Adam Gottschalk , a Sr. Perfumer with the Natural Perfumers Guild, first came to many of our readers' attention with the Mystery of Musk Internet project , Behind the Bottle with Contributor Neil Sternberg for Brave New Scents, and recently with the NPG's The 13th sign project hosted right here on CaFleureBon.
I met Adam the year before at a small gathering in New York City(shout out to Vivienne Carey from Australia for alerting me of this) and was impressed by his artistry in the face of adversity. Adam has MS, but that doesn't keep him from creating consistently well crafted botanical fragrances. We meet Adam at 16…
Profile The first time I went to Asia, it was on a guided trip to Nepal when I was 16. We studied the language, culture, customs, etc. Then we got to go on two treks into the mountains. The first trip was a required trip with other students; for the second trip, we got to choose where we went and with whom we went. I chose to go alone, with a single guide (much to the other students' chagrin). Two of my counselors told me that if I flew to a certain small village I could find a man named Ram; would he be willing to be my guide? Sure enough, he agreed, and I paid him but a few pennies every day (which was quite good, because after I'd paid my airfare to Nepal, I had not much money left).
My second trip to Asia came after my mother and I got into an enormous argument, when I was 17, just out of high school. I left for Berkeley not long after, and vowed not to call home for as long as I could. I got caught up in Berkeley, California, for about one year. Then I got a book called Work Your Way around the World. It was mostly about finding work in the flower industry in Europe; in the back were exactly two paragraphs on Taiwan. They said, "We're not sure, but we think you can earn money here teaching English." They listed a single guest house, which is where I ended up, after flying straight from San Francisco to Taipei. I was the only white person on the flight; the others were Chinese, the food was Chinese, and even the movies were in Chinese. I ended up earning a great amount of money–tax free, because I wasn't technically supposed to be employed.
Having earned a fair amount of money, I toyed with the idea of returning to Maine to finish work on the homestead. From Hong Kong (where I had to go to satisfy visa requirements while living in Taiwan), I went on a whim to Tokyo. I was planning to teach English there too, but a busker from Australia, Jerry, when he heard I could sing and play guitar, pulled me aside and said I'd be a fool to teach English in Tokyo–I could earn much more money as a busker on the street. My, was he ever right: I earned a minimum of $100 per hour. He ended up giving me his prime spot in a pedestrian-only area outside Shinjuku station. I did have to pay the yakuza every week, but it was nothing compared to what I earned as a busker. In exchange for my weekly payment (the yakuza, you see, own every square inch of street space in Tokyo), if I arrived and found someone else playing in my spot, I'd make it known I was there, and in a few moments, the yakuza would be on the scene, asking the offender politely to leave; if he refused thy would forcibly remove him.
I studied Sustainable Development at university; I studied physics, economics, auto engineering, moral philosophy, and environmental studies, and had to have three PhDs in my three main areas of study (physics, economics, and environmental studies) sign off not only on my choice of classes, but also on my detailed, 10-page reasoning behind my concentration, which was called "Development without growth: economics as if thermodynamics mattered." At first I planned to use the enormous amount of knowledge I gained from my studies to find work in one of those areas; I was planning a return trip to China to help with turning the EV into a common-place item (which I desperately wish I'd done–China now gives off at least much auto pollution as America does, and probably more); unfortunately, right after I graduated I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It's been 12 years of worsening disability.
After my ex-wife deserted me upon my diagnosis, I found myself alone in Portland, Oregon. A friend I'd had for about a year eventually told me about The Perfume House; I spent many hours in there with the owner spinning me fairy tales on the origin of different perfumes. Then, I read Perfume by Patrick Suskind, from which I learned that perfume had been all natural until Chanel No. 5 was released in 1921 (the first synthetic perfume ever was released some time in the 1880s or 1890s); then I read Essence & Alchemy by Mandy Aftel, in which she describes some of the details involved with becoming a natural perfumer. I started out by taking Mandy Aftel’s Level I workshop on the process of making natural perfume.
I did a fair amount of research, from books, hand-outs, online, etc. After a while, I found myself creating, not knowing much about what I was doing, perfumes to write home about. From the moment I first really got going, I’ve felt like constructing natural-perfume compositions is something I was meant for. I can imagine what an accord of different essences will smell like without actually combining and smelling it; if I want to accomplish a particular task with one of my perfumes, I can imagine exactly what to do to make it happen.
I got my first break at a crafts fair in 2007, which took place at fine bar called Tiga (where they have excellent food and an assortment of different infused liquors) in Portland, Oregon. One of my friends knew that I had been making perfume for a while, knew that I consider natural perfumery an art, and asked me to attend the event. The night before the fair, it snowed heavily —which never happens in Portland! It stopped no one, however; the fair was full of people, of both sexes and all ages. I had to overnight business cards for the first time, and really had to think about my perfumes; I wrote descriptions for all of them (but now I’m calling each the name of a Greek god). Traces of some of the first descriptions are still around on my web site ( temporarily down).
Thus came my first sales experience. Back then I was calling my company Eros Aromatics, which is a fine name, but I tried to trademark it, and folks came out of the wodwork in opposition. Then I thought about my own last name, which means “God’s jester” in German; I thought it would be perfect to name the company based on the true meaning of my last name in its original tongue.
On American Perfumery It's great to be a natural perfumer in America. The spirit of entrepreneurship is very strong in American natural perfumery, and we don't have the IFRA breathing down our necks. And, by and large, we Professional Perfumers stay together. Overall, it's just plain a whole lot of fun to be in natural perfume at this up and coming time in the US.
–Adam Gottschalk, American Perfumer
Editor's Note: Adam loves American Art. Wilhem De Kooning, Damien Hirst and Mark Rothko, but we chose Norman Rockwell as he owns a signed print of the above. Thank you to Anya McCoy who helped Adam and me to put this piece together through a number of iterations.
–Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief
Adam has generously offered a reader's choice of the four full size fragrances:
Anthea solid: An homage to jasmine, with all of its playful charm and sensual depth. A simple opening of green leaves crowns jasmine in all her beauty. A "soliflore" with depth, this is a blend of two types of very heady thick jasmine underpinned with a milky creamy rose and rounded and balanced with subtle strokes of clary sage.
Editor's choice: Demeter EDT- An opening of dark pine cones, spices and warm blossoms creates something utterly unique, reminiscent of the forest in late autumn. The finish is a blend of drying hay, tobacco and pine-green, but dryer and darker. Hints of woods and oozing resins such as benzoin give it strength, while the aroma of fruits and wine surround you.
Heracles EDT: A dry spicy and clean woody opening gives way to a heart of flowers, both elegant and sensual. A finish of sweet resins, musky woods and seeds is balanced by warmth and a subtle oriental accord of sandalwood and amber, and cassis leaves.
Hermes EDP: Thick dense linden flowers and zesty lime juice greet the nose. After the deluge of limes abates, bright orange and dry woody marigold peek through A floral heart of rare and exotic flowers reminds one of late summer and early autumn. The dry down is a warm cognac aroma with fruity and woody hibiscus seeds and a soft (rather vanillic) buffalo grass.
*All the above fragrance descriptions modified versions from John Reasinger of Journey in Smells blog
POSTSCRIPT: Adam Gottschalk passed way in June of 2016 of MS. RIP
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