Welcome to the botanical perfumery that seeks to elevate, educate and emulate the incredible inspirations of Giovanni Maria Farina, the most famous botanical perfumer this world has ever known.
At the forefront, Ampersand has always strived to be a transparent company in its ingredients and sourcing methods. The company was first founded in 2020 by Michelle Johnson, a French Aromatherapist and Botanical Perfumer.
Her inspiration began when she experienced essential oils firsthand during a yoga retreat in Florida, USA. The grounding and mesmerizing properties of Frankincense captivated not only her senses, but her mind. She wanted to create a company that truly understood and was dedicated to the best ingredients the world had to offer, and to rid the world of synthetic alternatives.
Her immense faith strengthened her when she lost her job unexpectedly during a long and strenuous pregnancy during one of the worst pandemics the world has ever seen - COVID 19. Her dedication and pursuit of providing for her family motivated her to open Ampersand as she pursued education first in Aromatherapy, and then later on in Natural Perfumery.
The vision of Ampersand is to bring luxury ingredients to the forefront of the perfume industry, as the movement for cheaper fragrance to appease the affordability of the mass market has dropped the quality significantly since the 1960's.
Through close-knit partnerships with small farmers, we are able to obtain some of the most pure ingredients imaginable. We choose the farmers we have because they grow, harvest and distill on their own land in historically native locations, thus producing more chemically pure oils, as proven by clinical studies.
To further increase transparency, we are proud to share who we obtain our ingredients from; these small farmers are the lifeblood of our company, and just as Giovanni referenced in his writings what inspired his scents, we are happy to do the same.
Every single farmer provides us with support, love and dedication as we carefully hand-blend every single scent we showcase on our website. Know that these scents are not just blends - they are our livelihood and our passion. Our creative outpouring and a hint into our minds.
If you are interested in seeing purity reports, we provide a link at the bottom of our website for you to see. All of our ingredients are Fair Trade and Organic certified, all obtained through our farmers.
We love our farmers dearly and would love to share them with you. So, what are you waiting for? Meet them below.