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Pomare's Stolen Perfume

Let’s create the worlds first Perfume Winery!

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Project Description

Jane Walker Grant Recipient

 

"Change the menu. The perfume industry has been marching on the same road (synthetics) for over 100 years. It is time to change how we look at perfumery, to include practices that exist outside the current colonial construct and explore new kinds of smells."- Rachel Deane Binder, Thrive Global/ Medium Magazine 2021

Our mission is to shift the culture and experience around scent and perfume to one that celebrates whole, real natural ingredients that shift the energy of the wearer through ancestral memory, aromatherapy, plant medicine and high perfumery.  Award winning perfumer and Sommelier (Court of Master Sommeliers) Rachel Deane Binder has invented a new methodology for an entirely new structure of perfume- "Living Perfume" (Patent Pending). She creates fruit aromatics from whole real fruit that is built to age like wine and is released in vintages.  It is perfume made from the real fruits, flowers, woods and saps, based in microbiology not petrochemistry.  It is a truly living perfume. Our perfume is food and wine safe since it is made without isolates or synthetics, it pairs with wine beautifully. 

We believe that the creation of a Perfume Winery in California would be a great way to showcase the ways in which regenerative farming practices can change the world as well as showcase the potential beauty and quality of what it grown.  Instead of making more pollution with petrochemical processing or through the use of factory made molecules (problematic for factory run off issues), we are advocating for farming that takes the carbon from the air and returns it to the soil where it belongs. Unlike the current industry norm which fuels climate change, it works to reverse it. Local sourcing and complete traceability in olfactive ingredients are key elements in creating a decolonized future for perfume.  In the current perfume paradigm, they seek to use fractionated materials to make fake rose (or if its real alter it) or fake peach. We believe that the greatest beauties are in how nature wants to express itself. There are key molecular harmonies that exist when things are grown together- the botanical relationships from the living soil and roots to the mycorrhizal fungi to the flowers to the native yeast in the air on the fruit that can make up the perfect perfume wine ecosystem.

What is even more amazing that using perfume wine as the heartbeat of this process makes room for a level of scalability often considered impossible with naturals.  Most in the perfume world don't believe there is room for artisan practices on things made to scale. Looking to Champagne, we can see this isn't true. Practices like hand riddling are still used by many of the big houses and Champagne is aged and is by definition "slow wine".  Last year Champagne sold an all time record of 6.2 billion dollars despite the fact that all of that is grown in under 84,000 acres in a small region in France.  Perhaps the greatest lesson Champagne has to teach us in that in one glass of Champagne there are 50,000 molecules- science understands only 5000 of these.  We believe the future of scent relies in understanding more of what lies underneath our feet and grows around us and less on the invention of "new molecules" that create more and more of an unvetted chemical soup response from both people and the environment. 


 

Perfume and Wine Pairing at Gjelina
Aftel Award for Handmade Perfumery
The only award in the world given in recognition of handmade artisan perfumery. 

 

Winner Art and Olfaction Award for Handmade Perfumery

The current perfume market is one centered around petrochemistry.  Even most naturals on the market are made from fractionated, lab created ingredients and contain very little that could be considered natural. Over 30% of the US, Canada and the UK experience scent related sensitivities- even to so called "safe synthetics" with as many as 17% reporting that fragrances impacted their breathing*.  There is nothing on the market for those of us who are physically unable to be exposed to these fractionated ingredients and petrochemicals. While the perfume industry was valued at 32.4 billion dollars in 2020,  a larger degree of the population refrain from scent at all or only use essential oils.  What we have learned from the whole food movement is that whole ingredients have a higher functionality in the body than processed foods.* Rachel Deane Binder has always been highly sensitive to petrochemicals and even so called "natural" isolates used in perfumery.  She discovered that she could work all day with organic, artisan distilled oils and absolutes but even the smallest addition of fractionated factory made ingredients would bring on migraines and other serious allergic responses.  This realization, along with her extensive background as a sommelier and wine educator, which always put an emphasis on how plant synergy, terroir* and symbiosis are key to aromatics, kept her focused on finding ways to help naturals jump out of the bottle with a sparkle that is often only associated with petrochemistry.  Her work in fermentation alongside making very specific choices about the quality and extraction methodology of all ingredients has enabled her to create sparkling aldehydes and esters that exist in the formula naturally and not as artificially manufactured ingredients.  We have been deeply humbled that while birthing this whole new approach to perfume so many people, reviewers, writers and awards have come to support us along the way.

