UK entrepreneur, writer and co-founder of Green & Black’s chocolate, Jo Fairley has teamed up with perfume expert Lorna McKay to launch a website and subscription organisation for
scent-lovers called The Perfume Society.
“Until now, there has been no single organisation entirely dedicated to the glorious world of fragrance,” the founders said in a statement.
The
perfumesociety.org website provides a forum for the discussion of aroma, inviting users to subscribe for £25.00 a year – for the first 5,000 subscribers – to receive ‘Discovery Boxes’ of samples, exclusive samples, news about fragrance launches, access to exclusive online content such as Q&As with industry experts and a notebook for recording fragrance-related thoughts.
Members will also receive ‘The Scented Letter’ – a 32-page e-zine devoted entirely to the sense of smell, delivered eight times a year.
The site is also planning to launch an enormous database it calls FR.eD – short for ‘Fragrance Education’ in mid-June. Thousands of scents from across the UK have been collected, described and recorded in order to help users choose a perfume based on their unique preferences. Each user is given six suggestions of new perfumes to try. This customised sensory experience might be one which will appeal to global spa businesses that are looking to make each guest's experience individual.
Created by Lorna McKay, this ‘virtual fragrance advisor’ made its first debut in The Liberty Perfumery and Harvey Nichols in London but has had a state-of-the-art makeover for 2014.
Craig Sams, president and co-founder of Green & Black’s also co-owns the organic food store, Judges Bakery in Hastings Old Town, with Jo Fairley in addition to The Wellington Spa Centre – which may benefit from the aromatherapy innovation of FR.eD at some point in the future, guiding guests by the nose.