Marissa Zappas of Redamance ©Julia Comita
Profile: I grew up in California, both Northern and Southern. My father’s house was in horse country and it was very fragrant; he was Greek and had a fig orchard and horses.
Marissa’s Dad’s Fig tree
I was always very aware of smell. As a teenager, I fell in love with perfume. I wore it for many different reasons and took it seriously as an object, but didn’t really know what to do with this passion besides what I think most perfume obsessed people do—spend hours on sites such as CaFleureBon (which, by the way was the first perfume blog I ever read!), reading everything they can.
Marissa Zappas of Redamance with Olivier Gillotin
I think in the United States, the occupation of a perfumer isn’t widely known about. I wound up going to graduate school in my late twenties for anthropology and wrote a lot about the history of cemetery construction. A strange segue, but this led me to the history of perfume and it was from there that my journey into perfume truly began. After graduation, I took a job working as an apprentice to Master Perfumer Olivier Gillotin at Givaudan and decided to train to be a perfumer. I never in my wildest dreams thought this opportunity would have presented itself, so I was thrilled. During this time, I was extremely dedicated to learning the raw materials. I would wake up at 5 am every morning and was always the first one in the office, turning on the lights. I would spend an hour blind smelling and memorizing the raw materials before work (sometimes also during my lunch break), every single weekday for two years. This was such an incredible time in my life because I truly felt like I was exactly where I belonged. When Olivier gave me my final exam, I got 100%. I’ve honestly never been so proud or cared so much about anything. I also can’t emphasize enough how important it was to have someone supporting my career so early on, what it did for my self esteem. Olivier always made time to smell the raw materials with me and taught me most of what I know about perfumery. I am forever grateful to him. With his support and encouragement, I ultimately left Givaudan to start my own company. Olivier and I write the formulas together now at Givaudan.
Redamance Logo
The inspiration for Redamance actually came from my first experience wearing perfume when I was twelve years old. After my great grandmother passed, I wore her Shalimar as a means to channel her and feel less alone. Shalimar was a bold choice for a twelve year old, it is not necessarily an easy perfume to wear, a bit incongruous, but it somehow suited me. I think people generally wear perfume to connect to themselves, others, ideas, ghosts, memories, the list goes on. But it’s always an attempt to connect or reconnect.
Queen Nzinga via the vintage news
Redamance is derived from the word, “redamancy” which means, “the act of loving in return.” Each fragrance is an homage and olfactive portrait of an overlooked woman from history and the notes reflect her time period, personality and environment. Redamance aims to connect women of the past to women today through perfumery. I just launched the first perfume, Queen Nzinga, last week and am currently fundraising to expand the collection and release three more perfumes next year. The formulas are already developed.
I selected each woman in the collection based on two criteria, really. I wanted her to life to be complex and even controversial, and I wanted her to have lived to an old age. I wanted to see stories of survival and women who were able to deal with the curve balls while remaining true to themselves. Queen Nzinga was the queen of what is now Angola and a brilliant military strategist who led her troops to defeat the Portuguese colonists three times, and she even had to give up her kingdom at one point to keep herself safe. She was a truly regal woman with such a vision, many visions at once in fact, and I was just really inspired by her.
Redamance Queen Nzinga bottle
As for the spectacular custom bottle, my dear friend Jonas Bowman is a jeweler and hand carved it. On one side there is an ancient, crumbling wall, and on the other is an abstract modern bust. I wanted to also bring the artistry back to glass work and perfume bottle creation. I see so many that just look the same these days, and I’m personally not interested in minimalism, especially when it comes to perfume, it’s antithetical. I’m a maximalist at heart and I wanted a statement bottle.
Recently, I’ve been doing freelance perfume projects and I’d love to do more of them. I scented Elsewhere in Bushwick as part of their newly emerging arts program called Landscape Arts. I was honored that Molly Surno, the curator, chose me to be their first artist in residence. Their goal is to build a sensory landscape within the space and scent can really add another dimension. I would also love to work with brands more. It can help to have someone involved who knows the industry, but isn’t blinded by market demands. In perfumery, in my opinion, market testing isn’t always (or usually) even accurate.
Marissa Zappas of Redamance at the Givaudan offices in New York
On Being an American Perfumer: Perhaps it is my background in classical ballet and also training at Givaudan, but I feel very loyal to my teachers and the knowledge they pass down. I respect tradition when it comes to perfumery and ballet. I see so much beauty in the technicality, time requirement and precision of classical perfumery. I want to honor that. Of course I want to create innovative new work, but I think both can be done at once. In particular, I love loud perfumes from the 80’s, obnoxiously beautiful like Opium or Poison, maybe that’s American of me. Also strangely, because my dad was Greek, I never really identified as American even though I totally am.
Eve Sedgewick by David Shankbone
Favorite American Artist: I love Eve Sedgwick. Her writing on texture and art, as well as her art itself. When I first learned to smell, I smelled in texture. Javanol smelled like a rosy plastic shower curtain, for example. Every smell was a texture before it had a name. Some people have synethesia, but I really smell in texture, so I love reading about that and interacting with textural art. Am I allowed to say Elizabeth Taylor? I know she was born in England but she’s also American. She’s an artist. She’s my personal icon and favorite perfume diva of all time.
– Maria Zappas of Redamance
Redamance Queen Nzinga © Leah Meltzer
Thanks to Marissa Zappas we have a draw for a 15ml bottle of Redamance Queen Nzinga for a reader inTHE USA ONLY. To be eligible please leave a comment with what you enjoyed about Marissa’s path to perfumery. This is open to USA registered readers only. (You must do this here). Draw closes 11/9/2019
Marissa Zappas of Redamance is our 147 th American perfumer in our series, which officially began in 2011 with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes.
All photos belong to Marissa Zappas of Redamance unless otherwise credited
Michelyn’s Editor’s Note: “Well behaved women seldom make history”– Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Key ingredients in Queen Nzinga are geranium, tamarind and amber
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