Photograph by Jacquee Christnot
With daughter Tehani Humboldt Redwoods

Expanding so that we can create truly natural perfume unlocks a market that we believe is the future of this industry that sold 32.4 billion dollars last year.   Many of our future customers (or likely their spouses) have never worn perfume or have been physically unable to for years.  As the public becomes more aware of their overall health, and clean eating and lifestyle choices become a larger priority, there is an ever expanding demand for truly (not greenwashed) natural products.  Using creative sourcing like upcycled redwood and careful partnerships with regenerative farming partners (and hopefully our own farm someday!!) we aim to use perfume to help educate the public on the importance of soil and fostering ecosystems.  Pomare’s is the only perfumery in the world to work with redwood (up cycled) or fruit in this manner and it opens the door to a whole new way of looking at scent, experiencing smell and scaling a business with respect to quality and  true regeneration. 

Parfumelier Studio

Pomare's believes that perfume can be a vital way to connect with the land and engage in self care. Knowing that what you put on your skin will be absorbed into your bloodstream (90%) within 90 seconds* really highlights the significance of what we put on our bodies.  As biotech comes up with ever more "green solutions" we can't help but notice a pattern of changing science on what molecules are "safe" or 'unsafe".  Using carefully extracted ingredients that human kind has been using for thousands of years, Award winning perfumer, Rachel Deane Binder wants to the world to engage with real aromatics again. In a world that has been made nose blind by synthetic/ plastic scents, people are ready and need the transformation of smelling real plants again.  By supporting regenerative farming (organic, biodynamic) practices for the ingredients, Pomare's is also doing its part to combat global warming by putting carbon back in the soil where it belongs.

International Perfume Foundation New Luxury Awards
International Perfume Foundation
Art and Olfaction Awards Photo By Layla Rushing
Virtual Art and Olfaction Awards

We have a great deal of interest in retail placements for our perfume around the world- in order to make enough perfume to meet this demand we are going to need to scale up. We would like to solidify some farming partnerships and make larger batches  (to therefore reduce cost per unit) which means there is a need for aging vessels, additional fermentation equipment, a new glass still, strategic supply chain alliances, web and email system upgrades and additional interface for future retail clients.

Thanks to everyone who has helped make our dream of changing how perfume is experienced in the world come true!

Pomare's Team:

Rachel Deane Binder-

Rachel is a Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, a super taster, and a natural wine educator for Future Food Institute as well as the former Wine Director for Plant Food and Wine. She also worked for Earthship Productions, meeting with environmental innovators on solutions to free us from the use of petrochemicals. She is finishing her Soil Advocacy training with Kiss the Ground and is always exploring different ways to hand extract whole ingredients for natural perfume. She uses the principals of microbiology not petrochemistry to create and age perfume and aromatic materials. She launched Pomare's Stolen Perfume in 2015, named after an ancestor, Queen Pomare IV of Tahiti and in memory of how hard she fought for an independent Tahiti- and for all of the stolen people, lands and flowers.  This past year has been a dream come true-winning the Art and Olfaction Aftel Award for Handmade Perfumery, followed by the International Perfume Foundation's Sustainable Brand of the Year, as well as an unprecedented 16 Medals from Artisan Perfume Awards through Taste TV for 2021. She lives with her daughter, Tehani in Venice Beach, Ca.

 

Toya Ayala of Ayala  Business Solutions- Business Manager, Cheerleader and Streamlining Guru with 25 plus year experience https://www.linkedin.com/in/toyadayala/

Iliana Ayala- Artist, studio assistant, photographer, inspiring team mate currently getting her undergraduate degree in art and graphic design  

Toya Ayala of Ayala Business Solutions and Team Pomare
Team Pomare

 

Iliana Ayala, Team Pomares
Team Pomares
​​​​​​

Thanks to everyone for helping make our dream of changing how perfume is experiened in the world come true!

