It seems fitting that I would meet with Anita Kalnay on a day when the autumn air is ripe with the aroma of changing seasons. I take a deep breath to savor the scent of ripe apples, healing
cedar, prostate
wet leaves and other fragrances of fall, and then settle down to chat with this woman of many talents. In addition to being a perfume-maker, Kalnay has a university degree in recreation administration. She is also a certified aromatherapist, reflexologist and yoga instructor.
To be perfectly honest, I never knew that the art of perfume making, which combines artistic talent and intuition with scientific knowledge, existed outside of laboratories in perhaps Paris or New York. But here I am, sitting on a deck in Courtenay, chatting with a woman who creates award-winning perfumes in a modest laboratory in the corner of her kitchen!
Personally, I am allergic to store-bought perfume, so I asked Kalnay why she makes perfume. Is there a market for fragrances when many public places—such as churches and theatres—are now mandated as ‘Scent Free?’
“I am actually allergic to synthetic perfumes, too!” says Kalnay. “Natural perfumes are different. For the most part, I work with 100 per cent natural plant-based ingredients that are blended with a small amount of organic alcohol or jojoba oil. I guess you could say I am like a vegan perfumer. Most people who can’t wear synthetic perfume are fine with these botanical blends. They smell nice and they can even have a ‘remedy’ effect. Often, they are so subtle that only the person wearing it can detect the scent.”
Kalnay’s natural perfume line is marketed under the name Flying Colors: Genie in a Bottle and it is, she says, “Inspired by nature.”
Her unique botanical blends are produced by painstakingly calculating the perfect combination of all-natural (no synthetic) ingredients, counting minuscule drop by drop, inhaling deeply, pausing for thought, and then adding a little more of this or that, until it is perfect. “My nose knows when I get the fragrance ‘just right’,” says Kalnay. “There is a lot of technical skill and accurate note-taking—as well as sniffing—involved in the perfume-making process.”
Inspiration for each individual perfume usually comes from personal life experiences. A stroll through a forest near Cumberland, for example, resulted in the creation of a fragrance called Cumberland: Wild Forest Apple and Spearmint. Mountain biking at breakneck speed through the warm, dry forests of Oregon inspired her to create Hood River. A quote by iconic actress Mae West—“I generally avoid temptation… unless I can’t resist it”—resulted in a coconut-scented massoia, tuberose, and chocolate perfume called VVAVOOM! (It will be officially released with her spring 2012 White Floral collection.)
The raw materials to create these perfumes are very expensive. As a result, the finished product may be pricier than some nationally branded synthetic perfumes. To keep costs in check—and because ‘a little dab will do ya!’—Flying Colors perfumes are packaged in smaller bottle sizes. The cost of a 4.5 ml roll-on is about $60. In addition to her signature blends, she also customizes fragrances for individual clients.
While I am impressed by the imaginative names and descriptions of her product line, as well as the professionalism and creativity of her promotional materials, I still wanted to know how one becomes a professional perfumer.
Kalnay smiles and explains that her grandmother was a professional wine taster in southern France. Fragrance, of course, plays an important role in wine tasting. Maybe there is a genetic connection?
“But the real reason I ended up becoming a perfumer, and acquiring such a unique range of skills, was because my husband, Chris, and I have spent much of the past 20 years living in very isolated places. I had a choice—keep busy or go crazy! I chose the path of educational enrichment!”
She laughs. “It’s quite a story… how much time do you have?”
After graduating from the University of Alberta in 1981, this native of Swift Currant, Saskatchewan, got her first real job teaching outdoor education at a junior high school in Fort McMurray, Alberta. It was where she met Chris, also a teacher. They married in 1984.
In 1990, Chris accepted a position at a private school in Kemano, BC. The remote town of only 350 people existed solely for the purpose of housing the families of people who worked for Alcan Hydro and was located two hours south of Kitamat. It could be accessed only by boat or helicopter.
“We thought this would be a good place to live for a couple of years and save some money,” says Kalnay. “In hindsight, I guess we didn’t pay much attention when they told us that supplies were only brought in twice a week and that a trip ‘to town’ and back would be a 24-hour turnaround! When you combine living in the shadows of towering mountains with over 1200-centimetres of annual precipitation, you seldom see the sun. The average length of time most people could stand living there was three years. We stayed for 10.”
While Chris taught school, Anita made every effort to keep busy. She drove a frontend loader in the winter and worked alongside a master gardener in the local greenhouse in the summer. With her background in recreation administration, she served as a volunteer to help plan recreation activities for the community.
