Kenneth Grand of Sarabecca Perfumes lives in Montecito California

Profile: In some ways looking back I find it ironic that I’m in the business that I’m in, but in other ways it makes perfect sense. Like so many other young people, I never had a clear idea about what I would do. In college, I went from one major to another, never completely bonding with any of them. My last field of study was architecture. To enhance my abilities, I started to study painting and drawing, which became my first real passion. I dropped out of college in the late 70s and moved Paris to be an artist.  In Paris I immersed myself in art, and when I was not in my studio, I was at the Jus de Pomme museum studying the Impressionist masters.  As a young artist, I found Van Gough the most inspiring, probably because his career was so brief and his body of work so vast and original.  He was a very sad man, but none of that showed up in his work.

Ken's wife and business partner Rebecca in Paris

An artist’s life can be a very lonely one, I found that it was not the life I wanted to live.  I need to be active and social and involved in the world, so I returned to the U.S. opened my eyes to business opportunities that might fit my artistic nature. A friend of mine’s father was a chemist, and had developed many interesting formulas as a hobby, including some natural body care products. Whenever I visited, he would say,”Kenny, try this shave cream”, or ”try this new shampoo I made”. One day a light bulb went off, and I said we should turn his body care formulas into a business: that was the birth of Alba Botanica.

Apple Blossoms and Irises from Ken's Garden: Photo Kenneth Grand

I immediately fell in love with the fragrance side of the skincare business because it was like art, except instead of painting with colors I was painting with scents. My work in skin care led to the creation of several innovative and very successful fragrances including, vanilla and mango, neither of which have seen the level of acceptance and success that I created with them.  During these years I experimented with many types of natural perfume, and even tried to create my own rose oil from the roses growing in my garden. In the 80s and 90s, the palette of natural fragrances was very limited. All that was available were essential oils.  But as natural skincare products gained in popularity, fragrance houses started to turn their attention to creating naturals, and there became many more types of natural fragrances to work with. One day, while working on a skincare fragrance, it dawned on me that the time might be right to create an all-natural perfume, one that was complex and sophisticated and as interesting and lovely as the synthetics it would be compared to. This was the genesis of Sarabecca, which I named for my two daughters.

Ken Grand with his daughters Sara and Becca

While the idea of being a perfumer has always had appeal to me, I wasn’t sure that I could succeed in making truly natural blends that would satisfy my customers and me.  Working with naturals is much harder then synthetics because the palette is more limited, and there is variability in scents from one crop to the next.  Another issue is the fact that natural scents dissipate faster than synthetics, and the perfumer faces the challenge of creating a formula that is appealing at each stage: from first application where the top notes are brisk and dominant to the later stages where the middle and base notes take priority.  It took some four years to perfect the Sarabecca fragrances, but eventually there emerged perfumes as lovely as what I envisioned in my imagination. Sarabecca is a labor of love. It incorporates my long experience in business with my passion for art.  I am ever inspired to create new and interesting mixtures, and to see natural perfumery become more than just the niche it is today.

Photo:  white peony by Ken Grand

 On American Perfumery: It is very exciting to be on the vanguard of this new movement in perfumery, naturals.  While the Europeans were early adopters of naturals, like in so many other endeavors, it is the Americans who are innovating and pushing the art to new levels.  America has always been the place of boundless possibilities where anyone with an idea feels like he or she can make it happen, and that is as true in perfume as it is in tech.  Thanks to the public’s passion for naturals, the raw material suppliers are investing more resources to creating a bigger and bigger assortment of natural base materials, and that will lead to more interesting natural perfumes being created.

John Lennon  NYC  1974 Bob Gruen

Favorite American Artist – It’s so hard to name just one, but I would choose John Lennon. He was British but loved and lived in New York City at the Dakota with Yoko and their son Sean from August 1971 until he was assasinated December 8, 1980.  He was passionate about his music, but was never content to sit on his prior success.  He needed to create and to invent and to change, as a person and as an artist.

Love is a Flower by John Lennon

He took chances, and was willing to do things that had never been done.  His art was ultimately an expression of his humanity, and it comes through in everything he did.  He was driven to reflect back to us what it means to be a human being and to deal with of his struggles openly and honestly.  That is me is what great art does: it helps us understand ourselves and better and what it means to live.

– Kenneth Grand, Perfumer and Founder of Sarabecca Natural Perfume

Thanks to Sarabecca Natural Perfume we have two draws. For our US readers it is a reader’s choice for 50ml of either Sarabecca Day or Night Eau de Parfum. For our international readers it is for a sample set of both fragrances. . To be eligible, leave a comment about something fascinating you learned about Ken and   indicate if you live in the USA or are an International reader. If you are in the US please indicate if you want to win Day or Night. Draw closes October 20, 2014 (Read our perfume reviews of Sarabecca Day and Night  here)

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