The Craft of an American Perfumer

About the speakers:

Founder of Smoke Perfume in New Orleans, Kathleen Currie has lived at the intersection of scent, body, breath, and the natural world for more than 15 years. A perfumer, herbalist, bodyworker, and massage therapist, Kathleen approaches fragrance not simply as something to wear, but as something to inhabit. Her relationship with scent began in massage school, where she studied aromatherapy and worked with pure essential oils. She began blending them intuitively, drawn to the way each botanical seemed to carry its own presence—alive, protective, sensual, and mysterious. Over time, her path expanded into breathwork, herbalism, bodywork, and natural perfumery. Again and again, she returned to the same place: breath as a vessel, scent as a portal, and the body as a living landscape. Smoke emerged from this exploration. Each fragrance became a small ritual—a moment to return to the body, to breathe, and to remember our connection to the earth. Kathleen’s blends are shaped by years of training and certification, an intuitive relationship with plants, and mentorship with renowned natural perfumer Mandy Aftel. Today, Smoke inhabits a botanical fragrance landscape where scent, nature, ritual, breath, pleasure, the cosmos, and the human body coexist in reverence. It is a world rooted in the earth and reaching beyond it, where fragrance becomes a way of inhabiting the body, connecting with the natural world, and honoring the mystery of being alive. Smoke creates artisanal fragrances from ethically sourced natural ingredients, thoughtfully made and housed in sustainable packaging. 

Eric Tomlin is a fragrance consultant, curator, and obsessive currently working and living in Richmond, Virginia. He operates local event series, Huff, that provides space to prioritize and explore your sense of smell while engaging with work by primarily niche and independent perfumers from around the world. His favorite smells are honeysuckle, damp hay, and sweet resins like opoponax and benzoin.

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ALL AMERICAN CENTER IN MOSCOW EVENTS ARE FREE OF CHARGE / ВСЕ МЕРОПРИЯТИЯ АМЕРИКАНСКОГО ЦЕНТРА В МОСКВЕ БЕСПЛАТНЫ

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