Artisan Perfumers Who Do It All: Amber Jobin of Aether Arts Perfumes, Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba of Pink Mahogany, Diane St. Clair of St. Clair Scents + giveaway part 1

 

Artisan Perfumers who do it ALL

Diane St. Clair of St. Clair Scents, Amber Jobin of Aether Arts Perfume and Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba are three artisan perfumers who do it all! (bottom photo courtesy of Amber)

The recent history of artisan perfumers may be compared to the growth of ‘Farm to Table’ in the culinary arts and micro brewers of regional beer. Over the next week we will speak to seven artisan perfumers who “do it all”. They source the raw materials, write the formulas, do the blending, design the packaging, box and ship their perfumes. They do not have big marketing budgets nor are they backed by companies. In Part 1, we will meet three Artisan Perfumers, 2x Art and Olfaction (2014 and 2022 Winner) Amber Jobin of Aether Arts Perfumes, Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba of Pink Mahogany and  2020 Art and Olfaction Finalist Diane St. Clair of St. Clair Scents -MIchelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

 

Amber Jobin of Aether Arts Perfumes all photos @Amber©

Briefly describe how you learned to make perfume

I began my formal perfume training in 2009 with an apprenticeship under Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes. That apprenticeship evolved over the years into a self-directed, weekly, master class with Dawn that continued until 2022 (over 13 years).  For each class I would create a perfume brief and a palette of materials and we would riff off it like a jazz improve session, each of us gaining new insights based on our unique design approaches to the same idea.- Amber Jobin of Aether Arts Perfume

I started researching fragrance materials, and the more I researched, the more I became intrigued with the process of formulation. I knew I wanted to create fragrances without the additional usage of phthalates, so I studied at my own pace for 5-6 years before creating my first fragrance for release to the public. – Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba of Pink Mahogany

I learned to make perfume on my own as well as by working with British perfumer Eliza Douglas. Eliza, who was trained in Grasse, was working with master perfumer Christophe Laudamiel at his New York company, DreamAir. She gave perfumery lessons in her free time. We primarily worked remotely, as she moved back to the UK. She was instrumental in teaching me about the basics of perfume structure, accord making and strategies for assessing one’s work. -Diane St. Clair of St. Clair Scents

Is this a full-time job?  

Yes!  I am a one-person business and do everything myself so there is always some aspect of my company that needs my attention.  I really enjoy the full spectrum of activities that go into creating a product from start to finish and running my own business. – Amber Jobin

Yes. –Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba

Up until this year, I owned a dairy farm and creamery, making artisan butter and selling it to fine dining restaurants across the United States. This was my primary job, taking about 50 hours a week of my time. I started my perfume business and kept it going in my “spare” time. As of this year, I am no longer engaged in milking cows or making butter, and St Clair Scents has become my full-time job.-Diane St. Clair

Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba of Pink Mahogany© all photos

Describe  how you “do it all” from writing the formula, to creating labels to shipping

I design my perfumes in my head long before I start mixing materials. Once I’ve thought it through and have decided which materials will express the concept most beautifully, I then gather my palette of smells and start creating a small volume of scent. I will usually make a number of iterations, learning something from each one.  Once I feel as though I have one or two variations that work well, I leave it alone for a few days.  This allows time for the materials to macerate and for me to come back with a fresh nose.  After smelling everything again, I will either continue to refine the design or will go straight to making a larger volume of base.  Once the base is done and has been made into perfume, it’s on to production.  I hand-fill every bottle and sample and I box and pack all orders myself. –Amber Jobin

I am a one-woman team for now and handle everything from order fulfillment to packaging to shipping.-Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba

I write the formulas for all my perfume concepts, often going through many, many mods to create them. I make the final perfumes, usually aging them for 3 months. I order all of the materials for a final perfume, make it, filter it, and bottle it. I keep up my inventory of 9 perfumes myself, remaking them as they are sold. – Diane St. Clair

Do you ship internationally? If so, how do you keep up with IFRA and regulations

Yes, I do.  I purposely work in an oil format rather than an alcohol format (which is considered a hazardous material) because it doesn’t require special shipping and packing practices.-Amber Jobin

I do ship internationally and make sure to keep myself abreast of IFRA and have SDS documentation available if needed. –Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba

I do not ship internationally. That is a whole level of paperwork and bureaucracy that I cannot take on. – Diane St. Clair

What unique obstacles do you have, (financials, MOQs, small-batch material expenses? How do you overcome these obstacles?

