Beautiful people where has the time gone?
You probably think I died or worse sold the business to LVMH? Well no, I am still waiting on Bernard's call and all I can do is apologize sincerely for being absent for so long.
You know what they say about true friendships though? That even with the passing of years of silence as soon as you resume contact it is like there was never a break and we pick up where we left off with familiarity and love.
So where have I been and what have I been doing all this time?
Gosh I wish I could say that time moves differently on my yacht in the warm waters of the Monaco Marina and I was having too good a time entertaining royalty and sipping martinis to notice, but sdaly it is not the case.
The very dull business of running a business has been stressful and all consuming. Without boring you all to tears times have been tough and add to that some serious problems with the website, personal health issues, and my time being spread over many pressing matters and events and WOOPS its been months and months of silence.
That said I do hope you can forgive me and and we can move on like this period never happened. With this relaunch of the blog for 2012 there will be regular discussions about all things to do with Fleurage and perfumery in general. In fact I am sure you will all be bored with me in no time at all.
Then let us pretend that no time has passed and this period never happened.
The end of 2011. Lets recap some highlights from a very strange year.
I got to meet the gorgeous Livia from the perfume review blog Nose at the ready and shared what we do here and received some lovely Balinese oils form her mum.
We coupled with the gorgeous Intercontinental Hotel( the Menzies as was) for special perfumery workshop packages. From this was born our latest Create your Own Perfume Workshop
Theatre called us in the form of an underground production called Chants des Catacombes where we were able to explore multisensorial experience further and add scents to the production with the aim of creating a lasting memory impression. It was an uncredible show and unforgettable experience. I also learnt that I am not a theatre person.
Our first foray into the wedding market came about after a hugely successful bridal shower event we created but I have to say the wedding expo taster we had has put that side of it firmly out of our minds. The resut was a selction of bridal shower events and offerings we are enthusiastic to offer but only if Brides are seeking it not to put on a trestle table alongside a very strange assortment of wedding 'stuff'. I suspect that not having any interest in the commercial wedding that is marketed to every potential bride out there is what is holding us back but as I said before Fleurage is founded on a very different set of principles and visions that are outside the mainstream.
Our international appeal continued and culminated in a visit from the gorgeous Caroline Lubbers of Scentifolia
As a woman with an absolute passion for perfume, it was a delight to introduce her to the Fleurage range. Her visit inspired a purchase of 14 bottles of our range to take back to Amsterdam and onsell as part of her vision for a Perfume hub. I want to thank the random Twitter people who recommended she come and visit. I dont know either of you personally but I am glad you know who we are and what we do. This is a business committment that will lead to many incredible opportunities.
The breakfast radio interview for Mix FM with 'Lehmo' was interesting and puts us at two radio spots now. We were also proud sponsors of PBS and that particular outlay has been very successful and we plan to continue it. I also have another interview coming up at ABC and I suspect I am becoming the go to expert for opening up the world f perfumery in this country.
A few things to celebrate from the year but there has been a down side too. I took on an intern and was burned badly by that experience. I will hesitate to do that again though I would love to have an extra hand and a pupil to share my skills. We had to shut the Toorak/Hawksburn outlet due to its complete lack of performance. I cant for the life of me figure out what it was we were doing wrong over there but the complete disdain and utter contempt for our business was depressing to say the least. I was willing to change what we are doing thinking we had it fundamentally wrong until we opened South Melbourne. The response was completely the opposite and more like what we had at Millswyn st. The people over this side are very receptive and enthusiastic about what we are offering. It was a kind of comfort to see that many shops on the Malvern road strip at Hawskburn couldnt make it there either but moving is not my favorite thing and another location change is costly.
Having said all that we are still going strong and our year ended on a high with the fabulous teams at Perfume Posse and Perfume Smellin' Things giving us a review that is beyond anything I could have hoped for and naming us a one of the Best of 2011.
This kind of review opens up doors and we hope to make entry into USA this year. Thankyou to Tom.
So there it all is(well the stuff worth mentioning) and we can start afresh for what is already proving to be a prosperous new year.
Happy 2012 lovelies and we will chat often about what is happening here in the perfumery
Cheers
The Baroness
