Book: Essences & Alchemy – Mandy Aftel

Nose – Coll. Nez culture, translated from the American by Sarah Bouasse Preface by Michel Mane 320 pages – EAN: 9782491567491 “To be immersed in a world of scents, even temporarily, is to shift consciousness and awaken more fully to the present moment. » Heir to ancestral traditions and medieval alchemy, natural perfumery is a forgotten world, that of a craft treated which will gradually give way to an industry during the 20th century. The return of aromatherapy and the attraction for the natural lead us today to take the opposite path: from the laboratories to the workshop, there are only a few steps, which Mandy Aftel invites us to take. Retracing the abundant history of this age-old practice while offering an accessible guide to all those who wish to go further, this reference work takes us to the heart of scented essences and the sensory, almost meditative pleasure that smelling them provides. , to play and create with them. Perfumer and author, Mandy Aftel is at the head of a museum and archive center dedicated to fragrances. This collector of rare and old books teaches the delicate art of natural perfumery in her creative workshop in Berkeley (California). Through it, she shares and reveals the history of perfumery and natural essences, a mission that she perpetuates in the writing of several books, including Essence & Alchemy, published in 2001, translated into more than one dozen languages and published for the first time in French.