Scents & Sensibility
The nose knows what it knows
With tomorrow being the opening day of my 33rd season with Essense, I’ve decided to write a brief summary of my feelings and conclusions as these last 32 years as the perfumer/owner comes to a close.
The Covid-19 Pandemic affected me, as a business owner, as it did many business owners. In order to make perfume, people must be able to smell and free engagement of their noses/nostrils to the air. Essense was not “open” during the 2020 summer. There was a huge uptick in mail-orders, as customers past and present, tried to find ways to boost their spirits, while finding inspiration, without leaving their homes. Have you considered that the very word “inspire” literally means “to breathe in” or “inhale?” [Middle English enspire, from Old French inspirer, from Latin inspirare ‘breathe or blow into’ from in- ‘into’ + spirare ‘breathe’. The word was originally used of a divine or supernatural being, in the sense ‘impart a truth or idea to someone’.] Essense custom-scented shower gels, scented body lotions and perfumes proved very popular during this time period. The mail-order part of the business increased by about 470%. This does make sense, as people were not coming to Essense in person. During years 2021-2022, Essense was open by appointment only, from Memorial Weekend to Labor Day Weekend, with no “walk-in” hours. Because I must work in an intimate setting, one-on-one, for 1/2 hour each person, to create perfume, I began limiting the parties to 1-3 people. With 3 people, for example, I was committed to spending 1 1/2 hours with that party, in an enclosed space. In 2021, I did get very sick with Covid after a party of 4 women came in for Columbus Weekend. I spent nearly 3 hours with them on a Thursday, and on Monday I’d got a call that one was just diagnosed with Covid. I was very sick for a few days, somewhat ill for a week, a bit fatigued for several weeks, but “cleared for take-off” on November 11th. Fortunately, I’ve not been sick since then. Covid scared me, as many people lose their sense of smell when infected, and as a perfumer, that was an inordinate risk for me. Last season, my 32nd season with Essense, I returned to open “walk-in” hours on Saturdays only. It will be the same this year, my 33rd season. People may email, call, or text to make appointments for custom-blending their own signature scents on Wednesday through Friday. Or they may “walk-in” from 12-Noon to 6 pm on Saturdays. In a “sense” we all lost some years, due to the lock downs, and I felt ill at ease to address the loss of both time and experiential joy, as a fellow-human. I haven't posted during these years. Something I now regret. I should've posted. Something. I’m reminded of a quote by Diane Ackerman, in her rhapsodical natured-based sociological book titled “Cultivating Delight.” “Many humans have worked hard to exile themselves from nature, yet we, as humans, now long for what we’ve lost: a sense of connectedness.” I believe many of us lost a “sense of connectedness” during the pandemic years. I also believe that is is natural, right, and in fact righteous, to try to regain that sense of connectedness: with others, with nature, and with our own sense of society and civilization. Civilization begins with the word “civil,” does it not? After making perfumes for 32 years, I believe more than ever, as I always have, that PERFUME is not just PERFUME. Quoting Mandy Aftel, from her “Book Of Perfume”: “Perfume — the heady and elusive marriage of he essences of herbs and spices, wild grass and flowers, bark, and animal, and tree — is an ENGINE OF THE UNIVERSE. Timeless and universal, scent has been a powerful force in ritual, medicine, myth, and conquest. Perfume has helped people to pray, to heal, to make love and war, to prepare for death, TO CREATE.” For me, as a creator of perfume, it is not just a product, but a way of being in the world. For centuries, the art of perfumery has retained its aura of art, magic, and mystery. Here’s to beginning year number 33…
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Just the other evening, I was sitting on a bench outside of your previous Essense 02539 listening to “Music on the Square”. It made me remember that I initially met you through my 1st, not my 2cnd daughter; as she was SO mesmerized by the glass reindeer perfume bottle in your beautiful store. It was a requirement to return & visit it often!
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Tamsan & RugglesTamsan is a practicing perfumer of 33 years, as well as a sidewalk social scientist with an actual Master's Degree in Behavioral Science from The University of Chicago. Because the sense of smell is closely linked to memory and emotion, the art and science of perfume is very psychological. Ruggles is also a sidewalk social scientist, a rescue-poodle with dubious urban-feral origins. Abandoned on the streets and left to starve, Ruggles has a Master's Degree from The School of Life, but he's a philosophical-poodle who's maintained a very good sense of humor. Both are relocated from major urban centers. For 50+ years, Tamsan lived in the cities of: Chicago, St. Paul, Manhattan, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Providence, and San Diego. Together, they now blog about life's sensory and fragrant spectacles from more bucolic surroundings in NH. More specifically, Tamsan blogs about olfactory mysteries and miracles; Ruggles prefers to comment on anything edible or odoriferous... Categories
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