As some of you may already know, I have fairly recently decided to change my company’s name to Ayala Moriel Parfums. Quinta Essentia, the original name, was far too complicated to spell or pronounce – not to mention remember. So after 5 years in business I took the hint from my devoted customers who constantly referred to my perfumes as “Ayala’s Perfumes”, and changed the name of my business to my full name. The last name, Moriel, being my maiden name, seemed more fitting to use here, so that I have some form of separation between the entity of my company and that of my own flesh-and-blood human being; plus - the two together roll on the tongue charmingly and hopefully are also easier to remember and pronounce.

So, instead of the alchemical meaning of the old company – the Quintessence, the fifth element, the essence of life, and all the deep meaning it possesses – my perfumery now bears a somewhat exotic sounding name, and so I think I should explain what it means:

Ayala means a doe (a female deer) in Hebrew. Just as simple as that. I would like to imagine it to be a female musk deer, even though the musk does are probably not as fragrant as their spouses.

Moriel means “My Teacher is God” (Mori is my teacher, and El is god), and it is a name my grandparents invented for themselves when they married, so that they will not have a exilish-Yiddish surname, but a Sabra (Hebrew) one. “Mor” also means “Myrrh” in Hebrew, which makes my perfumery’s name even nicer smelling than a herding deer.

So, I ended up with what I was at first most reluctant to do – name my perfumery business after myself, just like any arrogant and self-possessed designer. It turned out to be a necessity in order for my perfumes to be remembered and found. One thing will remain in the spirit of Quinta Essentia – the logo of the fairy and drop, which stands for the spirit of life – which is represented by the symbol of the fairy. If you really use your imagination, you will also notice that her head looks like a “Q” and her wings look like an “E”, suggesting of the alchemical quintessence that inspired me to become a perfumer. After spending a year in animation school just to make that logo it’s really hard to let go ;)

The danger in my new name is that people already start confusing my last names. But that’s fine. Both Sender and Moriel are the names I use, and the confusion, I hope, will add to the mysterious aura that any perfumer would hope to have for herself…

The new eCommerce site for my little perfumery is still under construction. To make things just a tad easier for everybody, I have just updated (last night, as a matter of fact) the perfume pages on the old website (Quinta Essentia) and added more product info for each perfume, as well as pricing information. Nothing funner than editing in PHP on my Friday night!

Stay tuned for some more updates on this website (these cannot be done on PHP admin so I will need to get my boyfriend, the cutest and geekiest man of all times – to edit them himself). These updates are just to hold you over until the launch of the real thing, with the new name and new look (and of course the coolest packaging too!) – Ayala Moriel Parfums.