as hydrosol spritzes. Stroll through our macrame permeable wall to the School of Lost Arts where Greg has set up his visionary art with banners, original art, his retrospective book to peruse, and favorite prints for purchase, and get information about upcoming classes planned in the space. Greg and I look forward to transporting you to another realm.

The Art of Chocolate

The new perfumery here in Santa Fe, New Mexico has an ample lab/studio in the upstairs area where I finally have enough space to develop and work on larger scale projects.

Although the space is still a bit of a work in progress it's in good enough shape to make perfume, hold classes and begin new projects. One of the items on the long list is bringing back the chocolate series from 2009. The new cacao base has taken a bit of time to re-formulate, but I am happy to share its quite glorious and ready. I'll be listing the plain base on both my site an Etsy shortly, with the Crème de Cacao series following, once I have labels and little cards made up.

Speaking of aromatics from South America, while seeking out all the 29 essences and 1 chord needed to re-build Terrestre solid perfume, I found this bottle of dragons blood resin. I purchased the sticky red liquid back in 2009 from a tiny tribe, deep in the Amazon forest along the River Pastaza.

Regrettably I don’t have all the essences needed for Terrestre, thus the formula will be built with what is on hand while the other necessary extracts are ordered.

Magnify, Sanctify

Everyday I work on the new perfumery space tirelessly, sometimes obsessively, sandwiched between other pressing responsibilities and distractions.

We're ebbing toward an opening on the Autumnal Equinox, September 22nd. Santa Fe has a mañana quality which can be frustrating for those of us who arrive here from big cities, which reminds you that is both a virtue and a hashtag patience. One arrives here with intentions but the land has her own ideas and will easily crush or spit you out ,if flexibility ain't part of your paradigm.

As of this evening I'm intending to get the electrician back here to finally hang the chandeliers and get all the book shelves up, both by the end of this week. We have, what seems like, hundreds of boxes of books to organize into different sections and make sure they all fit.

I'll check in here next week and let you know how things are coming along, in the meantime, mark your calendars—September 22nd is what we're aiming for, come hell or floods! So get those plane or rail tickets and head to the land of enchantment. While you're here I recommend daily hikes in the crystal clear mountain air, sunset gazing, soaking at Ten Thousand Waves & Ojo Caliente, savoring the diversity of tastes in this foodie town and just unwinding.

A Visit From John Steele

I had some real quality time with one of my favorite peeps visiting from California today, Mr. John Steele, the man who introduced me to the realm of perfume back in the mid 90’s.

We started the day with a tour of the perfumery, lab & school and a taste of honey from our girls in Topanga. Then a simple meal at Iconik, followed by listening to the new tracks of Memory of a Cosmic with @GregSpalenka while sipping some of @KymiaArts gold elixir in water. 

After that I had him smell three pure fumes, Figure 1: Noir, one his favorites, the perfume temporarily titled Muse (which he refers to as "Agua Dulce for the Soul") and a Tuberose solifleur.

The photo of John and I is from the LA Fragrance Event held at the Santa Monica Convention Center in September 2012.