Legendary Perfumer Mandy Aftel Virtually Visits Beauty Class
Although education has shifted online due to COVID-19, FIDM continues to welcome inspiring guest speakers who are leaders in their fields to virtual classrooms. Beauty Marketing & Product Development Instructor Sarah Horowitz-Thran recently hosted her longtime friend, Mandy Aftel, author of FIDM textbook Essence & Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume, in her Fundamentals of Fragrance class. Known in the industry as the “godmother of indie perfumery,” Aftel is the proprietor of Aftelier Perfumes based in Berkeley, California.
Aftel, who has been featured in Allure, Elle, Vogue, and the New York Times, among other publications, shared her fascinating journey from longtime psychotherapist to independent perfumer, educator, and five-time author with students. “Do something that you believe in, because there will be so many bumps and doubts, and so much has been done already, that your connection to what you do is so important,” she advised. “After you get that connection, good feedback can help you.”
In addition to hearing valuable life lessons, students enjoyed taking a peek at Aftel’s sizable fragrance organ, a collection of pure and natural essences she uses to handcraft her small-batch scents. She also showed a 100-year-old bottle of patchouli, which is part of the collection she’s amassed over the last 30 years. “They age like fine wine,” Aftel said. “I feel like an adventurer when I go out and find old stuff.” These fragrance finds are displayed in her temporarily-closed museum, the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents, housed in a cottage on her property.
“Perfume really means a lot of joy to me. I feel that it’s endlessly deep and interesting and spans the globe, all races, and all periods of time,” Aftel said before she took questions from appreciative students via Zoom. “I feel enriched just by that experience. I’m part of a lineage and tradition of something that feels like what it's like to be human.”
Learn more at aftelier.com and on Instagram @aftelierperfume.
Categories: Beauty Marketing & Product Development
