Interviews with authors, distillers, perfumers, aroma therapists, artists, chemists, and anyone else with professional expertise or experience using or investigating aromatics or olfaction.
Category: Interviews
Sensory Transposition: A Triadic Exchange Between Ron Hutt, Andreas Keller and Anna Novakov
Sensory Transposition: A Triadic Exchange Between Ron Hutt, Andreas Keller and Anna For the past several years, composer Ron Hutt and olfactory artist Anna Novakov have worked together in a collaboration they call Provisional Art Space (PAS). Through a process of sensory transposition, they create performances that bridge sounds and scents. Inspired by a palette of seven chromatic hues, they compose fragrances and movements that, when performed together, shapeshift between sensory associations. Their performances, hosted in 2023 by Andreas Keller, …
Author and High Priestess of Home Mixology, Lindsay Merbaum, Interviewed by Leona Godin
Lindsay Merbaum is a witchy writer and high priestess of home mixology crafting cocktails/mocktails inspired by the moods and themes of contemporary reads. As soon as our mutual writer friend, Jess deCourcy Hinds, introduced us, this interview was fated. Lindsay’s thoughtful responses to our questions brings together so many of the things we at Aromatica Poetica hold dear: writing, scent, mixology, botanical diversity, books, creativity, magic, and more. Leona Godin, our founding editor, interviewed her via email. Aromatica Poetica: …
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A Blind Baker’s Perspective * Samantha Meddaugh * Interview Plus Holiday Recipe!
As a former professional baker, Samantha Meddaugh decided to have a talk with herself about why she chose baking as a career. She had a self-to-self interview about her experiences and challenges being blind and a baker, as well as misconceptions about being disabled. She spoke to herself in her home kitchen, which features stainless steel appliances, white-with-grey-squiggles granite countertops, and all-white cupboards, with a wooden butcher’s block table in the middle. Interviewer Samantha Meddaugh: How did you get into …
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Scent Tracking, Dark Dining, & Other Sensations * Interview with Lawrence Rosenblum, Perceptual Psychologist
*See What I’m Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses is one of my favorite nonfiction reads in recent years. In it Lawrence Rosenblum, a perceptual psychologist and professor at UC Riverside, explains how our brains are so often taking in more of the world than we are aware, that we are perceiving much more than we are conscious of. From echolocation to our multisensory appreciation of food, Rosenblum makes connections between the super senses of exceptional cases—like blind …
The Marvelous, Unplanned Life of Mandy Aftel, Author, Perfumer, and Museum-Creator * Interview
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve just followed what I’ve been interested in. I’ve never had a plan, I have had no plan about any of this.” – Mandy Aftel Mandy Aftel started making natural perfumes almost 30 years ago. Her passion and artistry have won Aftelier Perfumes many awards and accolades. She’s been featured in countless magazines and blogs from Vogue to Forbes, Now Smell This to Bon Appetit. In 2003, Mandy launched Chef’s Essence, which supplies natural flavor oils and …
Smell and Taste Reading List * Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry
*This is a dynamic, ever-expanding list of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that engages with smell and taste. In the spirit of mixing disciplines, genres and diverse voices, the list is simply organized in alphabetical order by author. If you don’t see something you think we would like, please let us know in the comments below or by emailing us at info@aromaticapoetica.com* *A* Abood, Maureen. Rose Water and Orange Blossoms: Fresh and Classic Recipes from my Lebanese Kitchen. Ackermann, Diane. …
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Distilling the Southwest: An Interview with Clare Licher of PhiBee Aromatics
As interest in aromatherapy explodes, and huge corporations seek to dominate the field with cheap essential oils and hydrosols, I’m honored to present Clare Licher and her family-run business PhiBee Aromatics, which specializes in the distillation of plants of the Southwest. Situated in Sedona, Arizona, an epicenter of the alternative health, well-being, and spirituality movements, Clare and her family provide the world with beautifully crafted oils that encapsulate the wonder of the unique and special landscapes of the Southwest. I …
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The Tastes & Smells of Magick Spells: An Interview with Skye Alexander
Skye Alexander is an artist, astrologer, tarot reader, feng shui practitioner, drummer, and the author of many fiction and nonfiction books, including The Modern Witchcraft Spell Book and, most recently, Find Your Goddess. I reached out to Skye for an article about Sex Magick for Playboy, and decided to press my luck and ask her to do one more interview with me for Aromatica Poetica, to which she generously agreed. In her useful and informative spell books, she often provides …
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The Magic & Poetry of Candle Making: An Interview with Trista Edwards of MARVEL + MOON
I met Trista Edwards through the magical and supportive community of Luna Luna Magazine, where she is an associate editor. I visited her shop, MARVEL + MOON, and was delighted to find that her candle making blends her love of literature with her practice as a witch. Then, when I read that her impulse to collect “tiny elemental memory markers,” such as “a feather from a Victorian-era cemetery, a little darkened soil from W.B. Yeats’s grave, a sprig of mint from a bush outside …
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The Modern Witch on Smell: An Interview with Stacey Demarco
Stacey Demarco, The Modern Witch, is an internationally respected spiritual pagan practitioner, Witch, author and activist who hails from Sydney, Australia. Her passion is to make practical magic accessible to everyone and to reconnect people with the power of nature. She is the author of several books, including Witch in the Boardroom and Witch in the Bedroom. She was gracious enough to answer my questions about how aromatic botanicals are used in witchcraft, and why smell plays an important role …
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