Today's Q&A is a fun one! We've got Managing Director, Travis McIntosh, and Creative Director, Yosh Han, with us to talk all things scented! Learn how they work together and how Juan M. Perez's fragrance, Lime, made it's way into Scent Trunk's Original Editions and the August Collection for Olfactif!
Q: Scent Trunk is a unique platform for fragrance discovery. Can you tell us more about it?
We offer customers a unique annidations - sometimes otherworldly. Playful diy/layering experience with you DIY Bespoke Collection, and with our Original Editions we feature Perfumers of the Month who are all Artisan or Independent Perfumers who create seasonal fragrances based on a unique focus ingredient, and inspired geographical destination.
Q: You each have specific roles in the company, can you elaborate on what you each manage and why you love it?
Travis - Implementation, Production, and the business management side.
Yosh - Creative Vision, Artistic Direction and overall brand feel/vibe.
Q: Each month you feature a bespoke fragrance from a perfumer where you spotlight an ingredient. How did this model come to be?
We are very seasonally minded people, and the first fragrance in November 2019 ‘Pennyroyal’ by Tyler Monk - we thought to ourselves - Where do I want to go in Fall? The Sierra de Aracena region of Andalucia, Spain captured our imaginations; a sleepy Tolkienesque village. Then we wanted to know what is harvested in this region (for the fragrance industry) in November and found that Pennyroyal is native to this area and the model was born. Make a fragrance centered around Pennyroyal that transported us to Andalucia in autumn. It’s complex, but the template worked!
Q: You also have a DIY Bespoke collection where fragrance accords can be worn as is or layered depending on your mood or season. Can you tell us more about this collection?
This is the more accessible and consumer friendly tier of Scent Trunk. It’s all about being playful, experimental, and really just creating your own fragrance - yourself! With a little help from the imaginative indie fragrances that were created for DIY Bespoke that are each based on different foundational fragrance families; Citrus, Wood, Amber, Floral, Moss and Herbal. We’ll be introducing new categories in 2022.
Q: How does the DIY Collection work with the Discovery Palette by Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays?
The Discovery Palette by Sarah McCartney is our Greeting Card to customers that invites them into the Scent Trunk world and allows our customers to get to know the ‘Scent Trunk’ interpretation of each of the fragrance families. It’s a preview into our entire library.
Q: You both have been in the industry for many years.
Yosh, can you tell us more about your role at Scent Trunk?
I’m the Creative Director at Scent Trunk. I work on the editorial narrative, the vision and the artistic expression of the brand, packaging, marketing, etc. For example, with our Original Edition Collection, I come up with the concepts for the annual theme, the ingredients, the provenance and which perfumers and designer we want to pair together for that month. I liaise with the perfumers on the fragrance brief and the mods and evaluations. We produce a unique art postcard that expresses that scent and commission different artists to interpret the scent. It’s very collaborative since we have a passionate Fragrance Council that makes my job a true delight. With the DIY Bespoke, I redesigned the concept and design and the language around it.
Travis, you also own Perfumer’s Apprentice. Can you tell us a little more about your role there and what you offer?
I am responsible for Perfumer’s Apprentice, but we are actually Employee Owned! My role there is to manage our multiple departments; shipping, customer service, billing, fragrance lab and contract services to ensure that all of our fragrance customers (perfumers, hobbyists and small brands) are all taken care of to the standards of our Founder, Linda Andrews! Tall order, but lots of fun and learning.
Q: We are featuring Lime by Juan Perez in the August Collection. It’s inspired by the green limes grown in Jalisco, Mexico with blue agave and salted sea waters weaving throughout it. When you selected this for Scent Trunk, what drew you to it?
We were already familiar with the work of Juan Perez and loved his work with his brand (Exotic Island Aromatics) and what he brought to the interpretation of Lime from Puerta Vallarta was the holistic nature of seasonality, raw materials, location and the human experience in this place and melded them together effortlessly.
As is the expectation with our Original Editions - this one really transported us to that place in the summer by just closing our eyes and drawing in the juicy vibrant notes that Juan beautifully designed.
Q: If perfumers wanted to submit fragrances for your monthly editions, is that something they can do or do you seek out perfumers based on your editorial calendar?
It’s a little bit of both. We are very passionate about featuring Independent voices, but we are also very enthusiastic about showcasing representation of many voices in fragrance, so while we may have someone eager to work with us who is very talented, we want to be mindful in showcasing unique points of view, which we believe translates in the work itself and creates the opportunity for there to really be a scent that anyone can relate to whether that be the Perfumer themselves, the ingredient focus or the provenance.
Q: When someone experiences a monthly Original Edition at Scent Trunk, what do you ultimately want them to know?
The work is authentic. We give the perfumer (artist a brief) and aside from maybe one or two mods, to account for clarity of vision, the fragrance is launched. We are very careful to ensure each fragrance is a representation of each of the Perfumer’s and their individual brand or voice.
Q: What are you most proud of with your brand?
The fact that we exist and that we fill a niche in the fragrance market that otherwise is missing. We are a platform for Independent Artists as well as our customers themselves to explore, learn, create and share. Pieces of this model are being done elsewhere, but we bring it altogether in a unique and holistic way that we haven’t really seen anywhere else .
Q: Tell us something that most people don’t know about you?
Travis - I have no professional background in the fragrance industry predating what I’ve learned in-house at Perfumer’s Apprentice since I began back in 2004. My education has been from our customers, my role here, workshops, conferences and incredible vendor relationships.
Yosh - I’ve had a bout of anosmia in the past where I couldn’t really smell anything for a couple of years. I took a break from perfumery and got rid of my studio. It’s come back but I get nose fatigue much more easily now.
Q: Outside of fragrance, what other creative outlets do you have?
Travis - Most people think I make scents, but I MUCH prefer to experience the scented art of others. Although I’m immersed in the fragrance world, I am a visual artist and do not make fragrance.
Yosh - I spend almost all of my free time either on or in the water. I’m a blue water sailor as well as racer. I recently double-handed a 30’ Ericsson to Hawaii. In 2018, I became a certified Scuba instructor. I’m also an open water swimmer and swam Alcatraz twice as well as The Golden Gate Bridge swim, a peak experience for sure!
TRAVIS:
Q: Where do you consider your happy place?
Home, in my garden by the pond.
Q: What is your favorite word?
Mellifluous
Q: What is your least favorite word?
Whatever
Q: What turns you on?
Candlelight
Q: What turns you off?
Insincerity
Q: What’s your favorite note?
Balsam.
Q: What’s your least favorite note?
Generally ‘Berry/Fruit,’ however when done right - it’s great!
Q: What are you smelling right now?
Everlasting by Hans Hendley (Original Edition by Scent Trunk, of course!)
Q: If you could describe your brand in 3 words, what would they be?
Creative, Original, Inspiring
YOSH:
Q: Where do you consider your happy place?
The Ocean
Q: What is your favorite word?
Inshallah (Arabic word for Divine will. I say it silently to myself almost like a little prayer).
Q: What is your least favorite word?
*riental
Q: What turns you on?
Good music
Q: What turns you off?
Bad food
Q: What’s your favorite note?
Ylang Ylang
Q: What’s your least favorite note?
Industrial cleaning products
Q: What are you smelling right now?
I just inherited a friend’s scent library and recovered my library from storage.
Q: If you could describe your brand in 3 words, what would they be?
Modern, transportive, relatable
Want to smell Lime? We featured it in our August 2021 Collection, Sun-sational . Subscribe by August 15th to get this collection in your mailbox!
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Photo credits: Scent Trunk
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