B vulgaris Goes to Paris
Donation protected
Woooosah.
This makes me nervous. But here goes.
Ally Schmaling told me (a month and change ago, so bear with me, I’m late):
“Your community will not let you fail.”
When I launched b vulgaris back in March, I had very little understanding of what it takes to pursue what you believe in. I had no concept that I’d be spending months tweaking and adjusting formulations, allowing more months for Patreon fragrances to properly age and blend, spending hundreds on materials, failures and successes. b vulgaris is evocative fragrance, derived from common people. It is about telling stories of the earth’s materials and the ways that humans have used those materials to tell stories and shape history.
B vulgaris has always been bigger than perfume. It’s about the colonization of the Earth, her materials and her people. It’s about the stories that are breathed to life, and memories that unfold like magic when aroma summons them forth. Fragrance is an evocation, a summoning spell calling out to the deepest parts in each of us. It’s about our collective pasts, acknowledging the harsh realities of the Anthropocene era, and finding a way to return to the earth and ourselves, despite it.
Since that time, I have invested wholly in this dream. A magical trip to Milan for Esxence, and a casually cashed out retirement account later, I have spent the entirety of the first savings I’ve ever come to know and, accumulated (what I damn sure hope) is some debt worth having. I have committed myself to a Fulbright Application, one of the most rigorous processes I’ve ever put my dreams through, in the hopes that I can retrace the spice trails from history, all the way up to the labs of today and tell the stories of the people, materials, and cultures through aromatics. I know that fragrance is a vital lens, the only one that can support the telling of the olfactive history of humanity, and the only vehicle strong enough to carry it to others.
Part of this is about transparency. I know I have avoided plans, avoided outings, knowing and feeling ashamed that I barely had what I needed for transit fare that week. Dreams are expensive.
On August 14th I will be leaving for Paris, where I will be spending 3 weeks immersed in fragrance, chemical extraction methods and raw materials. This is an essential developmental step for me to begin the telling of my stories, your stories, and the buried stories of humanity found only in fragrance. This is the biggest risk I’ve ever taken. I have put my money where my dreams are in a way that is wholly fucking terrifying. It means a month without work. A month without income. A month where rent is due, bills need paying and I am investing my entire sense of security into this process.
Vulnerability is hard. This kind of transparency is hard. Lacking familial and material supports is hard. Everything feels like a tightrope walk without a safety net. Being a human with credit that was wrecked before i was 18 is HARD. Trying to give my dreams enough room to breath and take on life without destroying my own stability IS SUPER HARD.
And I can do hard things. So I’m gonna break down some of this stuff, and if you’re open to helping me shoulder some of this, I’d be fucking over the moon with gratitude.
So here’s the run down on what I’ve spent to treat my dreams like they’re real:
-Flight: $589.80
-Airbnb: $1494.89
-4 Raw Materials Olfactoriums (course required): $1200
-Olfalab Workspace (1 week): $560.12
-Instituto Europeo di Design, Business for Arts and Culture Program : $3,000 enrollment fee
This is a lot for me to do. Thank you for the grace and the community.
Here’s more info on the programming:
https://www.cinquiemesens.com/?lang=en
This makes me nervous. But here goes.
Ally Schmaling told me (a month and change ago, so bear with me, I’m late):
“Your community will not let you fail.”
When I launched b vulgaris back in March, I had very little understanding of what it takes to pursue what you believe in. I had no concept that I’d be spending months tweaking and adjusting formulations, allowing more months for Patreon fragrances to properly age and blend, spending hundreds on materials, failures and successes. b vulgaris is evocative fragrance, derived from common people. It is about telling stories of the earth’s materials and the ways that humans have used those materials to tell stories and shape history.
B vulgaris has always been bigger than perfume. It’s about the colonization of the Earth, her materials and her people. It’s about the stories that are breathed to life, and memories that unfold like magic when aroma summons them forth. Fragrance is an evocation, a summoning spell calling out to the deepest parts in each of us. It’s about our collective pasts, acknowledging the harsh realities of the Anthropocene era, and finding a way to return to the earth and ourselves, despite it.
Since that time, I have invested wholly in this dream. A magical trip to Milan for Esxence, and a casually cashed out retirement account later, I have spent the entirety of the first savings I’ve ever come to know and, accumulated (what I damn sure hope) is some debt worth having. I have committed myself to a Fulbright Application, one of the most rigorous processes I’ve ever put my dreams through, in the hopes that I can retrace the spice trails from history, all the way up to the labs of today and tell the stories of the people, materials, and cultures through aromatics. I know that fragrance is a vital lens, the only one that can support the telling of the olfactive history of humanity, and the only vehicle strong enough to carry it to others.
Part of this is about transparency. I know I have avoided plans, avoided outings, knowing and feeling ashamed that I barely had what I needed for transit fare that week. Dreams are expensive.
On August 14th I will be leaving for Paris, where I will be spending 3 weeks immersed in fragrance, chemical extraction methods and raw materials. This is an essential developmental step for me to begin the telling of my stories, your stories, and the buried stories of humanity found only in fragrance. This is the biggest risk I’ve ever taken. I have put my money where my dreams are in a way that is wholly fucking terrifying. It means a month without work. A month without income. A month where rent is due, bills need paying and I am investing my entire sense of security into this process.
Vulnerability is hard. This kind of transparency is hard. Lacking familial and material supports is hard. Everything feels like a tightrope walk without a safety net. Being a human with credit that was wrecked before i was 18 is HARD. Trying to give my dreams enough room to breath and take on life without destroying my own stability IS SUPER HARD.
And I can do hard things. So I’m gonna break down some of this stuff, and if you’re open to helping me shoulder some of this, I’d be fucking over the moon with gratitude.
So here’s the run down on what I’ve spent to treat my dreams like they’re real:
-Flight: $589.80
-Airbnb: $1494.89
-4 Raw Materials Olfactoriums (course required): $1200
-Olfalab Workspace (1 week): $560.12
-Instituto Europeo di Design, Business for Arts and Culture Program : $3,000 enrollment fee
This is a lot for me to do. Thank you for the grace and the community.
Here’s more info on the programming:
https://www.cinquiemesens.com/?lang=en
Organizer
Jamila Bradley
Organizer
Somerville, MA