Scent Alchemy

A project by Emily de Armas.

Scent Alchemy is a sensory poetry workshop that blends fragrance creation with writing to explore identity, memory, and place. In collaboration with a local perfumer, participants will craft a custom fragrance to take home using top, heart, and base notes while reflecting on the emotional and personal associations each scent carries. Drawing inspiration from the sensory landscape of Miami, participants will consider how scent can capture the feeling of a place.

After creating and naming their perfume, participants will write a poem inspired by their fragrance, reflecting on the meaning behind the notes they choose. A jasmine note, for example, may recall a family gathering or a feeling associated with life in Miami. In this way, fragrance becomes a kind of talisman — something worn not just for beauty, but as a sensory reminder of memory, culture, and personal story.

The workshop concludes with an optional sharing circle where participants spritz their fragrance and read their poems. The result is both tangible and ephemeral: a perfume participants can wear and a poem that captures the story behind it. By combining olfactory art and poetry, Scent Alchemy invites participants to experience language, memory, and identity through multiple senses.

All participants will get to take home a 60ml bottle of the fragrance they created plus a velvet carrying pouch, in addition to their choice of a 15ml travel spritz, atomizer, or lava bracelet.

Emily de Armas is a Miami-based poet, meditation guide, and creative facilitator. Her work explores mythology, symbolism, and the search for authenticity, inviting people to slow down, notice the beauty around them, and reconnect with the deeper stories that shape who they are.