I would say my biggest headache would be the discontinuation of materials. –Amber Jobin

Financials regarding grants and other ways of offsetting material/packaging costs seem to be the main obstacle. I am constantly reading and researching ways to best navigate this by finding packaging materials in bulk until I am at a place where I’m able to scale up to having custom bottles, caps and packaging. –Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba

I use a large percentage of naturals in my perfumes. This makes creating very expensive for me, especially since I am buying in relatively small quantities. The typical 50/50 split with retailers, which works fine for large perfume houses, makes this method of selling very difficult for me, as my profits become very small. It is why I sell primarily from my website, which means that I do better financially, but also limits my exposure to new customers. I really wish there was a way to convince retailers that the 50/50 split that they’re accustomed to is not very workable for small artisan perfumers. -Diane St. Clair

Diane St. Clair of St. Clair Scents

Diane St. Clair of St. Clair Scents all photos ©

Did you have a big break? If so, what was it?

I was fortunate to win the Art & Olfaction Artisan Award in 2014 for my perfume John Frum. As a new perfumer, being recognized by your peers was a tremendous confidence booster and really spurred me on to keep going and learn as much as possible about this beautiful art form.  It also introduced me to perfume lovers in a way I could never have done on my own. -Amber Jobin

I was approached by a major company (NDA) that I had on my vision board for a couple of years that I wanted to work with. We will be partnering very soon, and they reached out to the brand, not the other way around. –Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba

I had a very big break when The New York Times wrote a story about the sale of my butter business. They said I was going to pivot to full time work on my perfume business and published the link to St Clair Scents. I received 100 orders an hour for sample packs until I had to shut my site down because I had not anticipated demand. Key lesson—be better prepared for major publicity! –Diane St. Clair

How has social media impacted your brand? What about blogs and YouTube Reviews?

It definitely serves as a way to communicate with a broad audience.  It can be a window into your world as a perfumer that you can share with others.  I believe that people are very curious about the creative process of perfume and want a glimpse into that world. These forms of communication are very important and generally have a wider audience than my own personal social media channels.  They are a great way to introduce your brand to new people.  I also enjoy hearing someone else’s impressions of my perfumes.  Thoughtful and constructive critique is important to all art forms and it is easy to become isolated and not have an awareness of how others perceive your work. -Amber Jobin

Social media has allowed me to bond with people I’ve never met in person by way of our common thread of fragrance. It’s allowed me to connect with those who share the same love and passion for the olfactory arts as myself. It has given me the opportunity to share who I am as an individual and bridge that with my profession, thus showing I’m a real person who happens to be a perfumer/business owner. It’s allowed me to be personable yet professional and make those who connect with Pink MahogHany fee like a “Fragmily.”- Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba

Social media was initially important to my brand. I feel that it is less so now. When I started my small house in 2018, there were more reviewers and perfume blogs online. It was easier to find in-depth reviews. I feel that a lot of fragrance info and content is absent online, and there is more impact from superficial content—slick photos, influencers and whatever is trending. It doesn’t do much to educate consumers about fragrance, perfumers or quality products. –Diane St. Clair

Thank you to Amber, Chavalia and Diane our “Do it All” Artisan Perfumers. Please support them by purchasing directly from their sites.

For our Artisan Perfumers who do it all draw

Aether Arts Perfume

Amber Jobin Of Aether Arts Perfumes is offering a reader’s choice of any three samples worldwide and please request which three Aether Arts Perfumes you want in your comments

Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba is offering a travel size of newest fragrance, SexYÖUality – US + Canada only for a registered reader.

Diane St. Clair is offering in the USA only a sampler of four scents, (one an A&O finalist and one the bestseller, Casablanca.) for a registered reader

To be eligible, you must be a registered reader

Please a comment regarding what appealed to you/or what you learned in Artisan Perfumers “who do it all part 1”, what resonated with you and where you live. Please leave in your comment what you would like to win. Draw closes 11/23/2022 and the winner will be announced within 10 days later.

Thank you David Falsberg of Phoenicia for helping Michelyn with some of the questions

Follow us on Instagram: @cafleurebonofficial @aetherartsperfume @pink.mahagony @your.fav.perfumer @stclairscents

This is our Privacy and Draw Rules Policy.

