Owner of Sol Aromatics conducts multiple scent-making workshops at different locations in Santa Ynez Valley
Susan Farber, the owner of Sol Aromatics, is a natural perfumer and certified aroma therapist as well as a licensed marriage family therapist.
She has been making natural perfumes with ingredients and distillers sourced from all over the world, along with materials she grows in her own aromatic garden. She has been teaching workshops since 2016, but she has been making perfumes since she was 8 years old.
“My mother gave me a perfume kit, and as an only child, I played with it for hours,” she said. “That’s when I got really obsessed with the smell of violets.”
Among the variety of flowers and herbs she grows in her garden at home, she says that her favorite scent is still violets.
“I’ve always been a creative person and was always encouraged by my parents,” she said. “My father was a professional studio singer and my mother owned a plant store and had a green thumb.”
Farber’s studio is filled with an amazing number of bottled scents sitting on shelves, in closets, and in other areas around her home.
“I do my own extractions, bottle them, and use them in my natural perfume workshops,” said Farber, displaying her collection.
She says her passion blossomed when she moved to the Valley 11 years ago. She attended an event at the former C Gallery in Los Alamos to have a custom perfume made by perfumer Sarah Horowitz. She fell in love with the process and asked Horowitz where she could learn how to make perfume.
“Her studio was in Thousand Oaks, which I attended, and I asked her where I could learn how to make natural perfumes, not synthetic, and she recommended Mandy Aftel, who interestingly enough was a psychotherapist as well,” she said. “I went to her workshops in Berkeley and started teaching a modification of her workshop, which has evolved over the years. During the pandemic, I studied over the internet under an Israeli perfumer, Ayala Moriel. I studied with her for three years, with people from all over the world. In her workshops, I learned about tincturing, old-world perfume practices, and fragrance families. I learned how to make perfumes of different fragrance families. She also taught me how to create a natural version match of a famous perfume. This is one way perfumers learn to improve and develop their skills.”
She soon became passionate about obtaining essences from distillers from all over the world and also finding new materials to tincture.
“I also make natural incense,” Farber said. “I made one called ‘Open Your Heart’ after a breakup to open my heart again. I use incense and essences to create a positive mind and healing space in my psychotherapy practice.”
Farber is now passing her expertise to others.
“I’ve been doing workshops since 2016,” she said. “The experience of making your own perfume is designed to awaken your sensorial creativity and to stir olfactory memory. Our sense of smell is deeply connected to emotion and memory, making scent a powerful way to honor meaningful bonds. You work with a curated palette of natural essences to craft a personalized perfume — one that reflects your memories, inspirations, and connections.”
Describing a fulfilling experience she had in one of her workshops, Farber related a Mother’s Day story.
“In one of my previous Mother’s Day workshops, I had three generations of women from one family attend,” she said. “They co-created a single perfume together, not three individual scents. It was a moment when all three generations came together as a unit and created something that each of them loved and shared. That is such a powerful experience as a psychotherapist.”
Farber has workshops at different locations around the Santa Ynez Valley.
“I’ve held yearly workshops at the California Nature Museum since 2017. At one of these workshops, which was in conjunction with a Yosemite photographic exhibition, I incorporated conifer oils and found a distiller of Yosemite pine needles and incorporated his oils into the workshop. It brought to life the entire experience,” she said. “I’ve also given workshops at the Windmill Nursery, and I held a Mother’s Day workshop at the Strange Family Tasting Room in Los Olivos. I will be holding a workshop at Santa Rita Hills Lavender Farm on Saturday, June 21.
“I take special care sourcing high-end oils and I evaluate them. I source exquisite oils to provide the best aromatic experience for attendees. Please don’t wear perfume to the workshops. At these hour-long workshops, the attendees will receive an informative booklet about perfume making, your personal perfume recipe, and a vial of your perfume to take home.”
Last December, Farber opened an e-commerce store to sell her perfume and incenses and for private perfume-making experiences such as birthdays, bridal showers, and bachelorette parties, to name a few.
“At the heart of Sol Aromatics is an appreciation for the sense of smell and its ability to evoke memory, stir emotion, and foster positive states of being,” she said.
For more information on her upcoming workshop at Santa Rita Hills Lavender Farm on June 21, or for more information, call (805) 886-5538, email SolAromatics@gmail.com or visit SolAromatics.com
