17 August 2011

Dear Dawn

I appreciate your work!

When I compose a blend for my products I use only 100% natural (to the best of my knowledge) aromatics. Ironically two independent perfumers I really admire work with both naturals and synthetics: Dawn Spencer-Hurwitz and Liz Zorn. It's not just about their perfumes either, although they make beautiful compositions. It's about their attitudes. Their character. I don't know either of them personally and I've only gotten a glimpse into their worlds via blogs. Still...I admire them. 

Over the past two days a very unfortunate situation was played out publicly between Dawn and The Natural Perfumers Guild.  In a nutshell, Dawn's membership in the guild was terminated. A member in good standing it was a bit of a shock to read this when it was posted on Anya McCoy's (president of NPG) blog and NPG's Facebook page. Dawn also made the announcement herself on the DSH Perfume Facebook page. After reading I was a bit bummed at Dawn's leaving the guild then it hit me: terminated. What could have gone on? It's seems as though there were complaints about Dawn's website not following the guild code. Dawn's response can be read HERE. What I find unfortunate is that this whole situation could have been played out in a much better way. Basically, it's all a matter of respect. Person to person. Professional to professional. 


This is of course my opinion.

1. (concerning one of the complaints) When visiting the DSH website I never had a problem knowing which perfumes were all natural and which were blended.

2. (concerning another complaint) Since I already knew Dawn was a guild member I never paid much attention to where the logo was on site.

Dawn is a fabulous perfumer and there is no doubt that her success will continue. :^)


4 comments:

Libby said...

Sounds very unfortunate. But, I'm sure that her success will continue despite this setback. I think we all have lessons to learn in how situations are handled for the good of all involved.

anyasgarden said...

Lisa, what a nice, balanced view of this. The Guild posted nothing, nothing at all until we found out that we were being slandered in a sort of hate campaign. I am singled out, but there were three on the committee, it was not my doing, it was democracy in action. I won't rehash anything else here, we'll just let it be. I know you're reading the posts in the Guild Yahoo group, and those are the people I work for, and their opinions count the most.

Lisa Abdul-Quddus said...

Libby,

I believe Dawn will continue to be successful. And yes, there are many lessons to be learned. It's a continuing process.

Lisa Abdul-Quddus said...

Anya,

I try not to get too involved in situations like this but this time around I felt I should say something. And to be fair I posted about my own reaction because I don't know the whole story and it would be irresponsible of me to post otherwise. I just hope over time any wounds heal.