Ellen Covey  of Olympic Orchid Perfume

Dr. Ellen Covey is always very busy. In addition to her job as a university professor, and professional orchid grower (hence the name of her indie Perfumery in the Pacific Northwest), she just launched a new website, with a boutique style aesthetic that is much easier to navigate. When Ellen and I first became aquainted seven years ago, she was under the radar as a perfumer. Winning two Art and Olfaction Awards; 2015 for Woodcut in the Artisan Category and 2016 for Zoologist Bat in the Independent Category, has solidified her position as leading player in perfumery worldwide. 

Photo by Paulina Marszalek

In addition to the USA, Poland and India are now clamoring for her wide range of fragrances all so affordable from $4 samples to $125 for 100 ml. Ellen has always been one of the most generous sponsors of our numerous draws and we are so very grateful. Let's celebrate Olympic Orchids Perfume 7th Anniversary and Ellen Covey's many achievements in our Perfumer’s Spotlight and read to the end of the article for the 25 percent off code. –Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

 

 “This July marks seven years that I’ve officially been in the perfume business. I have a special fondness for Michelyn Camen and Çafleurebon, partly because we started our journeys at the same time, in 2010, and have collaborated on a number of projects including 2012’s green chypre Sonnet XVII, Hamsa from the 2017 7th Year Talisman Project, and 2016’s Name That Tune Music Project, which was open to CaFleureBon readers and won by Dixie. The perfume for that last project, Cryptical Envelopment, will launch very soon.

Ellen Accepting The Art and Olfaction  Award for Zoologist Bat

“My personal journey as a perfumer has been an exciting one, to say the least, with multiple honors, including “best of” awards from a number of organizations, one nomination (Blackbird) and two awards (Woodcut and Zoologist Bat) from the Institute of Art and Olfaction, and stockists in places that range from close to home (Tigerlily San Francisco and Essenza in Seattle) to as far away as India (Perfumery-India) and most recently Poland (Perfumeria Lulua).

New Homepage www.olympicscents.com

For seven years I have been using the same cluttered, outdated website for online sales. A couple of years ago I made an effort to upgrade my e-store  with a second, “slick and pretty” website that operated in parallel, but it never really took off because everyone had grown attached to the old one that I dubbed the “Original Boutique”. In fact, 90% or more of my traffic has always come through there. This month I decided to do something about the situation and completely redesigned the Original Boutique to roll both websites into one, look better, work better, and include everything that I offer. Although the details are still a work in progress, the grand opening of the new Olympic Orchids Perfume Boutique is this week.

Bulbophyllumlevanae Orchid

The story of how I got started in perfumery, evolving from commercial orchid grower to perfumer, has been covered many times before, so it makes more sense to talk about some of the questions that I get asked on a regular basis. One that I get a lot is, “do you make perfume from your orchids?”, and my answer is no. It would take tons (or at least many kilos) of orchid flowers to make an absolute, if it could even be done at all. My perfumes contain the same sorts of materials as any other perfumes, from all-natural to mixed media. I am constantly scaling up my production, so the clutter in my studio is taking up more and more room. Before long I will have to move into a larger space to accommodate it all. I’m currently making plans about how to do this and what the new space will look like.

Ellen has a New look to her Website www.orchidscents.com

Another question I get a lot is, “how can I make a commercially successful and/or an award-winning perfume?”. My answer to that is that I have no clue. As a perfumer and artist of sorts, I just do what I am inspired to do, and if people like it, that’s great. If they don’t like it, that’s OK, too, as long as I like it myself.

Ellen's Studio

My approach to perfume has always been to create the highest quality perfume possible and to make it available to everyone by keeping overhead low. One way I accomplish this is by doing almost everything myself, from heavy lifting through geek work, and offering small sizes that do not break the bank. I do have help now with some routine tasks like sample-making and bottling, but I still remain involved even in those activities.

To celebrate the new website, I am offering a 25% discount to all readers of Çafleurebon, to run through Friday, July 13. The code is LOVECFB. After that, a general 20% anniversary discount will continue to run through July 22. I ship Worldwide and can’t wait to get your feedback."

-Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids Perfume