Plant to Perfume: Natural Fragrance Workshop

Our most comprehensive Fragrance Masterclass to date is coming to the South Island! Join us at Phytofarm Herbal Learning Centre in Christchurch and learn how to create natural fragrance from base to bottle.

The Plant to Perfume workshop is for anyone who would like to make their own natural fragrances - starting from the base materials all the way up to learning how to blend and create bespoke scents. Taught over two days, these workshops are hands-on and immersive learning experiences engaging all your senses.

Jill Mulvaney from The Alembics Lab leads a small group through a comprehensive range of plant extraction and distillation techniques using seasonal organic botanicals. (Suitable for both beginners and experienced distillers/perfumers).

Come for a single day or join us for the weekend.

Workshop Schedule:

Saturday 8th March
Day one is dedicated to the alchemy of transforming and elevating our raw materials. Beginning with botanicals and bases, we’ll show you how to select, process and transform these into an array of elements that will make up your perfumer’s palette.
The day includes:
- How to make and cure your own alcohol for perfumery (spirit distillation in a 10L copper column still)
- Making perfumes from the still: how to create aromatic hydrosol and essential oil (combo distillation in a 10L copper column still)
- Making perfume oils: how to create layered perfume oils and capture elusive scents (an attar distillation in the 10L copper cask hood)
- Perfume bases: Oils, fats and alcohol. Comparisons and demonstration of uses.
- Including how to make infused oils, tinctures, perfume accords, absolutes and the technique of enfleurage.

Sunday 9th March
Day two you’ll learn how to create a range of natural perfumes from the elements you have made yourself - including alcohol-based, oil-based and water-based fragrances.
The day includes:
- Learn how to design and blend your own bespoke fragrances based on the traditional pyramid structure.
- Eau de parfum (utilizing yesterday's perfume base and plant extracts to create an alcohol-based scent)
- Roll-on oil perfumes (using the layered oil from yesterdays attar distillation).
- Water-based perfume: Room diffusers and body sprays.
- Absolutes: we end the day with a check-in on yesterday's extraction and discuss uses.

All botanicals and resources are provided at the beginning of each day, as well as a delicious, seasonal lunch from the Phytofarm kitchen garden. Sample bottles of everything prepared during the Masterclass will also be available to take home!

You can watch Jill collect and prepare some of the natural ingredients we'll be using in our workshop in the included video.