We announce the winners only on our site and on our Facebook page, so “like” ÇaFleureBon on Facebook and use our blog feed or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

 

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21 comments

  • What a great feature! I wish these perfumers the BEST in their careers, both the creative and the business aspects. Thank you for highlighting them, their paths to perfumery, and the challenges they face. I am grateful to have a little glimpse of what it means to be an artisan perfumer. I’ve always found it so interesting that Diane St. Claire also had a dairy farm and made exceptional butter (another one of my favorite pleasures)! It was also interesting to hear about the differing roles social media plays for each brand.
    While I’d love to smell things from each of these brands, my choice, should I win, would be the St. Claire Scents sample pack, as I’ve been wanting to smell Diane’s work for a long time.
    I’m in WV, USA

  • It is amazing that this tremendous job can be done by only 1 person, it just blows my mind. To me, it is always been a dream to create a perfume, but it seems so far away. I got very motivated by reading about these 3 amazing perfumers and their amazing job. I learned that the materials can be hard to obtain and that you have to be prepared for everything, including big sales out of nowhere.
    I would like to win the travel size of Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba SexYÖUality.
    USA here.

  • I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! Hearing other people’s creative journeys is very refreshing and eye opening. It’s very impressive that everything is done by one person! I would love to win SexYÖUality. I am in VA, USA

  • I loved this article- I really enjoy learning about 1-person businesses and it makes me appreciate perfumery even more! Diane’s story of the New York Times article and the overwhelming sample orders really resonated with me. It’s such a balancing act to be ready to scale up and prepare for publicity without over producing.

    If I win I would choose the sample set from Aether Perfumes (Iris Laughs, Ginger Rose, Saffron and Leather).

    Thank oh for the interviews and giveaway, writing from the EU.

  • I love hearing from olfactory artists about their inspiration and processes! I’ve had my eye on Aether Arts for some time because of how original their scents seem, but I never knew that Amber Jobin trained under Dawn Spencer Hurwitz! DSH is another brand that I love, which makes me even more excited to try Aether Arts. If I’m lucky enough to win I would choose the Aether Arts sampler (Gunsmoke & Roses, Daydream in Blue, and Red Dodecahedron). I’m in MN, USA.

  • Wow, so neat to learn about the small business process, what an interesting career! Btw, looking up the stores, the link to the Pink Mahogany store needs to be fixed, it keeps going to the first store. 🙂 Thanks!

  • I’m posting again after looking at all of the websites and reading the last part of the giveaway, I forgot to mention that I’d like to win the Aether set I think, even though they all sound really good! So artsy and creative, a lot of the work energy that they talked about must be coming out of their creative fires! The Aether Arts scents I was drawn to were Be Boulder, Sacred Fire, and Strawberry Sling. 🙂 I’m in NY, USA.

    Emily

  • I was fascinated to read how complex is the art and business of small perfume-making.
    I enjoyed reading about the talent and drive that these women have and their focus on the finished scents.
    Thank you for a wonderful article.
    I live in the US.
    I would love to win the samples from Diane St. Clair.

  • How beautiful, professional and helpful the review was appealed to me. The uniqueness resonated with me. I live in Trzebnica, Poland EU. I would like to win three samples from Aether Arts Perfumes: Tea & Takhi, Magic Mushrrom and Black Rock Desert.

  • I really appreciated hearing these stories. I mix my own fragrances and have flirted with upscaling and selling in the past, but the challenge was daunting. It’s really wonderful to hear these perfumers tell their stories and relate their challenges. I would adore trying the St. Clair fragrances. I live in the US>

  • Independent perfumers need to be jack of all trades from concept to fabrication and marketing. I admire these womens’ commitment to their art and vision. I also find it interesting that they come from such different starting points. I love that Diane St Clair started in the butter business. I would choose some Aether Arts perfume samples. MD, USA.

  • Thank you for spotlighting these amazing perfumers! And for the opportunity of a giveaway. The three Aether I would love to try is Ginger Rose, Dia de Muertos, and Sacred Fire.
    What appealed to me is how inspiring these women are, that possibly I may one day be able to offer my own blends to the world and thrive because of it. Truly respect their trailblazing personalities, determination and artistry!
    From California

  • Claumarchini says:

    It is always extremely interesting to learn about the stories and life pathways of perfumers: their passion, artistic spark and kindness spirit exudes from their words, and the dedication they put into this art is really palpable and admirable.
    I really admire them for the fact that artisan perfumers take care of all aspects of the job, fill their bottles personally, choose the raw materials and at the same time they have time for their clients one by one.
    I live in Italy so I am eligible for the draw of Aether Arts samples, which I am soooo glad about because I have read your previous reviews about Amber Jobin and her creations, and I am really curious to try Circe, Mayan Chocolate and Gunsmoke&Roses!