“Working with the gardener for two years was a great experience for me,” says Kalnay. “It helped me move beyond being an intellectual to become more grounded. It awakened in me a desire to nurture my creativity, and I began to expand my interests.”
During breaks from the solitude of Kemano, Kalnay attended as many continuing education classes as she could, including an art therapy class in Victoria. While living in Kemano, she took distance-learning courses through the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. She studied reflexology, aromatherapy, metaphysics and more. A friend taught her to quilt and, while she found all the straight lines and precision of quilting “a little anal for me,” she did learn that she loved working with fabric. To elevate her mood during the long, dark days of a Kemano fall and winter, Kalnay crafted with fabric, using bright colors, aromatherapy, and lots of fluorescent lighting to keep her motivated.
In 1993, Kalnay secured a grant from the Terrace Community Futures Program. The grant enabled her to market a line of one-of-a-kind sweatshirts created with fabric she had hand-dyed in her basement. She marketed them under her own label: Flying Colors – Let your imagination fly! Her shirts were sold through local markets and she became known as the ‘Flying Colors Lady.’
Eventually, the people of Kemano learned that Kalnay could perform aromatherapy and reflexology treatments, so she started doing that, as well. When they asked for massages, she took some courses and then added massage to her repertoire of services. She soon learned that, in addition to body treatments, she became a confidant. “These people were stressed and needed a massage or reflexology treatment and someone to listen to them with an open heart. I felt privileged to be able to be there for them.”
In 1999, the residents of Kemano were informed that the town was going to be completely shut down. Of the 80 homes there, 10 were moved, four were left standing, and the remainder were used by BC firefighters for ‘practice’ and they were burned to the ground. The closure of this town was so significant that Canadian Geographic Magazine did a feature story on it.
In 2000, the Kalnays moved to Gabriola Island. They spent the next year building a log home while Chris looked for work. Kalnay started a massage/reflexology/aromatherapy business in a yurt—and by now had added hot stone massage to the mix—still continuing to peruse advanced education, focusing now on aromatherapy.
Kalnay was consumed with learning more about the use of various essential oils as a complement to other alternative health services. She learned that ‘scent’ could be used to relieve stress, enhance mood, improve sleep, boost the immune system and much more. She traveled to Washington and earned a diploma in the holistic science of Spiritual PhytoEssencing, which is based on an interface of aromatherapy, herbal medicine, physiology, homeopathy and other natural healing modalities. She is one of only six people in the world to have received this level of accreditation. She also studied under international aromatic consultant Michael Scholes of LabofFlowers.com and organic chemist Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy in California. Somehow, she also found the time (and energy) to become certified as a Kundalina Yoga instructor. This style of yoga is designed to strengthen the neuro-endocrine system, ‘exercise your potential,’ and increase self-awareness through meditation.
In the meantime, Chris’ efforts to secure a teaching post on Gabriola Island had not been successful, so he began looking elsewhere. “He applied for a job in Alert Bay and got it. At the time, we didn’t even know where it was on the map!” recalls Kalnay with a laugh.
The couple sold their island home, packed up and, in 2004, moved north to the rugged coast of British Columbia. This time, they were able to make regular escapes from the solitude of a small town and they traveled to the Comox Valley almost every second weekend to ski and enjoy many of the other recreational activities offered here.
Anita rented a storefront location in Alert Bay and, for the next four years, operated a successful aromatherapy, reflexology and massage business. She also offered yoga classes out of space donated to her by the local Family Resource Centre.
In Alert Bay she got serious about mixing personal essential oils blends for clients. She started another division of her Flying Colors brand and called it Genie in a Bottle. In 2007, one of her spiritual teachers said to Kalnay: “You are only operating from one per cent of your full potential.”
Kalnay tells me this just as I am taking a long sip of herbal tea. This seems so absurd I almost choke on my tea. I was still trying to figure out when this woman had time to sleep. Surely this ‘teacher’ had to be kidding.
“Seriously! That’s what he told me,” Kalnay replies, then pauses. She takes a sip of her tea and then continues: “Anyway, I did some soul searching and decided to take my business to the next level. I signed up to apprentice under Vancouver-based Ayala Moriel Parfums, an Israeli artisan perfumer dedicated to the art of natural perfumery. For the next three years, I traveled to Vancouver once a month to learn from her.”
In 2009, Chris was offered a teaching job on Cortes Island. They bought some property there and, while Chris commuted from Cortes, Anita continued building a life (and her business) in the Comox Valley. Along with her friend and colleague, Sandra Shotton, she also opened an Ayurvedic Spa in Nanaimo at Island Yoga Vista. She spends one week a month in Nanaimo giving ‘intuitive’ massage treatments, which use herbal-infused massage oils from India.