 

Rachel Deane Binder-

Certified Sommelier, Court of Master Sommeliers

Certified Natural Perfumer, International Perfume Foundation

*Sources:

Health.com

Science.org

Gerson-Research. Org

NIH National Institute of Health

University of Georgia Study

Environmental Working Group

"Whole" by Dr T Colin Campbell

 

The Campaign FAQs

 

 

George
08/14/2022
Aromatics of Perfume and Wine Class
$50
Forrest
08/14/2022
Aromatics of Perfume and Wine Class
$250
Jacquee
08/14/2022
Strawberry Edition of For You My Love
$200
Melanie Deane Clowers
08/07/2022
Monetary Contribution
$200
Karin
08/05/2022
Monetary Contribution
$50
08/03/2022
Monetary Contribution
$5
08/03/2022
Monetary Contribution
$20
Kent Taylor
08/03/2022
Because I care/ Social Media Shout Out
$15
08/01/2022
Because I care/ Social Media Shout Out
$15
Carol T.
08/01/2022
Sensory Travel Set
$65
Monetary Contribution

Just Because I Care

5 Supporters
Select this reward
150.00 USD
Riserva Barolo Wine Event

A private deconstructed Barolo wine and aromatic pairing event. 
An exploration of the fruits, roses, aging vessels, soil and Oud components that tell the Tar and Roses story of Barolo paired with special Barolo flights  from Baroli and Paolo Scavino.  Rachel Deane Binder (as both perfumer and sommelier) will walk you through a true visceral exploration of these classic tasting notes meant to forever change you experience and way you smell and taste wine and natural materials. 
 

Thursday December 9, Venice, Ca 

25 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
65.00 USD
Sensory Travel Set

Many of us discovered as we stayed home during lockdown that our senses and imaginations are boundless. Experience the specific terriors and aromas of: Tahiti, Jamaica, California and the Indian side of the Himalayas. 
Each of these destinations have a very specific energy signature to the land and plants which is why I have used as many ingredients from these specific locales as possible.  Explore with your nose and allow your own energy to shift.
Travel in place set comes with a Pomare’a bag (recycled bag with embroidered velvet and hand finishing) and small booklet with each perfume’s story so that you can carry your perfume experience with you throughout your day.
3.5 ml  bottles of
Angel’s Share (Jamaica)
Rasa (India)
Heiva in Solitude (Tahiti)
Piano Tuner (California)
 

24 Left
1 Supporter
Select this reward
1,000.00 USD
Parfumlier for Evening

Rachel, our parfumlier will help set up and aromatically pair your wine and food for your meal or event with aromatic pairings for each course.  (As seen at Vegan Fashion Week LA, Tous Au Parfum in Paris and Plant Food and Wine in Venice)

Food and wine presentations for each course so that your guests can fully engage in the senses.  A way to taste and smell again as if for the first time.  Since both taste and smell are intertwined, the addition of including wine compatible aromatics really makes the sensory experience unforgettable.

 

 

5 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
1,000.00 USD
Bespoke Perfume

This begins with the choice of several perfume wine/ fruit and or redwood options that exist nowhere else in the world as the base layer. 
We will work together to chose the materials that are most magic for you and do an initial maceration and aging- coming up with a few options to chose from before deciding the final direction on this perfume. 
It may be slow perfumery, but the consultation and mutual creativity should be part of the joy.

You will receive 2 bottles of the perfume as well as a travel size and will save the formula should you want future vintages made.

5 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
15.00 USD
Because I care/ Social Media Shout Out

Shout out on Social Media

and Gratitude!

2 Supporters
Select this reward
250.00 USD
Drinkable Flowers Bartender

Perfumer and Sommelier Rachel Deane Binder also has a YouTube station dedicated to aromatic cocktails and also trained under legendary bartender Julian Cox.  Rachel will end bar and help turn an aromatic twist on your event, mixing craft cocktails and making available her private stash of drinkable aromatics available to enhance those craft cocktails and make your event extra special. 

14 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
60.00 USD
Zoom Wine Class for Perfumers

Zoom Class 

Let’s take a journey that covers the basics of wine from an aromatic viewpoint. What does the wine world have to teach perfume? Suggested wines and aromatics will be easy to access so that you can smell along. Drinking is not necessary as this is a class that seeks to connect our nose and our palate and lead us to a place of exploration and deeper curiosity.

