We were lucky to catch up with Angela Larisch recently and have shared our conversation below.

Angela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I trained as a fine artist and designer, spending years in branding and advertising, where I combined visuals, words, space, and texture to tell stories and create experiences. When I discovered scent as a communication medium, it completely reshaped how I thought about design. It is invisible yet profoundly powerful, capable of evoking memory and shifting emotions in ways nothing visual can. It changed everything for me.

I was not drawn to perfume but to scent’s ability to shape environments and emotions. With no clear path to learn that, I studied perfumery as the closest option. I first turned to online communities like Reddit and Basenotes, but much of the advice was overly technical or uninspiring. I realized that I needed a mentor who could help me understand scent as an expressive medium.

That is when I found Mandy Aftel through her book Essence and Alchemy. She is a legendary artist in scent, and learning from her was transformative. Studying in a small group at her home in Berkeley was an experience that opened my world. She taught me the technical foundations of scent design, but more importantly, she showed me that scent is an artistic medium capable of expressing what words or images cannot.

One of the most interesting parts of my learning process was discovering that, as a visual designer, I experience scent differently than most. I see scent the way I see color: prismatic, luminous, and full of movement. My background in design deeply shapes my approach. I compose scent like a visual piece, layering it with intention, contrast, and structure. My approach is not about abandoning design to become a perfumer but integrating scent into my creative language.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a scent designer, artist, and educator creating immersive, deeply felt experiences through scent. My background in fine art and design shaped my approach to creating work that evokes memory and transforms spaces. Scent allows me to design experiences that linger long after they are encountered.

I founded my scent studio, Ceremony Design, to push the boundaries of scent beyond traditional perfumery. I collaborate with brands, artists, and spaces to create custom scent identities, immersive environments, and conceptual projects. Some notable work includes collaborating with an architect to create a conceptual installation for a London exhibition, developing a signature scent as a marketing piece for a brand, and designing an immersive multi-sensory installation room for a conference. My work has been sold in retail, used in experiential marketing, featured in fine art and architecture exhibitions, integrated into events, and explored through workshops at colleges, private events, and creative spaces.

Teaching is one of the most fulfilling aspects of my work. I’ve led public workshops at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, The Ace Hotel, Kiln Co-working, the University of Portland, and more, as well as private workshops for various groups. Some workshops focus on creating personal or ambient scents, others explore ritual scents for art-making, and some delve into natural perfumery, a specialty I developed through my mentor. Working with rare natural essences is a deep passion of mine, and I love seeing how people light up when smelling and working with these incredible materials.

What sets me apart in my own creations is my design-driven approach to scent. I think about compositions like visual design—layering with color, texture, contrast, and movement. Many scent-makers come from a chemistry background, but I approach it through the lenses of aesthetics, psychology, and storytelling. I’m most proud of carving my own path in this space, building a practice that is unconventional and personal. There was no clear roadmap for what I do, so I created it. I love how my work connects people to places, memories, and emotions in unexpected ways. For those discovering my work, I want them to see scent as more than an accessory or home good. It’s an embodied experience, a transportation device, and a story told without words. My goal is to challenge how people think about scent and open new possibilities for its use.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

At the core of my creative journey is something I call my gist; the distilled essence of why I engage with the world, the driving force that vitalizes me. From the time I was young, I wanted to create art. That impulse has always been there, an invisible thread pulling me forward.

Its something that’s incredibly hard to describe, but I believe we each have this thread. William Stafford’s poem “The Way It Is” describes it perfectly:

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die: and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

My gist, the thread I hold on to, I call “realizing beauty.” Not “beauty” in the superficial sense, but in the way my favorite philosopher Byung-Chul Han describes it: as an experience of the sublime, something that expands perception and moves us beyond ourselves. By “realizing,” I mean both perceiving and bringing something into existence, making the intangible tangible.

I choose to pursue my gist through scent because I’m endlessly fascinated by it. It is the most elusive yet deeply evocative medium, capable of moving people in ways unmatched by anything else. Scent is invisible, yet it lingers, shapes emotions, and ties us to memory and place. Its beauty is in its ephemerality, its ability to transform perception without demanding to be seen. That’s what drives my work. Following my thread, realizing beauty, and using scent to create experiences that shift something in the people who encounter them.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

For a long time, I thought that if I was serious about my craft, the only correct path was to treat it like a business venture; structured, scalable, and optimized for growth. Early on, I spent so much time figuring out sourcing, refining a business model, and planning for scale that I was not creating as much as I wanted. I thought I needed to have all those pieces in place before I could move forward, but instead, it left me feeling devitalized and stuck.

At a certain point, I realized I was spending more time trying to set up a business than engaging in the creative work itself. The pressure to build it the right way kept me from simply doing the work, experimenting, refining, and exploring what I actually wanted to make. This prompted me to reconsider why I was engaging in this practice in the first place, and I realized I am a maker at heart, not a business person.

What I had to unlearn was the idea that only scale equals legitimacy. While I respect those who pursue growth, I realized that I did not need to turn this into a big business for my work to have the impact I desired. Once I let go of that pressure, I approached it as both a personal practice and a small business, but in a way that felt sustainable rather than forced. I chose to find separate work so that my creative practice does not have to carry the full financial weight. This allows me to focus on craft over commerce, depth over scale, and making over marketing.

For me, success is not about constant expansion. It is about keeping the work alive, continuing to create, and building something that sustains itself not just financially, but creatively.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ceremonydesign.com
• Instagram: @thespritzlife