In 2010, during her final year of internship, Kalnay produced a line of artisan perfumes called the Flying Colors Muse Collection. This past summer she was one of several perfumers from five countries who accepted a challenge to create a new blend in a ‘soli-flore”—a single-scent perfume. Another Canadian perfumer, Lyn Ayre, of Coeur d’Esprit Natural Perfumes, sponsored the contest. Kalnay’s wild azalea blend she labeled as Kokoro—inspired by a visit to the Mount Shasta region of Northern California—took top honors.
“I am very grateful to Lyn for opening me up to the ‘world’ of perfuming and encouraging me to enter challenges such as hers,” says Kalnay. “The entire fragrance industry is based on responding creatively to ‘briefs’ that poetically describe the needs of the clients. So, perfumers can’t shy away from competitions and the artistic challenges they bestow. As a result of my success in this competition, I have now been invited to participate in a ‘top secret’ international challenge in 2012.”
It has been a long and sweet-smelling journey, but it is time to let this ‘genie’ out of the bottle! Flying Colors: Genie in a Bottle now boasts a product line of more than a dozen blends and Kalnay has been busy creating her 2012 spring collection, as well as developing marketing materials, building her website, and promoting her natural perfumes. As a result of her diligent efforts, Flying Colors perfumes are catching the attention of natural perfume aficionados across North America, putting both Kalnay, and the Comox Valley, in the spotlight.
For more information call 250.650.1204 or visit: www.genieinabottle.ca
It seems fitting that I would meet with Anita Kalnay on a day when the autumn air is ripe with the aroma of changing seasons. I take a deep breath to savor the scent of ripe apples, more
cedar, remedy
wet leaves and other fragrances of fall, and then settle down to chat with this woman of many talents. In addition to being a perfume-maker, Kalnay has a university degree in recreation administration. She is also a certified aromatherapist, reflexologist and yoga instructor.
To be perfectly honest, I never knew that the art of perfume making, which combines artistic talent and intuition with scientific knowledge, existed outside of laboratories in perhaps Paris or New York. But here I am, sitting on a deck in Courtenay, chatting with a woman who creates award-winning perfumes in a modest laboratory in the corner of her kitchen!
Personally, I am allergic to store-bought perfume, so I asked Kalnay why she makes perfume. Is there a market for fragrances when many public places—such as churches and theatres—are now mandated as ‘Scent Free?’
“I am actually allergic to synthetic perfumes, too!” says Kalnay. “Natural perfumes are different. For the most part, I work with 100 per cent natural plant-based ingredients that are blended with a small amount of organic alcohol or jojoba oil. I guess you could say I am like a vegan perfumer. Most people who can’t wear synthetic perfume are fine with these botanical blends. They smell nice and they can even have a ‘remedy’ effect. Often, they are so subtle that only the person wearing it can detect the scent.”
Kalnay’s natural perfume line is marketed under the name Flying Colors: Genie in a Bottle and it is, she says, “Inspired by nature.”
Her unique botanical blends are produced by painstakingly calculating the perfect combination of all-natural (no synthetic) ingredients, counting minuscule drop by drop, inhaling deeply, pausing for thought, and then adding a little more of this or that, until it is perfect. “My nose knows when I get the fragrance ‘just right’,” says Kalnay. “There is a lot of technical skill and accurate note-taking—as well as sniffing—involved in the perfume-making process.”
Inspiration for each individual perfume usually comes from personal life experiences. A stroll through a forest near Cumberland, for example, resulted in the creation of a fragrance called Cumberland: Wild Forest Apple and Spearmint. Mountain biking at breakneck speed through the warm, dry forests of Oregon inspired her to create Hood River. A quote by iconic actress Mae West—“I generally avoid temptation… unless I can’t resist it”—resulted in a coconut-scented massoia, tuberose, and chocolate perfume called VVAVOOM! (It will be officially released with her spring 2012 White Floral collection.)
The raw materials to create these perfumes are very expensive. As a result, the finished product may be pricier than some nationally branded synthetic perfumes. To keep costs in check—and because ‘a little dab will do ya!’—Flying Colors perfumes are packaged in smaller bottle sizes. The cost of a 4.5 ml roll-on is about $60. In addition to her signature blends, she also customizes fragrances for individual clients.
While I am impressed by the imaginative names and descriptions of her product line, as well as the professionalism and creativity of her promotional materials, I still wanted to know how one becomes a professional perfumer.
