How to Create Fragrances - a Sustainable Workshop for Artisan Perfumers

Spring is a time like no other for perfume makers, with cheerful colours popping up and fresh, flowery scents filling the air. Whether you get a thrill from catching flowers just as they bloom or putting your new spring brolly to good use, our spring perfumery workshop is a perfect way for fragrance enthusiasts to celebrate the season.

Date: Monday to Friday, 17 - 21 March 2025
Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. UK time
Where: 4160Tuesdays' studio in Hammersmith

Group size: The group is limited to 8 people so everyone receives personal attention from our perfumer, Sarah McCartney.

Important notes

Age: This is a class for adults. Our studio is a workspace and is not insured for children to be present. We can accept bookings for ages 15+. Thank you.
Accessibility: Our classes are in an old building, held in the upstairs studio accessible via a narrow staircase with no handrail. If you need special arrangements, please let us know before you book.

In 2025, we’re running our Spring School at 4160Tuesdays' studio in Hammersmith. This year’s Spring School explores both classic and modern perfumery styles, using sustainable materials approved for safe use in the 21st Century: naturals and molecules, isolates and molecular distillations, nature equivalent materials and white biotech sustainable synthetics.

What we'll do:

Make fragrances each day
Explore and use sustainable, biodegradable materials
Look at materials we could be crossing right off the list
Formulate with new, greener alternatives
Plan for the 2030 changes and
Examine wider ethical issues

"This is the workshop any fragrance lover should take once in life. I had a great time making my own perfume guided by Sarah, who is just wonderful, fun and a great perfumer. This will be the way forward. Everyone has their own taste so it makes sense to make one for yourself! How inspiring and encouraging! The perfume I made is so uplifting - it works for me. Thank you so much." - Sachiko - workshop attendee

Why now is the time to care about sustainable perfumery

To meet UN climate targets - and for the EU 2030 Green Deal - all industries must adapt and improve. Even for those operating outside the EU, it will still have an impact as most perfumery materials are in use in the EU, so their manufacturers and producers will automatically comply.

The only materials available for our use beyond that time must have a neutral or positive impact on the earth, or must be considered "essential" - not the same as essential oils.

This change will affect the production of perfumery materials, both natural and synthetic, and will have an even bigger impact on packaging.

The major manufacturers and suppliers are already adapting and planning ahead, and while many brands will go right up to the line and drop unsustainable products at the last moment (and probably blame IFRA out of laziness) we have the opportunity to adapt now. By developing new formulas and refining current ones, we can avoid a last-minute scramble in 2029.

While the fine fragrance industry makes a relatively small difference, the materials we use are also used for laundry and personal cleaning products - where the massive amounts are used worldwide and wash straight into the water supply - so if materials which affect marine life, including many essential oils, are banned or restricted, then it affects us too.

It often comes as a surprise to people that the most sustainable products are not necessarily naturals.

For example blackcurrant bud absolute uses 25kg of blackcurrant buds to make 1kg of absolute; perhaps in future we should be eating the blackcurrants, and using an alternative synthetic.
Similarly, by the traditional route, it takes 1000kg of rose petals and a lot of water to make 1kg of rose absolute. The ground could have been used to grow grapes, for example.

It's no longer going to be a matter of pride to say how much of the world's rarest resources are used up to make a drop of expensive scent.

Sustainability isn’t just about materials; it’s about saying it as it is

Bluewashing (covering up a lack of community responsibility) and greenwashing (the same for ecological responsibility), making marketing claims that are misleading, vapid and often downright untrue, aren't going to stand up when well-informed customers can see right through them.

Greenwishing - stating what you hope to do without any proof - is equally scorned by perceptive young people. If you're planning to go into perfumery, how do you do what's right?

Information on materials is available on the bigger companies' websites as they are opening up about their progress, but it can be difficult to interpret.

What you’ll get by doing this perfumery workshop:

The aim is for you to understand how to create new fragrances, to assess and include new materials into your creations, to minimise waste and to understand how materials work together. The result: perfumes you can be proud of.

We use our Solar System structure which gives creative perfumers a good understanding of how to create and balance accords to construct well-balanced fragrances.

The course is run by Sarah McCartney, 4160Tuesdays' perfumer.

Cancelling – Ts & Cs

We realise that things crop up that people weren't planning for.

If you cancel 30 days or more before your workshop, we will refund you completely.
If you cancel between 14 and 28 days beforehand, we will move you to a later date.
If you cancel within 14 days, you can pass your seat on to someone else, or you can spend the money on our perfume. Fair’s fair.

"Sarah has encyclopaedic knowledge of all things perfume, superb location easy to access and small class size where everyone was welcoming and lovely, highly recommended and will definitely return for more classes” – Kokoroko - workshop attendee

2025 Spring Perfume-Making Week - in person