Josh Meyer
I was born in Hermosa Beach California and had dreams of becoming a surfer or professional skateboarder. My first scent memory was of a green laurel bush that grows on the Southern California coastline that is redolent of linden blossom. I have yet to smell this distinctive aroma anywhere else in the world. I have amazing and supportive parents, my mom Linda and my dad Jack. I guess you can say I had a dream childhood, great friends, and a wonderful brother. My first introduction to fragrance was in high school when everyone I knew wore CK 1. It wasn't that it was a bad scent, in fact it is a really good fragrance but it turned me off that everyone smelled the same. In my mid-twenties I discovered niche perfumes- Parfumerie Generale (Pierre Guillaume is my personal hero, I get lost in his world of wonderful fragrances), Le Labo, and Patricia de Nicolai; I was beside myself with intrigue. I started buying, selling and trading as many fragrances as I could. I was on a mission to sample and test them all. This was in 2007. When I first started out, I called Josh Lobb from the Portland fragrance line Slumberhouse. We had the same passion for perfume, lived in the same city and even shared the same first name; it seemed like a friendship meant to be. I admired his work greatly and was thrilled when he agreed to chat. To this day, I attribute some of our first conversations as to why I moved forward on making Imaginary Authors my full time gig so quickly. It was encouraging to talk openly with someone else who shared the same vision for American made perfume.
Josh at his perfume organ
On American Perfumery: It seemed to me that much of the American love for fragrance was confined to what we have in the mass market. I wanted to help change that. At that time none of my friends or community members wore fragrance and I took it on as my personal mission to create a gateway for them to see and understand why fragrance could be so much fun.
Imaginary Authors has been the most exciting challenge of my life. In the near future, as folks have more options to choose from, I envision the mass market world of scent to begin a slow decline where smaller niche companies are able to create very unique fragrances with distinct tones and vision in a way that perfumes that need to appeal to a mass audience are simply not capable. It's an exceptionally exciting and creative time for some of the smaller fragrance houses, and it'll just keep getting better.
The Floating Opera by John Barth and Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
Favorite American Artist: It wasn't until discovered books that art became such a valuable part of my life. My favorite authors are from the '60s,Thomas Pynchon and John Barth are post modernists who were America's Magic Realists juxtaposing the possible with the implausible. There is something so over the top about their fiction; they seem to have so much fun with their art. It's on every page, and as a reader, is like sharing an inside joke. Imaginary Authors was created out of my passion for scent in a similar fashion, as art to connect with others.
–Josh Meyer, Owner and Perfumer for Imaginary Authors
For Tama's reviews of all seven fragrances click here
Editor's Note: Just the other day I was joking that Portland is the new "Black" in perfume; so many talented indie and natural perfumers are springing up and their works are impressive as is their enthusiasm.
For our draw Josh is offering a 60ml bottle of your choice Bull's Blood, The Cobra & The Canary, Falling into the Sea, L'Orchidee Terrible, Memoirs of a Trespasser, The Soft Lawn or Violet Disguise to one US winner (or if you have a US address he can ship to)
AND
To our many international readers, Josh is offering a complete complete library sample set of all seven Imaginary Author scents 2ml which include book marks
To qualify, leave a comment about something fascinating you learned about Josh Meyer and if you are in the US your choice of the seven Imaginary Authors perfumes. Draw closes February 20, 2013
Please like CaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery on Facebook and your entry will count twice.
We announce the winners on our site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize wil be just spilled perfume