We had the good fortune of connecting with Maurice Laurent and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Maurice, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
A few years ago I had a dream that I was being honored for a perfume I had created. I remember I was at a gala but much of the rest of the dream is blurry, except for one thing. When I woke up I remembered every aspect of the perfume – the top, middle, and base notes, what the smell evoked, even the name. So I went online and tried to figure out “how do you make a perfume?” I thought that all perfumers were from France, and were hand picked by some perfume house because they showed exceptional “nose” skills. What I discovered was a whole world of DIY perfumers, niche perfume houses and tons of online blogs and podcasts dedicated to perfumery. So I researched and studied on my own, bought some aroma chemicals and essential oils and just played. Just had fun! I discovered that I really enjoyed it.
Skip forward a year or so, we were well into the pandemic, my friend Tammie and I talked about taking a soap making class online. We could order everything through Amazon, sign up and get to it. I immediately thought…well I have created several scents that I could use (not really knowing if this was true and they could be used in soap making.) One thing led to another and we never got to take the class. A year and a half into studying perfumery and I was able to take an in-person class at Mile High Soap with the master soaper and teacher, Laurie Teason. She had never made a soap using a raw perfume before but like me she was not afraid to try. We created my first soap, using one of the first perfumes I have ever created, To The Morning – a mimosa, magnolia, iris, wet cement, cypress scent I created remembering my southern grandmother, Martha “Noonie” Laurent Becnel. Laurie was, and is to this day, a mentor, a sounding board, and on that day was just so encouraging – and my business was born. It was not born from a business plan, or a necessity but out of creativity and nurturing.
P.S. I still have not created the perfume from my dream but To The Morning is almost it.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been a painter for much of my adult life, specializing in abstract art and creating very colorful human-like animal portraits of people’s pets. I tend to see everything in color, in contrasts of color, in emotional awareness of colors and soap making has many of the same aspects/qualities for me.
Soap is a practical thing, of course, but it is also a beautiful expression of raw materials. There are so many additives for color, for scent, and endless textures. Why should soap simply be there to clean you when it can brighten your morning, fill your head with clarifying scents? When I set about with an idea for a soap one of my first thoughts is usually around a raw material and it grows from there. What can this soap do, what benefits could it have, how does it want to look?
As an example, I wanted to create a soap that was so gentle but also aided with inflammation, and would work (especially) for people with sensitive skin, So I researched many herbs, root vegetables and landed on a simple old fashioned tallow based soap recipe with the addition of organic turmeric pulp and powder and organic aloe vera and aloe vera juice. I sold a few bars at the market and word got out somehow. I had people requesting the soap so I had to make another batch. I then received feedback/requests from several people asking if it could be even creamier, if that was possible? Possible…don’t challenge me! So I refined the recipe to make it more sudsy, creamy and upped the turmeric and aloe. There is no fragrance/scent and it is a rather ugly boring color, however, it is a fantastic soap and I cannot keep up with the demand for this soap. I think I am on batch 4 or 5 right now.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I moved here 30 years ago from New York City and I remember what a contrast that was, and it still is. Colorado is most certainly an outdoors state. That said, we have a world class, destination museum and I always take my friends to the Denver Art Museum, the DAM!. Just driving up to it is an experience. There are other museums too but nothing beats the DAM.
Then we head outdoors. One of my favorite places is Red Feather Lakes and the Drala Mountain Buddhist Center – it is simply breathtaking to visit. On the way back, we might stop in at my friends ceramic studio in Erie, Wellington Pottery Studio. Tammy loves teaching, and we would probably have a glass of prosecco, glaze a little piece of pottery (which she will fire and ship off to my friends later) and then maybe we head over to Boulder for a stroll on Pearl Street.
Denver also has some of the prettiest parks all within the service of our incredible metro system – Cheeseman Park, Wash Park, Sloans Lake, City Park…nothing beats walking the city to see these incredible parks. City Park is a real treasure and borders one of the best neighborhoods in Denver, Park Hill. Park Hill has some really interesting restaurants and just gorgeous streets to stroll around. Having moved here from NYC, I completely appreciate our RTD system. I know it has challenges but it is also a great system that is very well planned out. It is greatly underrated in my view.
Then of course there is the massive landscape of food in Denver and the surrounding area. What are you up for? Pho, Thai, Italian, Indian, Mexican, Korean BBQ, Steak, wild game??….Denver has it all. Or maybe, depending on the time of year, we just come back to my place for some homemade gumbo with smoked andouille sausage from Oliver’s Meat Market on 6th Avenue…IMHO the best butcher in Denver.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Oh there are so many but one does stand out for me, and it is not so much a quote as a question. When I moved to Denver, I met a wonderful woman who would remain my close friend for 30+ years. She passed away this year, her wisdom and “Lori’isms” are with me all the time. We were getting to know each other, having a blue cheese martini at Avenue Grill, and she was telling me about being adopted, about her parents, how much she loved them and never “felt” adopted. She asked me about my parents, and I told her they had never really been supportive, always doubting me and that I always wanted to be a creative but they kiboshed it because that’s not a real career! Lori said to me “Moses (I had lots of nicknames from Lori) you should paint something because they don’t believe in it…just f^*k them! I promise you it will give you such a release.”
I went home that very weekend and cleared a spot in my basement and just started painting, drawing, creating. It was crap at first but what came out of it was this new spirit in me that I should try whatever I wanted to try…this insane curiosity that I had as a kid was somehow reawakening. It was a liberating time for me.
Years later, I saw an Oprah special with Diane Sawyer and she said, and I am paraphrasing, “the most successful people are the curious people.” Lori helped to unbury my inner curious child, and my path since has never been the same. I miss being able to pick up the phone and bounce any idea off Lori and getting her unique perspective on anything…on life in general.
Website: https://maurice-laurent-scent-llc.square.site/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mauricelaurentscent/
Image Credits
Photos taken by Jonathan Gutierrez and Maurice Becnel