Kalnay smiles and explains that her grandmother was a professional wine taster in southern France. Fragrance, of course, plays an important role in wine tasting. Maybe there is a genetic connection?
“But the real reason I ended up becoming a perfumer, and acquiring such a unique range of skills, was because my husband, Chris, and I have spent much of the past 20 years living in very isolated places. I had a choice—keep busy or go crazy! I chose the path of educational enrichment!”
She laughs. “It’s quite a story… how much time do you have?”
After graduating from the University of Alberta in 1981, this native of Swift Currant, Saskatchewan, got her first real job teaching outdoor education at a junior high school in Fort McMurray, Alberta. It was where she met Chris, also a teacher. They married in 1984.
In 1990, Chris accepted a position at a private school in Kemano, BC. The remote town of only 350 people existed solely for the purpose of housing the families of people who worked for Alcan Hydro and was located two hours south of Kitamat. It could be accessed only by boat or helicopter.
“We thought this would be a good place to live for a couple of years and save some money,” says Kalnay. “In hindsight, I guess we didn’t pay much attention when they told us that supplies were only brought in twice a week and that a trip ‘to town’ and back would be a 24-hour turnaround! When you combine living in the shadows of towering mountains with over 1200-centimetres of annual precipitation, you seldom see the sun. The average length of time most people could stand living there was three years. We stayed for 10.”
While Chris taught school, Anita made every effort to keep busy. She drove a frontend loader in the winter and worked alongside a master gardener in the local greenhouse in the summer. With her background in recreation administration, she served as a volunteer to help plan recreation activities for the community.
“Working with the gardener for two years was a great experience for me,” says Kalnay. “It helped me move beyond being an intellectual to become more grounded. It awakened in me a desire to nurture my creativity, and I began to expand my interests.”
During breaks from the solitude of Kemano, Kalnay attended as many continuing education classes as she could, including an art therapy class in Victoria. While living in Kemano, she took distance-learning courses through the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. She studied reflexology, aromatherapy, metaphysics and more. A friend taught her to quilt and, while she found all the straight lines and precision of quilting “a little anal for me,” she did learn that she loved working with fabric. To elevate her mood during the long, dark days of a Kemano fall and winter, Kalnay crafted with fabric, using bright colors, aromatherapy, and lots of fluorescent lighting to keep her motivated.
In 1993, Kalnay secured a grant from the Terrace Community Futures Program. The grant enabled her to market a line of one-of-a-kind sweatshirts created with fabric she had hand-dyed in her basement. She marketed them under her own label: Flying Colors – Let your imagination fly! Her shirts were sold through local markets and she became known as the ‘Flying Colors Lady.’
Eventually, the people of Kemano learned that Kalnay could perform aromatherapy and reflexology treatments, so she started doing that, as well. When they asked for massages, she took some courses and then added massage to her repertoire of services. She soon learned that, in addition to body treatments, she became a confidant. “These people were stressed and needed a massage or reflexology treatment and someone to listen to them with an open heart. I felt privileged to be able to be there for them.”
In 1999, the residents of Kemano were informed that the town was going to be completely shut down. Of the 80 homes there, 10 were moved, four were left standing, and the remainder were used by BC firefighters for ‘practice’ and they were burned to the ground. The closure of this town was so significant that Canadian Geographic Magazine did a feature story on it.
In 2000, the Kalnays moved to Gabriola Island. They spent the next year building a log home while Chris looked for work. Kalnay started a massage/reflexology/aromatherapy business in a yurt—and by now had added hot stone massage to the mix—still continuing to peruse advanced education, focusing now on aromatherapy.
Kalnay was consumed with learning more about the use of various essential oils as a complement to other alternative health services. She learned that ‘scent’ could be used to relieve stress, enhance mood, improve sleep, boost the immune system and much more. She traveled to Washington and earned a diploma in the holistic science of Spiritual PhytoEssencing, which is based on an interface of aromatherapy, herbal medicine, physiology, homeopathy and other natural healing modalities. She is one of only six people in the world to have received this level of accreditation. She also studied under international aromatic consultant Michael Scholes of LabofFlowers.com and organic chemist Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy in California. Somehow, she also found the time (and energy) to become certified as a Kundalina Yoga instructor. This style of yoga is designed to strengthen the neuro-endocrine system, ‘exercise your potential,’ and increase self-awareness through meditation.
In the meantime, Chris’ efforts to secure a teaching post on Gabriola Island had not been successful, so he began looking elsewhere. “He applied for a job in Alert Bay and got it. At the time, we didn’t even know where it was on the map!” recalls Kalnay with a laugh.
