In Casablanca, Morocco, little did she know as a 26   year old that her life would be immeasurable altered while she  lived in this exotic    and dangerous place.

THE LABORATORY AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES                                                                          Irene began her love affair with perfume in her mid twenties. However, her creative perfumery was     a dream until 1972 when she established her first facility and visited her world wide suppliers of raw materials. She uses their products in the creation of her perfumes. It was not until 1989 that she incorporated and went into commercial production.

PERFUMERY TODAY                                                                                                                                 Perfume today is the product of centuries of artistic development from ancient China, the Middle East, Egypt, and classical Greece and Rome. It is an art. Professionals pass on their skills from one generation to another by the time-honored method of apprenticeship.

THE PERFUMER Irene Cameron Saltzman is a native Floridian. Born in Coco, Florida, her Great Grand Parents came to Florida in covered wagons during the early 1800's. Being a true native daughter, she loves her state, its history, its beauty, its climate, and its scent. Her first creation she named "Florida Breezes" TM as her tribute to her state.

 
 


                  

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During the forties, Irene was living in Jacksonville. It was booming after the war years and she was a talented artist doing layout work for J.C. Penney advertising and working in Judge Porter's (one of the founding fathers of Jacksonville University) office when she met her future husband.

Her life took on a dramatic change from that point. He was in the Army Air Corp and a year after their meeting, they decided to marry.  As a reservist he had to decide whether to go back to his civilian law practice or continue in the military.  They decided to remain in the service and he took the challenging duty of legal officer and Observer to the French and Moroccan foreign courts, in Casablanca, Morocco. Irene, the young native Floridian, had said yes to him, and to the United States Air Force and the rest is history.  Irene had to pinch herself when at age 25, the wonders of the world she had read about in her childhood, were hers to explore.

THE EGYPTIAN                                   
 

Irene the Perfumer and the Making of the Time Capsule Collection

Irene’s love of scent blossomed while living in Casablanca during the French and Moroccan War.  Destiny conspired to initiate her into the ancient mystery of perfume making. A neighbor, an elderly, retired Egyptian perfumer became her mentor. With this master's guidance she began a life- long study of perfumes. She became his apprentice and he taught her the "age old" methods of rubbing and pressing, techniques used for centuries. She learned steam distillation, effleurage, and modern solvent extraction. He did this because he had no one left in his family to pass this information to (apprenticeship was usually passed on between family members) he gave this to her because of her great interest and ability. He would send her to the market (souk) when the camel caravans, after traversing the exotic trade routes of the Atlas Mountains, brought their precious oils and spices. However, there was a war going on and she found to her dismay, at the end of a 4 year odyssey things were getting a little too heated to go to souk.

After spending so many years learning the intricate art of perfume making, Irene did not use the knowledge that was given her until two decades later. Morocco seemed like a dream, a time in her life to cherish, and reflect upon-- so she kept her secretes locked away, waiting for the day she would use what her old Egyptian mentor had taught her.  Her last trip into the Kasbah was frightening. A Moroccan mob converge on the car, rocking it, snarling and yelling in anger," Yankee's Go Home!" Even though the Americans were considered neutral during the war, the Moroccans felt they leaned heavily toward the French. The French Foreign Legend spy in her husband's office eventually advised the family to leave Nouasseur Air Base. They left Dec. 29, 1955 for New York. The Moroccan's eventually did win their freedom from the French. Much happened in her life; she traveled and lived in distant lands, all the while learning about each part of the world’s use of scent. She gained insight about each country’s aromatic plants and flowers, discovering the best sources for “essential treasures” to create the fragrances in her lost dreams. Her son died, everything stood still for quite a while. But back of all her unusual life, the musings and the lure of scent always beckoned . . . then one day her life-long husband and great love died and it was time. 

The Fragrant Past.jpgIrene had prepared to open her lab doors in 1972. After her husband’s retirement from the military, she had converted an old building into her perfumery. She contacted all her sources and was going to start her business then, not until the 1980's

but it had not been the right time. .

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Was this the real thing she wondered?  It had to be, the credentials and University were impeccable. There would be no stopping her; she had to see if what she had learned those many years ago were the ancient ways and the ancient formulas. She was not disappointed.  She knew the perfumes in Rome were the culmination of centuries old tradition of perfume-making by the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Greeks and other ancient civilizations.

