Nestled at the base of the Berkeley Hills in Northern California sits a Craftsman shingle house, where a 76-year-old woman with flaming-red hair and pool-blue eyes might be creating your next favorite perfume.
Dominating what was probably once a living room is Mandy Aftel’s “fragrance organ,” a bulky series of shelves holding hundreds of neatly organized essential oils, arranged with top, middle, and base notes from left to right. And while each of her fragrances declares itself with an obvious opening blast, the other players, in Aftel’s telling, give a more thorough understanding of the final blend.