The couple sold their island home, packed up and, in 2004, moved north to the rugged coast of British Columbia. This time, they were able to make regular escapes from the solitude of a small town and they traveled to the Comox Valley almost every second weekend to ski and enjoy many of the other recreational activities offered here.
Anita rented a storefront location in Alert Bay and, for the next four years, operated a successful aromatherapy, reflexology and massage business. She also offered yoga classes out of space donated to her by the local Family Resource Centre.
In Alert Bay she got serious about mixing personal essential oils blends for clients. She started another division of her Flying Colors brand and called it Genie in a Bottle. In 2007, one of her spiritual teachers said to Kalnay: “You are only operating from one per cent of your full potential.”
Kalnay tells me this just as I am taking a long sip of herbal tea. This seems so absurd I almost choke on my tea. I was still trying to figure out when this woman had time to sleep. Surely this ‘teacher’ had to be kidding.
“Seriously! That’s what he told me,” Kalnay replies, then pauses. She takes a sip of her tea and then continues: “Anyway, I did some soul searching and decided to take my business to the next level. I signed up to apprentice under Vancouver-based Ayala Moriel Parfums, an Israeli artisan perfumer dedicated to the art of natural perfumery. For the next three years, I traveled to Vancouver once a month to learn from her.”
In 2009, Chris was offered a teaching job on Cortes Island. They bought some property there and, while Chris commuted from Cortes, Anita continued building a life (and her business) in the Comox Valley. Along with her friend and colleague, Sandra Shotton, she also opened an Ayurvedic Spa in Nanaimo at Island Yoga Vista. She spends one week a month in Nanaimo giving ‘intuitive’ massage treatments, which use herbal-infused massage oils from India.
In 2010, during her final year of internship, Kalnay produced a line of artisan perfumes called the Flying Colors Muse Collection. This past summer she was one of several perfumers from five countries who accepted a challenge to create a new blend in a ‘soli-flore”—a single-scent perfume. Another Canadian perfumer, Lyn Ayre, of Coeur d’Esprit Natural Perfumes, sponsored the contest. Kalnay’s wild azalea blend she labeled as Kokoro—inspired by a visit to the Mount Shasta region of Northern California—took top honors.
“I am very grateful to Lyn for opening me up to the ‘world’ of perfuming and encouraging me to enter challenges such as hers,” says Kalnay. “The entire fragrance industry is based on responding creatively to ‘briefs’ that poetically describe the needs of the clients. So, perfumers can’t shy away from competitions and the artistic challenges they bestow. As a result of my success in this competition, I have now been invited to participate in a ‘top secret’ international challenge in 2012.”
It has been a long and sweet-smelling journey, but it is time to let this ‘genie’ out of the bottle! Flying Colors: Genie in a Bottle now boasts a product line of more than a dozen blends and Kalnay has been busy creating her 2012 spring collection, as well as developing marketing materials, building her website, and promoting her natural perfumes. As a result of her diligent efforts, Flying Colors perfumes are catching the attention of natural perfume aficionados across North America, putting both Kalnay, and the Comox Valley, in the spotlight.
For more information call 250.650.1204 or visit: www.genieinabottle.ca
It seems fitting that I would meet with Anita Kalnay on a day when the autumn air is ripe with the aroma of changing seasons. I take a deep breath to savor the scent of ripe apples, medicine
cedar, purchase wet leaves and other fragrances of fall, and then settle down to chat with this woman of many talents. In addition to being a perfume-maker, Kalnay has a university degree in recreation administration. She is also a certified aromatherapist, reflexologist and yoga instructor.
To be perfectly honest, I never knew that the art of perfume making, which combines artistic talent and intuition with scientific knowledge, existed outside of laboratories in perhaps Paris or New York. But here I am, sitting on a deck in Courtenay, chatting with a woman who creates award-winning perfumes in a modest laboratory in the corner of her kitchen!
Personally, I am allergic to store-bought perfume, so I asked Kalnay why she makes perfume. Is there a market for fragrances when many public places—such as churches and theatres—are now mandated as ‘Scent Free?’
“I am actually allergic to synthetic perfumes, too!” says Kalnay. “Natural perfumes are different. For the most part, I work with 100 per cent natural plant-based ingredients that are blended with a small amount of organic alcohol or jojoba oil. I guess you could say I am like a vegan perfumer. Most people who can’t wear synthetic perfume are fine with these botanical blends. They smell nice and they can even have a ‘remedy’ effect. Often, they are so subtle that only the person wearing it can detect the scent.”
Kalnay’s natural perfume line is marketed under the name Flying Colors: Genie in a Bottle and it is, she says, “Inspired by nature.”