How does climate impact aromatics of grape varietals? 
How does soil impact smell? What is wine structure?

Why does perfume usually make people nose blind and prevent them from experiencing food and wine and why does whole ingredient perfume differ? 
 

What makes perfume or wine living? 

 

35 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
50.00 USD
Aromatics of Perfume and Wine Class

This is for everyone!

This is a fun, Zoom BYO intro to the relationships between perfume and wine.  We will begin with the most easy and accessible wine out there, rosé! There are a huge variety of fruit and floral aromatics that can be found in the glass! Its a great way to begin to understand some basics of terroir and how winemaking/ extraction can totally impact both scent and flavor. We see this totally mirrored in the natural materials in the perfumers palette! To fully understand wine and naturals we have to walk away from the pre fab "accord" Grasse notions of what a fruit or flower smell like and allow ourselves to be immersed so that we can open ourselves to the beauty of terroir variation and expand our olfactive capacities.

 

28 Left
2 Supporters
Select this reward
250.00 USD
Aromatics of Perfume and Wine Class

An in person exploration of classic aromatics in wine from pyrazines to tannins to B-damascenone to a-ionone as they exist naturally in wine and whole aromatic materials. How does fermentation develop and or alter these aromatics from soil to aged wine? What does that teach us about perfumery and educate us about or palate?

Wine flights included in class as part of sensory education.

To be held at Culinary Institute in Venice, Ca 

 

29 Left
1 Supporter
Select this reward
200.00 USD
Strawberry Edition of For You My Love

No To ‘Oe Here (Tahitian) or For You My Love (English) was created as an exploration of all of the sensual and beautiful things one would wish the bring to their beloved: Strawberries, passionfruit (yellow and red), citrus (mandarin and orange), Kashmiri saffron from Diaspora Spice Co and Tahitian and Indian vanilla beans for the table while inhaling the smells of flowers on the ocean air: plumeria blossoms, jasmine, heliotrope flower and champaca as well as ambergris. It leaves the salty sweet dry down of skin that has been well kissed. These whole ingredients were also chosen for their aphrodisiac qualities so that each wearer might be inclined to dance, make love or start some trouble. "I want to do to you what the spring does to the cherry trees"- Pablo Neruda Farming partner for the passionfruit is Sunrise Organic Farms and was created with fruit, the strawberries made from strawberry. Everything else is as stated and a whole natural ingredient.

23 Left
2 Supporters
Select this reward

About the Entrepreneur

Venice, CA
Created 1 Campaign
Health + Science
Lifestyle
Social Good

Rewards

Monetary Contribution

Just Because I Care

5 Supporters
Select this reward
150.00 USD
Riserva Barolo Wine Event

A private deconstructed Barolo wine and aromatic pairing event. 
An exploration of the fruits, roses, aging vessels, soil and Oud components that tell the Tar and Roses story of Barolo paired with special Barolo flights  from Baroli and Paolo Scavino.  Rachel Deane Binder (as both perfumer and sommelier) will walk you through a true visceral exploration of these classic tasting notes meant to forever change you experience and way you smell and taste wine and natural materials. 
 

Thursday December 9, Venice, Ca 

25 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
65.00 USD
Sensory Travel Set

Many of us discovered as we stayed home during lockdown that our senses and imaginations are boundless. Experience the specific terriors and aromas of: Tahiti, Jamaica, California and the Indian side of the Himalayas. 
Each of these destinations have a very specific energy signature to the land and plants which is why I have used as many ingredients from these specific locales as possible.  Explore with your nose and allow your own energy to shift.
Travel in place set comes with a Pomare’a bag (recycled bag with embroidered velvet and hand finishing) and small booklet with each perfume’s story so that you can carry your perfume experience with you throughout your day.
3.5 ml  bottles of
Angel’s Share (Jamaica)
Rasa (India)
Heiva in Solitude (Tahiti)
Piano Tuner (California)
 

24 Left
1 Supporter
Select this reward
1,000.00 USD
Parfumlier for Evening

Rachel, our parfumlier will help set up and aromatically pair your wine and food for your meal or event with aromatic pairings for each course.  (As seen at Vegan Fashion Week LA, Tous Au Parfum in Paris and Plant Food and Wine in Venice)

Food and wine presentations for each course so that your guests can fully engage in the senses.  A way to taste and smell again as if for the first time.  Since both taste and smell are intertwined, the addition of including wine compatible aromatics really makes the sensory experience unforgettable.

