The Perfume Making Podcast

The Art of Weaving Time - Crafting Order from Chaos

The Perfume Making Podcast

Show Notes

After a well-deserved break, which was extended by a week, Karen is back. During her time off she took part in ‘Hampshire Open Studios’, a scheme where artists across Hampshire open up their workshops to the public. Karen decided to run a pop-up perfume bar and actually learned a lot. She also had a lot of downtime and was able to reflect on its importance. So, in this week's episode, Karen is sharing her learnings from both these events and her overall message of creating a healthy work life balance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Karen is used to teaching people who want to learn about perfume. What she discovered with the pop-up bar is that most of the people visiting were there out of curiosity. She shares how you can adapt your offering to this type of customer.

One thing Karen noticed is that there was a huge inconsistency with the number of people who visited and the length of time they spent in the studio. She gives suggestions on how you can make the most of this.

Ideas come thick and fast when you're creative, and most times we feel the need to act on them straight away. However, this just leads to burnout. Karen gives her top tips on how to manage your ideas in a time-friendly manner.

On top of the ideas you generate for your business, there are also the creative projects that you want to do for yourself, which are equally important. Karen discusses how to make that all important ‘time for yourself.’

BEST MOMENTS

“If you’re considering doing a pop up, be clear about whether you’re there to entertain or educate.”

“The more you step away from your ‘day to day’ the more creative you become and the more ideas you have.”

“The idea of running your own business is to love what you do and really immerse yourself in it.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Getting Started Guide

Artisan Perfumery Mastermind

ABOUT THE HOST

Fragrance expert, author, teacher and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way.

Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances.

With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques.

Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing.

CONTACT DETAILS

Website

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Email

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

More from The Perfume Making Podcast

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Dec 14, 2025

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