Two years ago, Fabienne Christenson had an idea to become a perfumer and began working toward that goal out of her studio at the Pendleton Art Center. In that short time, her company, Possets, has grown to be an international supplier of fragrance, with customers around the globe, selling to two retail outlets in the United Kingdom and eight in the United States.
Christenson took the usual models for marketing and making perfume and threw them out the window, coming up with innovative products that have a distinctly Cincinnati feel. She started with a blend called Cambienne, a fragrance that changes about as often as Cincinnati weather -- cold and wet smelling in the winter, changing to floral in the spring, hot and green in the summer. There are several other seasonal blends and many of them use Cincinnati as inspiration. Ault Park, for example, is described as "a magnificent floral which gives the impression of a well-tended urban park in the midst of its full bloom."
The Possets Web site is the primary place where the fragrances are bought. In addition to ordering, visitors can join a join a customer forum or read Fabienne's blog.