Tag: Berkeley

Cabinet of Curiosities colored woodcut features a circular design with a border of small circles. Inside, there are four mythical creatures in different colors (pink, purple, blue, and green) at the cardinal points, connected by a chain that forms a cross in the middle. Behind them is a fiery background with yellow, orange, and red flames. Each creature is part human, part animal: the pink one has a bird's body, the purple a lion, the blue a monkey, and the green a sea serpent. The illustration has a vintage or antique feel, reminiscent of old alchemical or mystical texts.

“Cabinet of Curiosities” * Excerpt from ‘The Museum of Scent’ by Mandy Aftel

aromatica poetica January 7, 2024

Choosing which chapter of Mandy Aftel’s gorgeous The Museum of Scent: Exploring the Curious and Wondrous World of Fragrance to publish here was both pleasurable and painful. The pleasure was in lingering on passages and pictures that I loved, painful because we couldn’t excerpt the whole book! I highly recommend this generously illustrated book to the aromatically wise and naïve alike. The Museum of Scent was published last October and is a natural and cultural history of scent that was …

Mandy Aftel working at her perfume organ, her back is to us and she is surrounded on three sides by color coded bottles shimmering in the light-filled studio.

The Marvelous, Unplanned Life of Mandy Aftel, Author, Perfumer, and Museum-Creator * Interview

aromatica poetica September 25, 2019

“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 …