Today we’d like to introduce you to Ethan Turner.
Ethan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
After leaving the restaurant industry for a few months, I was looking for a new start.
That meant a new job, clothing style, new friends, and lifestyle. More than anything though, it also included looking for a new scent. I was looking for my own woody, smokey, earthy, and peaty scent but couldn’t find it from the major brands. So, as any entrepreneur does, I decided to make my own cologne.
After a friend asked me to make a fragrance as well, I saw the need for this among many men and women who would like to purchase fragrances but couldn’t find their perfect product. With a goal of creating fragrances that were personalized, luxurious, and storytelling MOI Fragrances was born.
My focus deepened into the idea of truly owning your fragrance, because it is your unique formula, and the motto “Own Your Cologne” inspired the process for everything from the bespoke experience to the marketing, sales, and referral programs.
Today, after a year of hard work and growth my vision is to democratize bespoke perfumery, tell stories and create art and technology. To date, I have developed over 250 unique formulas. I am the nose behind Senti Designs’ Eau de Parfum – Anuri A La Plage, which has been featured in publications such as Perfumer&Flavorist, AskMen, and was featured in Tempe Fashion Week.
I am also the nose behind Burnished Leather for House of David, which launched exclusively in Mexico on April 2nd, 2022. I am currently behind the scenes of two other fragrance lines for two different luxury brands, one is based in Phoenix, and the other is based in Virginia that will be launching later this summer.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The road has not been smooth, and I believe all entrepreneurs should expect the road to not be paved. Entrepreneurs are pioneers, and we forge our own paths. That means getting off the paved road to build something that you believe is more important, ushering people down that path, and fostering the community at the end of that road.
Some of the struggles that I ran into included learning how to build fragrances, initial rejection from the perfumery community, distance and isolation within my business, being a solo entrepreneur when previous ventures have included friends or family, and most importantly understanding how to control and manage my budget for the business.
Many of these things have been smoothed out and the major struggles currently have been handling the different affairs that aren’t automated yet, finding an apprentice to help increase sales and retention, and finding a reliable strategy for scaling the business with new product offerings and price increases.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
From my time as a sommelier working in restaurants, my background in tech startups, and now my adventure as a perfumer I have concluded that I am both an artist and scientist. As an artist, I am known for telling amazing stories through the sense of smell. Many people use paintings, words, drawings, and even audio or video as a storytelling platform, but I tell stories through perfume and cologne.
I create personalized fragrances for men and women that allow you to share your story and craft the perfect scent. I have created over 250 unique formulas across the world. I am self-taught with the intent on doing formal training this summer in Versailles at ISIPCA, Institut supérieur international du parfum, de la cosmétique et de l’aromatique alimentaire. I am most known currently for the two fragrances that I have launched, both of which tell different stories.
My collaboration with Phoenix-based Senti Designs to create Anuri A La Plage is one of the first things I received global press for. The fragrance launch included a unisex fragrance telling the story of worlds separated between two different coasts. Donning the name “Anuri A La Plage”, the Eau de Parfum represents the bright Joy felt at the beach. “Anuri” in Igbo, a Nigerian Language, for the word Joy. “A la plage” is French for “at the beach”.
Anuri A La Plage on initial spray expresses aquatic notes with African sweet orange, Iris, and Blueberry, that flourishes into a Madagascar Vanilla and Virginia Cedar. The fragrance is placed in blue glass, allowing one to see the ocean between two different coasts. This is not only my proudest creation, but it was Emeka, the head of Senti Designs who inspired me to start MOI when he was the first person who asked to build a fragrance for someone other than myself.
The thing that sets me apart from others is my ability to look at perfumery from both art and science. I was a sommelier, but I also owned a data company. I look at both the art of scent as a medium for telling stories, and also as a medium of measuring engagement with different smells in our environment. The other thing that sets me apart is my desire to do things differently.
Perfumery has been a very conservative and closed-off community for many years, and by creating a breakpoint in what is the norm of bespoke fragrances, I am pushing others to reconsider their branding and ideology. I have already seen new perfumer friends begin to consider bespoke production, and also seen larger brands looking deeper into scaling the technology behind their work.
My focus on the client experience, the storytelling, and my persistence to innovate always differentiate me and my business.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Like many people, I moved here from the midwest, so the weather is always a huge draw. Phoenix is constantly becoming more progressive, which is also a large bonus. I love how embracing the phoenix community is and the many subcultures that are developing in each area.
I love the luxurious and exciting parts of Scottsdale, the artistic and creativeness in phoenix, the homeliness and relaxed parts of Chandler, and the innovation and bustling growth in time. Each part of the metro area has its own thing to contribute, and it’s almost like being a citizen in the Hunger Games but all of the districts are working together to build an amazing Phoenix lifestyle.
I am a huge foodie, and food here is slowly growing, so much so that I believe soon we will attract the attention of Michelin, bringing more people to town for dining tourism.
The only thing that I feel Phoenix is missing, is a combined understanding of what it means to be a Phoenician. The city is filled with transplants (including myself), and having traveled the world and to 43 states, I feel we are missing a singular identity.
Instead, we have a cultural mosaic, which isn’t bad, but it does mean that we don’t have anyone thing that we specialize in. If someone says “have you been to phoenix” it is still difficult for me to tell them the most important thing to come and do, or what Phoenicians are known for.
Pricing:
- Bespoke Fragrance Subscription is $120 per quarter, and you receive a new fragrance each season which can be resold to friends for a commission.
- One-off Bespoke Experience is $160
- Anuri A La Plage is $100 from the Senti Designs Website.
Contact Info:
- Email: moifragrances@gmail.com
- Website: moifragrances.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/moifragrances
- Facebook: facebook.com/moifragrances
- Twitter: twitter.com/moifragrances
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqDSLTay5tlboO95WNKfktQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@passionateperfumer
Image Credits
Ethan Turner, Sai Kappagantula, Joe Feigin, and Nicholas Alexander