Her unique botanical blends are produced by painstakingly calculating the perfect combination of all-natural (no synthetic) ingredients, counting minuscule drop by drop, inhaling deeply, pausing for thought, and then adding a little more of this or that, until it is perfect. “My nose knows when I get the fragrance ‘just right’,” says Kalnay. “There is a lot of technical skill and accurate note-taking—as well as sniffing—involved in the perfume-making process.”
Inspiration for each individual perfume usually comes from personal life experiences. A stroll through a forest near Cumberland, for example, resulted in the creation of a fragrance called Cumberland: Wild Forest Apple and Spearmint. Mountain biking at breakneck speed through the warm, dry forests of Oregon inspired her to create Hood River. A quote by iconic actress Mae West—“I generally avoid temptation… unless I can’t resist it”—resulted in a coconut-scented massoia, tuberose, and chocolate perfume called VVAVOOM! (It will be officially released with her spring 2012 White Floral collection.)
The raw materials to create these perfumes are very expensive. As a result, the finished product may be pricier than some nationally branded synthetic perfumes. To keep costs in check—and because ‘a little dab will do ya!’—Flying Colors perfumes are packaged in smaller bottle sizes. The cost of a 4.5 ml roll-on is about $60. In addition to her signature blends, she also customizes fragrances for individual clients.
While I am impressed by the imaginative names and descriptions of her product line, as well as the professionalism and creativity of her promotional materials, I still wanted to know how one becomes a professional perfumer.
Kalnay smiles and explains that her grandmother was a professional wine taster in southern France. Fragrance, of course, plays an important role in wine tasting. Maybe there is a genetic connection?
“But the real reason I ended up becoming a perfumer, and acquiring such a unique range of skills, was because my husband, Chris, and I have spent much of the past 20 years living in very isolated places. I had a choice—keep busy or go crazy! I chose the path of educational enrichment!”
She laughs. “It’s quite a story… how much time do you have?”
After graduating from the University of Alberta in 1981, this native of Swift Currant, Saskatchewan, got her first real job teaching outdoor education at a junior high school in Fort McMurray, Alberta. It was where she met Chris, also a teacher. They married in 1984.
In 1990, Chris accepted a position at a private school in Kemano, BC. The remote town of only 350 people existed solely for the purpose of housing the families of people who worked for Alcan Hydro and was located two hours south of Kitamat. It could be accessed only by boat or helicopter.
“We thought this would be a good place to live for a couple of years and save some money,” says Kalnay. “In hindsight, I guess we didn’t pay much attention when they told us that supplies were only brought in twice a week and that a trip ‘to town’ and back would be a 24-hour turnaround! When you combine living in the shadows of towering mountains with over 1200-centimetres of annual precipitation, you seldom see the sun. The average length of time most people could stand living there was three years. We stayed for 10.”
While Chris taught school, Anita made every effort to keep busy. She drove a frontend loader in the winter and worked alongside a master gardener in the local greenhouse in the summer. With her background in recreation administration, she served as a volunteer to help plan recreation activities for the community.
“Working with the gardener for two years was a great experience for me,” says Kalnay. “It helped me move beyond being an intellectual to become more grounded. It awakened in me a desire to nurture my creativity, and I began to expand my interests.”
During breaks from the solitude of Kemano, Kalnay attended as many continuing education classes as she could, including an art therapy class in Victoria. While living in Kemano, she took distance-learning courses through the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. She studied reflexology, aromatherapy, metaphysics and more. A friend taught her to quilt and, while she found all the straight lines and precision of quilting “a little anal for me,” she did learn that she loved working with fabric. To elevate her mood during the long, dark days of a Kemano fall and winter, Kalnay crafted with fabric, using bright colors, aromatherapy, and lots of fluorescent lighting to keep her motivated.
In 1993, Kalnay secured a grant from the Terrace Community Futures Program. The grant enabled her to market a line of one-of-a-kind sweatshirts created with fabric she had hand-dyed in her basement. She marketed them under her own label: Flying Colors – Let your imagination fly! Her shirts were sold through local markets and she became known as the ‘Flying Colors Lady.’
Eventually, the people of Kemano learned that Kalnay could perform aromatherapy and reflexology treatments, so she started doing that, as well. When they asked for massages, she took some courses and then added massage to her repertoire of services. She soon learned that, in addition to body treatments, she became a confidant. “These people were stressed and needed a massage or reflexology treatment and someone to listen to them with an open heart. I felt privileged to be able to be there for them.”