 

 

5 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
1,000.00 USD
Bespoke Perfume

This begins with the choice of several perfume wine/ fruit and or redwood options that exist nowhere else in the world as the base layer. 
We will work together to chose the materials that are most magic for you and do an initial maceration and aging- coming up with a few options to chose from before deciding the final direction on this perfume. 
It may be slow perfumery, but the consultation and mutual creativity should be part of the joy.

You will receive 2 bottles of the perfume as well as a travel size and will save the formula should you want future vintages made.

5 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
15.00 USD
Because I care/ Social Media Shout Out

Shout out on Social Media

and Gratitude!

2 Supporters
Select this reward
250.00 USD
Drinkable Flowers Bartender

Perfumer and Sommelier Rachel Deane Binder also has a YouTube station dedicated to aromatic cocktails and also trained under legendary bartender Julian Cox.  Rachel will end bar and help turn an aromatic twist on your event, mixing craft cocktails and making available her private stash of drinkable aromatics available to enhance those craft cocktails and make your event extra special. 

14 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
60.00 USD
Zoom Wine Class for Perfumers

Zoom Class 

Let’s take a journey that covers the basics of wine from an aromatic viewpoint. What does the wine world have to teach perfume? Suggested wines and aromatics will be easy to access so that you can smell along. Drinking is not necessary as this is a class that seeks to connect our nose and our palate and lead us to a place of exploration and deeper curiosity.

How does climate impact aromatics of grape varietals? 
How does soil impact smell? What is wine structure?

Why does perfume usually make people nose blind and prevent them from experiencing food and wine and why does whole ingredient perfume differ? 
 

What makes perfume or wine living? 

 

35 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward
50.00 USD
Aromatics of Perfume and Wine Class

This is for everyone!

This is a fun, Zoom BYO intro to the relationships between perfume and wine.  We will begin with the most easy and accessible wine out there, rosé! There are a huge variety of fruit and floral aromatics that can be found in the glass! Its a great way to begin to understand some basics of terroir and how winemaking/ extraction can totally impact both scent and flavor. We see this totally mirrored in the natural materials in the perfumers palette! To fully understand wine and naturals we have to walk away from the pre fab "accord" Grasse notions of what a fruit or flower smell like and allow ourselves to be immersed so that we can open ourselves to the beauty of terroir variation and expand our olfactive capacities.

 

28 Left
2 Supporters
Select this reward
250.00 USD
Aromatics of Perfume and Wine Class

An in person exploration of classic aromatics in wine from pyrazines to tannins to B-damascenone to a-ionone as they exist naturally in wine and whole aromatic materials. How does fermentation develop and or alter these aromatics from soil to aged wine? What does that teach us about perfumery and educate us about or palate?

Wine flights included in class as part of sensory education.

To be held at Culinary Institute in Venice, Ca 

 

29 Left
1 Supporter
Select this reward
200.00 USD
Strawberry Edition of For You My Love

No To ‘Oe Here (Tahitian) or For You My Love (English) was created as an exploration of all of the sensual and beautiful things one would wish the bring to their beloved: Strawberries, passionfruit (yellow and red), citrus (mandarin and orange), Kashmiri saffron from Diaspora Spice Co and Tahitian and Indian vanilla beans for the table while inhaling the smells of flowers on the ocean air: plumeria blossoms, jasmine, heliotrope flower and champaca as well as ambergris. It leaves the salty sweet dry down of skin that has been well kissed. These whole ingredients were also chosen for their aphrodisiac qualities so that each wearer might be inclined to dance, make love or start some trouble. "I want to do to you what the spring does to the cherry trees"- Pablo Neruda Farming partner for the passionfruit is Sunrise Organic Farms and was created with fruit, the strawberries made from strawberry. Everything else is as stated and a whole natural ingredient.

23 Left
2 Supporters
Select this reward