Scents and sensibility

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/05/2022 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KELSEY JAMES

STAFF REPORTER

EXCHANGE DISTRICT

An Exchange District business is helping customers create their signature scent.

Denatured Lab, located at 73 Princess St., is an open-access perfume lab, olfactory workshop space and lifestyle boutique that specializes in personalized perfume.

Owner and in-house perfumer Tom Janzen, previously of popular local candle company Coal and Canary, was chosen as one of 12 people across the world to study in an intensive perfumer training program in Grasse, France, also known as the “perfume capital of the world.”

“We’re the only open-access perfume lab in North America,” Janzen said. “Rather than going to the department store once a year to buy perfume, you can interact with the fragrance in a few different ways. The goal is to make fragrance more accessible.”

Denatured Lab carries about 600 fragrance ingredients, ranging from notes of sweet sugar to soft, earthy tones. It’s most popular service, custom perfume creation sessions, allows customers leave with a personalized full-sized and travel-sized perfume. The 90-minute, hands-on experience starts at $125.

Open studio sessions, starting at $25 per hour, offer customers a chance to work independently with Denatured Lab’s full selection of perfumery ingredients. It’s a self-directed experience, but a perfumer will be on-site to answer questions.

After working in London where he helped develop an online perfumery course, Janzen returned to Winnipeg and opened Denatured Lab at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I came back to nothing — I had sold my place, sold my car, sold my furniture and had no job,” Janzen said. ”It was never the right time, but then COVID forced it to be the right time.”

Aside from workshops, Denatured Lab also carries its own fragrance line, make custom fragrances and stocks products and home goods new to Winnipeg.

For more information, visit www.denaturedlab.com