In 1999, the residents of Kemano were informed that the town was going to be completely shut down. Of the 80 homes there, 10 were moved, four were left standing, and the remainder were used by BC firefighters for ‘practice’ and they were burned to the ground. The closure of this town was so significant that Canadian Geographic Magazine did a feature story on it.
In 2000, the Kalnays moved to Gabriola Island. They spent the next year building a log home while Chris looked for work. Kalnay started a massage/reflexology/aromatherapy business in a yurt—and by now had added hot stone massage to the mix—still continuing to peruse advanced education, focusing now on aromatherapy.
Kalnay was consumed with learning more about the use of various essential oils as a complement to other alternative health services. She learned that ‘scent’ could be used to relieve stress, enhance mood, improve sleep, boost the immune system and much more. She traveled to Washington and earned a diploma in the holistic science of Spiritual PhytoEssencing, which is based on an interface of aromatherapy, herbal medicine, physiology, homeopathy and other natural healing modalities. She is one of only six people in the world to have received this level of accreditation. She also studied under international aromatic consultant Michael Scholes of LabofFlowers.com and organic chemist Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy in California. Somehow, she also found the time (and energy) to become certified as a Kundalina Yoga instructor. This style of yoga is designed to strengthen the neuro-endocrine system, ‘exercise your potential,’ and increase self-awareness through meditation.
In the meantime, Chris’ efforts to secure a teaching post on Gabriola Island had not been successful, so he began looking elsewhere. “He applied for a job in Alert Bay and got it. At the time, we didn’t even know where it was on the map!” recalls Kalnay with a laugh.
The couple sold their island home, packed up and, in 2004, moved north to the rugged coast of British Columbia. This time, they were able to make regular escapes from the solitude of a small town and they traveled to the Comox Valley almost every second weekend to ski and enjoy many of the other recreational activities offered here.
Anita rented a storefront location in Alert Bay and, for the next four years, operated a successful aromatherapy, reflexology and massage business. She also offered yoga classes out of space donated to her by the local Family Resource Centre.
In Alert Bay she got serious about mixing personal essential oils blends for clients. She started another division of her Flying Colors brand and called it Genie in a Bottle. In 2007, one of her spiritual teachers said to Kalnay: “You are only operating from one per cent of your full potential.”
Kalnay tells me this just as I am taking a long sip of herbal tea. This seems so absurd I almost choke on my tea. I was still trying to figure out when this woman had time to sleep. Surely this ‘teacher’ had to be kidding.
“Seriously! That’s what he told me,” Kalnay replies, then pauses. She takes a sip of her tea and then continues: “Anyway, I did some soul searching and decided to take my business to the next level. I signed up to apprentice under Vancouver-based Ayala Moriel Parfums, an Israeli artisan perfumer dedicated to the art of natural perfumery. For the next three years, I traveled to Vancouver once a month to learn from her.”
In 2009, Chris was offered a teaching job on Cortes Island. They bought some property there and, while Chris commuted from Cortes, Anita continued building a life (and her business) in the Comox Valley. Along with her friend and colleague, Sandra Shotton, she also opened an Ayurvedic Spa in Nanaimo at Island Yoga Vista. She spends one week a month in Nanaimo giving ‘intuitive’ massage treatments, which use herbal-infused massage oils from India.
In 2010, during her final year of internship, Kalnay produced a line of artisan perfumes called the Flying Colors Muse Collection. This past summer she was one of several perfumers from five countries who accepted a challenge to create a new blend in a ‘soli-flore”—a single-scent perfume. Another Canadian perfumer, Lyn Ayre, of Coeur d’Esprit Natural Perfumes, sponsored the contest. Kalnay’s wild azalea blend she labeled as Kokoro—inspired by a visit to the Mount Shasta region of Northern California—took top honors.
“I am very grateful to Lyn for opening me up to the ‘world’ of perfuming and encouraging me to enter challenges such as hers,” says Kalnay. “The entire fragrance industry is based on responding creatively to ‘briefs’ that poetically describe the needs of the clients. So, perfumers can’t shy away from competitions and the artistic challenges they bestow. As a result of my success in this competition, I have now been invited to participate in a ‘top secret’ international challenge in 2012.”
It has been a long and sweet-smelling journey, but it is time to let this ‘genie’ out of the bottle! Flying Colors: Genie in a Bottle now boasts a product line of more than a dozen blends and Kalnay has been busy creating her 2012 spring collection, as well as developing marketing materials, building her website, and promoting her natural perfumes. As a result of her diligent efforts, Flying Colors perfumes are catching the attention of natural perfume aficionados across North America, putting both Kalnay, and the Comox Valley, in the spotlight.