  • It is always interesting to read about the art of perfumery and business side of perfume-design, marketing, etc., namely, the business aspects and how different perfumers handled it. Along with skills, it requires a lot of grit to be successful in this market. Thanks for the article and draw. I am in the USA. If lucky, I would be delighted to win samples from Diane St. Clair.

  • As a chemist who one day want to make perfume it was sam interesing insight into the world of perfume making and all the little and big things you care for. Id Like to win Aether Arts Perfumes samples Strawberry, Vanilla and Salted Chocolate. I live in the EU

  • As a chemist who one day want to make perfume it was sam interesing insight into the world of perfume making and all the little and big things you care for. Id Like to win Aether Arts Perfumes samples circe, my body my choice and Be Boulder. I live in the EU

  • Michelyn!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I LOVE this review/interview SO much!!! I’ve been rereading it for a couple days and learning so much about these wonderful artists. Thanks to ÇaFleureBon, I’ve been a HUGE fan of Amber Jobin of Aether Arts for sometime and have Loved everything she has done (that I’ve been lucky enough to experience). If I were a lucky winner for Aether Arts, here are the fragrances I’d choose:
    1. Which of her fragrances would Amber choose to represent Earth (if one was sent to outer space as a kind of ambassador)?
    2. Which of her fragrances would Amber choose to bury in a time capsule (to be discovered in perfect condition in 4022, representing the early 21st Century)?
    3. Which of Amber’s fragrances would she choose to wear on her last day on Earth?

    I’m super excited to get to know St. Claire Scents! Christophe Laudamiel is a HUGE hero to me and one of the most interesting people alive. Diane’s work looks really interesting!

    Pink Mahogany looks really wonderful! I can’t wait to experience these scents! I’m fascinated to see Chavalia’s perspective on perfume coming from the food and farming community. Her journey makes me think of one of my favorite perfumers, Manny Cross. I bet Chavalia has some Amazing skills to bring to fragrance!

    Thank you for this Wonderful opportunity! ❤️

  • wallygator88 says:

    Thank you for the great article. I enjoyed reading about these three perfumers (already quite familiar with St. Claire scents).

    As someone who is actively researching aromachemicals and oils, it’s fascianting to hear about the insights into financials, supply chain and other things that we don’t normally get to hear about from perfumers.

    I would love to win an Aether Arts sample pack with Mayan Chocolate, Tea and Takhi and John Frum.

    Cheers from WI, USA

  • I’ve tried all three of these wonderful perfumers and their fragrances make a compelling and succinct argument for American perfumery. It’s even more impressive that they source, formulate, and blend their perfumes, design the packaging, and manage the logistics of a small business.

    Thank you for such an interesting interview!. I didn’t realize Amber Jobin was an apprentice with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz (another impressive American perfumer), and her master classes with Dawn surely lead to some innovative perfumes. I appreciate that Chavalia Dunlap-Mwamba creates fragrances without the additional use of phthalates and I hope she can scale up to custom bottles soon while working with NDA (Gent is a cool Pink Mahogany offering). Diane St. Clair’s recent transition from dairy farming to full time perfumery has been fun to watch, especially as her popularity blew up following that New York Times coverage (First Cut is on my to-buy list). Speaking to the logistics of being a small perfume business, I found it interesting that Jobin works with oils instead of alcohol to simplify shipping and packaging. I also appreciated Jobin, Dunlap-Mwamba, and St. Clair’s take on social media; thoughtful critique, community, and exposure are important, but the quality of reviews and content about fragrance is also important. (That’s why I enjoy reading here.)

    I’m in the midwest, USA. I’d love to win the Aether Arts Perfumes samples, and I’d choose John Frum, Burner Perfume No.8: Sacred Fire, and Mayan Chocolate. Thanks!

  • Regis Monkton says:

    I was captivated when reading this article. I found this article to be insightful and helpful in case I would ever begin to be a perfumer, e.g. when they were asked if they ship fragrances internationally. I’m interested in trying something from all three companies, so it’s not easy for me to decide what to pick. If I win, then I’ll choose Aether Arts Perfumes “Burner Perfume No 5: Incense Indica”, “Holy Hemp”, and “Mayan Chocolate”. I live in the U.S.A.

  • sephrenia300 says:

    Lovely article Michelyn! What appealed to me in Artisan Perfumers “who do it all part 1” was learning about the dedication each of these artisan perfumers had to doing everything on their own from learning to creating to packaging with their artistic vision and integrity being of utmost importance at every step. What resonated with me was their passion and calling.

    I live in the US. If I were to win I would choose the Diane St. Clair sampler!