Eco Fashion World

Ayala Moriel was born in Montreal, raised in a little village in the north of Israel then moved back to Canada 12 years ago, where she has lived in Vancouver, BC ever since. While she was growing up, Moriel was exposed to the many aromatic plants of the Mediterranean, which she notes "is really the region where perfumery was originally invented and in fact, the first perfume was an ancient Egyptian type of incense called Kyphi." When Moriel moved to Vancouver, she noticed the scents of nature in this part of the world were sadly washed out by the rain. Moriel recalled the rich scents she had grown up with such as, the aromas of the salty Mediterranean breeze, orange blossoms and wildflowers in the springtime, and the scents of earth after the rain. She immediately realized how much she missed these scents and was intuitively drawn into the world of fragrance by a personal need to fill an sensory void in her life. Moriel filled this olfactory void by first creating incense, eventually developing custom scents and ultimately creating her first ready-to-wear line in the spring of 2001. Today, Ayala Moriel shares the scents of her childhood with the world through her collection of Ayala Moriel Parfums.

EFW: Tell me about your personal journey in developing your perfumes.

AM: I began in 2001 with a different name – Quinta Essentia Signature Perfumes. This name was long, hard to pronounce or spell and everyone referred to my products as "Ayala's perfumes," so I had to do the thing I wanted the least, which was to merge my personal identity with that of the company. In 2006, I changed the name (including the domain name) to Ayala Moriel Parfums.

This business, as you can imagine, did not grow up overnight – but gradually and organically developed into what it is now. The most challenging part was the packaging, and finding the right bottle. This still proves to be challenging at times.

When I first started, I would personally hand-paint every bottle with my little fairy logo and the perfume's individual names. I'm very glad things have evolved since then, and at the same time I'm sure they will become even better.

In 2007, I started to also collaborate with other artists and artisans to create products that are cutting edge, surprising and unique such as teas with Dawna Ehman, candles created with Gabriel's Aunt and most recently, scented chocolate bars created with CocoaNymph!

My first collaboration was with tea master and herbalist Dawna Ehman. Together we created my line of the world's 1st perfumed teas that are inspired by perfumes. They were designed to "translate" the perfumes into the language of tea. This really inspired me to get people more in touch with their senses and to turn my studio into a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of modern day stresses. When you come to my studio, it's a time set aside for enjoying a good cup of tea, conversation and tuning into your own senses, memories and emotions. I think it's important, because with the virtual reality (technology and social media) taking over our lives, the senses are sadly neglected.

EFW: Why scents?

AM: Scents move me on a deep level, triggering emotion, memory and connectedness to the world, which I find fascinating. Smelling is very much like time traveling!

The sense of smell is powerful, primordial, and exists on the edge between sacred and profane, health and hedonism, survival and luxury. I find these contrasts interesting unto themselves; but even more so, the process of creating perfumes is all about reconciling opposites and working with contrasting elements to achieve harmony.

Photo Credit - Shawn Nygren

EFW: Why the focus on natural scents?

AM: My reasoning is mostly aesthetic, but also a little selfish. In working with aromatics on a daily basis, I'd rather work with pure botanical essences that are gentler on my system than harsh synthetics that would give me headaches, which is what happened to me when I was experimenting with synthetics early on.

From the aesthetic point of view, natural aromatics are complex, challenging and ever changing. Every vintage of rose harvest, for instance, smells different and these subtle changes make the perfumes more like a living thing than a mere product or commodity.

EFW: Who creates the perfumes?

AM: I do. I develop the formulas, and then everything is made by hand by me.

EFW: How do you decide on different scents? Please describe the process.

AM: Each perfume was conceived through a different process, which is why they are quite different from one another in personality and structure. Some perfumes begin with specific notes that I was interested in (i.e.: the soliflores), others by a concept (i.e.: Rainforest, which was meant originally to smell like the earth after rain in Israel, but ironically ended up smelling like Vancouver's Stanley Park). Other times I came up with the name and the concept first, and then built a perfume based on it, for example: Schizm. I thought the word schism makes for an interesting concept of reconciling opposites within a perfume. So I used some very dry woods and spices (cedar, pepper), layered them on top of intensely sweet white flowers (tuberose, jasmine) and mossy and musky base notes (oakmoss, ambrette). Schizm smells very dry and sharp at first, then sweet and cloying and finally green, mossy and musky. It's very multi-layered.

EFW: What is your vision for the future of Ayala Moriel? Are there any key market areas you are looking to develop product for, etc?

AM: My goal is to focus on the custom perfumes and private label services – primarily, to work with more brides and grooms, as well as with local companies that want to create their own scent.

I would like to improve the guest-receiving space at my studio, which would be very non-retail in feel, as it is now, but a little more separate from the work/live space which is how I operate now. I would like the experience of coming to Ayala Moriel Parfums to be really transformative and enhance the feeling of it being like a little sanctuary for the senses, as I do in my bi-monthly tea parties.

And last but not least: Whatever happens, I don't want Ayala Moriel to grow so much that the products have to be manufactured elsewhere.

EFW: What are some projects you are working on now?

AM: Orcas perfume, a woody-marine that will launch in spring 2011, in a spray bottle! Also, I am hoping to add a white chocolate bar to the existing trio of scented chocolates, I am working on soap bars for some of my scents, and I am also developing a private label perfume for Gentille Alouette (one of my retailers in Vancouver's Gastown), and another for CocoaNymph, my chocolatier.

EFW: What other information would you like to share with EFW readers about yourself and Ayala Moriel products?

AM: Working with my immediate community and responding to global issues is important to me. I contribute by blogging about topics du jour, as well as donating my perfumes for silent auctions in support of causes that are meaningful to me on a personal level.

I helped raise funds and awareness to prevent the Bloedel Floral Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park from closing via my blog and releasing the Frangipani Gloves perfume. I have also worked with many other charities such as: Centre for Ability who helped my autistic daughter with early intervention when she was just diagnosed; I helped raise funds for Haiti's earthquake and New Orleans after hurricane Katrina; and every year I donate some of my products for silent auction for the Partners with Youth fundraiser at the YMCA. The YMCA organization helped me with my daughter when I was a newcomer to Vancouver, and their entrepreneur program also supported me in establishing my business in 2001.

EFW: Thank you for sharing with us! 

Delicate notes of various nature inspired aromas are blended with careful thought and infused with emotion to pleasantly surprise you. With creatively fine-tuned scents ranging from bouquets of citrus and spicy to combinations of floral and musky, Ayala Moriel Parfums are available in a variety of bottles, roll-ons and scrubs through their online shop and Ayala is also on hand for individual consultation on custom blends. Ayala Moriel transcends the traditional idea of perfume by developing fragrances that inspire all of your senses, elicit memories of times passed, and provoke inspiration.

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