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Amy George Modern Atelier (website) What made you start working in your craft? Was it a dream? Was it an accident? Was it payment on a bet?
It was probably part dream and part practicality. I'm a huge beauty junkie - I love lotions and potions and makeup and all those types of things. I knew that making perfume wasn't nearly as complicated as many other products like candles or lotions. The scientific part, anyway - there's very little science but a lot of artistry and even trial and error in getting the notes in a perfume to perform harmoniously on the skin.
Anyway, after I decided I wanted to start making perfumes for my own personal use and for my friends and family, I started buying the single-note oils, bottles, and tried to locate a source for perfumer's alcohol. I did a lot of research and found that unlike most crafts, buying the supplies online and having them shipped would be prohibitively expensive - not only is alcohol a liquid and therefore heavy to ship, its flammability means there are serious haz-mat fees to go along with shipping it in bulk. So I knew I had to locate a local source. Once I finally found a high-quality perfumer's alcohol locally, I was so excited that I ordered a FIVE GALLON DRUM. And that was just the beginning....Where do you work? What does your fantasy work space look like?
I work in a guest bedroom of my 1920's house on the northside. All my bottles are arranged into boxes from Ikea, and then the boxes go in a storage unit also from Ikea. I just retrieved a lovely 60's sewing machine cabinet from the house I grew up in, and now that's my workspace. But really, the laboratory for my scent ideas is the city of Richmond itself. In case you didn't notice, I kinda have a thing for the history, people, and places in the River City. My fantasy work space would have tons of shelves and glass bottles and look kind of like a mad scientist's dungeon crossed with an old-timey apothecary shop. You could smell it from several blocks away, I'm sure! We all have vending horror stories but has anything really really GOOD ever happened to you?
I've met a lot of incredibly supportive people in person and on the internet. Many of my first customers gave me some constructive feedback regarding sample packaging. Now my $4 sample sprayers are a hot item and I sometimes have trouble keeping them in stock. I've also had several customers become wholesalers, which is great because I can't be in more than one place at a time. I made a signature scent for a wedding party, and I was featured in Richmond Magazine after a writer visited my shop at the first Spring Bada Bing show.
If you had to pick a superhero spokesman for Modern Atelier who would it be and why?
Lex Luthor - he's a mad scientist AND a very successful businessman. The Richmond Craft Mafia can be my "Secret Six". Working on your craft can be a solitary and sometimes lonely venture. What keeps you company?
Music, Podcasts, Audiobooks, and lately, our adopted pug, Mackie. If I have a particularly large order I will draft my wonderful and supportive partner, Robert, into the assembly line as well. We all have dreams of money – but what would you do if you had the TIME?
Finish the renovations and repairs that need to be done to our home. Lots of flower and vegetable gardening. Long-distance running and cycling. And lots of traveling, especially to see my family that lives far from Virginia. I'd also love to eat my way from Iceland to China and back again. Crafting beverage of choice?
Diet Pepsi Max, or Blueberry tea if it's cold weather. What is the one craft tool you can not live without?
My craft is a particularly messy one, but it's not particularly high-tech. I guess my nose is the tool I really couldn't live without. Also I'd have to say that my Roomba is really one of the most useful "tools" I ever bought. |
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