A second week (in a row!) of intensive perfumery studies has come to a close: Floral Bouquet Week-Long Perfumery Course. This is the fourth course I'm teaching at my new space, and I'm thoroughly enjoying all aspects of the new location: the proximity to the flowers and wild plants and herbs, the quiet atmosphere that truly allows for deeper studies and absorption of the materials (no city distractions for students means they can both study extra materials and get much needed rest between the daily sessions).


Gardenia in all its fresh, dewy, tropical glory! 

We were blessed with many beautifully fragrant flowers in bloom, such as the star jasmine and gardenias, which I could demonstrate enfleurage method though in a most direct manner.


Star Jasmine in bloom

Laying fresh star jasmine flowers on the Enfleurage tray 

Pomade from Enfleurage 

Melting the fat in alcohol to produce the Extrait from Enfleurage  

We were able to study fresh flowers in different times of the day...





And even eat them for lunch in a lovely floral-fresh salad!

And for dessert (rosy Rahat Loukum, anybody?)



We dug out a fresh rhizome of Iris germanica in my garden, from which orris powder and orris butter are made of. Here it is in all the various forms it is used:




My students studied five out of 8 fragrance families meticulously and methodically (Soliflores, Florientals and Aquatic Flowers receive their own separate course in my program!). They spent this intensive week-long course studying the most important flowers in perfumery (Rose, Jasmines, Orange Blossom, Ylang Ylang, Tuberose, Orris Butter, Violet Leaf etc.) as well as rare and exotic raw materials (Boronia, Broom, Pink Lotus, Champaca and more), studying historic floral formula such as Mille Fleurs, Bouquet A La Merchale, Frangipanni etc.,





There were a lot of dissecting modern florals - both purely natural and those containing synthetics, to get the feel for each one of the styles in which florals can be composed, and trying to create a match for each one of the representatives of the family (some of them you can see in the photo - for example: Vent Vert, Joy, Diorissimo, No. 5, Arpege, Apres l'Ondee and more).



But of course, the focus of this advanced program was the composition and creative aspect. At the end of the week, each had at least five creations representative of each category, including the most challenging feat: a natural Floral Aldehydic!



Asa and Jenny Amber - I'm very much looking forward to seeing you again in my next courses. Here's what's scheduled:

Autumn 2018: 
November 4-8: Chypre
November 11-15: Leather & Tobacco (advanced students only!)

Spring 2019:
March 24-28: Fougère