 It was the day after the opening reception. She wanted to be alone to walk the museum and study each exhibit. After hours of looking it was time to depart, she bought all the information they had- the book, their samples, anything she could get her hands on to bring back to the lab to peruse. It wasn’t long before she realized how thorough her teacher had been. If she could have been with Dr. Donator and his research team she would have been in heaven rediscovering ancient perfume from Cleopatra’s work shop. She knew her teacher was smiling with her as she studied the information.

After examining the scientists’ samples she took note that they were not perfumers and really did not know how much of each ingredient was used to create the infamous scents. In other words they had just put the raw essences together and did not know how to tweak them. The book gave names of the plants and spices and herbs and all things they used thousands of years ago but those names had changed over the centuries and some were in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian writing that had not changed but required interpretation. If that wasn’t bad enough the base of the perfume was an un-ripened olive oil that was not available. It was a daunting task for our perfumer who wanted to create those heavenly scents. After two years research into locating the components of the perfumes, a scientific paper came across her desk concerning extraction of molecules from the olive that she needed (the humectants) to produce the ancient perfumes. The lab sent a sample and a representative to take a look at her curious project. It was divine, smooth as silk and no harsh scent to distract from the many layers of essences. The TCC was born. With a wink and nod to her mentor Irenecreated 4 perfumes from the 15 year study that Dr. Donato had accomplished. She chose the hardest to make and the most exotic. Long past due- her tribute to the old Egyptian Perfumer.

Fast forward to the 1990's,  From her rare opportunity to purchase incredible treasures of aromatic oils of plants and flowers and her first - hand/hands - on experiences with the Egyptian her knowledge dovetailed with the research the scientists/archeologists had discovered about Ancient Perfume. the knowledge that her teacher imparted came full circle when she created four historical, sensual, magical fragrances she calls the "Time Capsule Collection, Exotic Fragrances of the Ancient World." Irene learned early to use the best most reputable companies as her suppliers of pure absolutes and essential oils.  Her nose knows the difference between a pure essence and adulterated one thanks to her incredible experience with a master perfumer.

Looking back at that time in volatile Africa, most of the tour was a wonderful experience. They explored Agadir, Mazagan, Safi, L'Atlas to name a few points of interest in North Africa. They managed to see Pisa, Italy/ Paris, France / Naples, Greece/ Istanbul, Turkey and most ports of interest on the Mediterranean, the world had become her classroom. There were many places to live and explore and learn about perfume so from Europe, to the Orient and finally back home to Florida-Irene now creates her extraordinary perfumes for you.

In the year 2000, irene Parfums after 18 years in downtown Jacksonville, moved to "East Park Light Industrial Park" off Beach Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road when the city took her original building to make way for the expansion of the road system in downtown redevelopment area.

                                                                           Her biography can be found in Marques:          
                                                                                                           Who's  Who in America
                                                                                                           Who's Who in the World
                                                                                                           Who's Who of American Women
                                                                                                           Who's Who in Professional and Executive Women
                                                                                                   also: IBC Cambridge England
                                                                                                   International Leaders in Achievement                                                                                                                                                                                                    Affiliate member of the National Society of Cosmetic Chemists.

 

 

In April of 1989 not long after she had started to produce perfume commercially, Irene spotted a little notice in the paper “The Fragrant Past- Perfumes of Cleopatra & Julius Caesar” presented at Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, Atlanta, touted as “an innovative exhibition which documented the role perfume played in Roman life”. Orchestrated by

Prof. Giuseppe Donator- Experimental Archeologist/Scientist. 

Monique Seefried Curator of Near Eastern Art Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology

 

THE BEGINNING                                                                                                                 

Jacksonville was a thriving city long before Miami existed. It was still swampland with a foot of water over it during the 1920's. Jacksonville was a resort for the rich and famous and huge hotels lined downtown boulevards. The lovely St. John's River that flows north instead of south, made Jacksonville a thriving port city. It was during these early years of development that Jacksonville had an extensive trolley car system and ostrich races in its parks. When the train rails were built to St. Augustine, Tampa, and further south, northern clients no longer visited Jacksonville for rest and relaxation. It transformed and became the industrial center of the south with a huge train hub and port.