For more information call 250.650.1204 or visit: www.genieinabottle.ca
It seems fitting that I would meet with Anita Kalnay on a day when the autumn air is ripe with the aroma of changing seasons. I take a deep breath to savor the scent of ripe apples, cedar, wet leaves and other fragrances of fall, and then settle down to chat with this woman of many talents. In addition to being a perfume-maker, Kalnay has a university degree in recreation administration. She is also a certified aromatherapist, reflexologist and yoga instructor.
To be perfectly honest, I never knew that the art of perfume making, which combines artistic talent and intuition with scientific knowledge, existed outside of laboratories in perhaps Paris or New York. But here I am, sitting on a deck in Courtenay, chatting with a woman who creates award-winning perfumes in a modest laboratory in the corner of her kitchen!
Personally, I am allergic to store-bought perfume, so I asked Kalnay why she makes perfume. Is there a market for fragrances when many public places—such as churches and theatres—are now mandated as ‘Scent Free?’
“I am actually allergic to synthetic perfumes, too!” says Kalnay. “Natural perfumes are different. For the most part, I work with 100 per cent natural plant-based ingredients that are blended with a small amount of organic alcohol or jojoba oil. I guess you could say I am like a vegan perfumer. Most people who can’t wear synthetic perfume are fine with these botanical blends. They smell nice and they can even have a ‘remedy’ effect. Often, they are so subtle that only the person wearing it can detect the scent.”
Kalnay’s natural perfume line is marketed under the name Flying Colors: Genie in a Bottle and it is, she says, “Inspired by nature.”
Her unique botanical blends are produced by painstakingly calculating the perfect combination of all-natural (no synthetic) ingredients, counting minuscule drop by drop, inhaling deeply, pausing for thought, and then adding a little more of this or that, until it is perfect. “My nose knows when I get the fragrance ‘just right’,” says Kalnay. “There is a lot of technical skill and accurate note-taking—as well as sniffing—involved in the perfume-making process.”
Inspiration for each individual perfume usually comes from personal life experiences. A stroll through a forest near Cumberland, for example, resulted in the creation of a fragrance called Cumberland: Wild Forest Apple and Spearmint. Mountain biking at breakneck speed through the warm, dry forests of Oregon inspired her to create Hood River. A quote by iconic actress Mae West—“I generally avoid temptation… unless I can’t resist it”—resulted in a coconut-scented massoia, tuberose, and chocolate perfume called VVAVOOM! (It will be officially released with her spring 2012 White Floral collection.)
The raw materials to create these perfumes are very expensive. As a result, the finished product may be pricier than some nationally branded synthetic perfumes. To keep costs in check—and because ‘a little dab will do ya!’—Flying Colors perfumes are packaged in smaller bottle sizes. The cost of a 4.5 ml roll-on is about $60. In addition to her signature blends, she also customizes fragrances for individual clients.
While I am impressed by the imaginative names and descriptions of her product line, as well as the professionalism and creativity of her promotional materials, I still wanted to know how one becomes a professional perfumer.
Kalnay smiles and explains that her grandmother was a professional wine taster in southern France. Fragrance, of course, plays an important role in wine tasting. Maybe there is a genetic connection?
“But the real reason I ended up becoming a perfumer, and acquiring such a unique range of skills, was because my husband, Chris, and I have spent much of the past 20 years living in very isolated places. I had a choice—keep busy or go crazy! I chose the path of educational enrichment!”
She laughs. “It’s quite a story… how much time do you have?”
After graduating from the University of Alberta in 1981, this native of Swift Currant, Saskatchewan, got her first real job teaching outdoor education at a junior high school in Fort McMurray, Alberta. It was where she met Chris, also a teacher. They married in 1984.
In 1990, Chris accepted a position at a private school in Kemano, BC. The remote town of only 350 people existed solely for the purpose of housing the families of people who worked for Alcan Hydro and was located two hours south of Kitamat. It could be accessed only by boat or helicopter.
“We thought this would be a good place to live for a couple of years and save some money,” says Kalnay. “In hindsight, I guess we didn’t pay much attention when they told us that supplies were only brought in twice a week and that a trip ‘to town’ and back would be a 24-hour turnaround! When you combine living in the shadows of towering mountains with over 1200-centimetres of annual precipitation, you seldom see the sun. The average length of time most people could stand living there was three years. We stayed for 10.”
While Chris taught school, Anita made every effort to keep busy. She drove a frontend loader in the winter and worked alongside a master gardener in the local greenhouse in the summer. With her background in recreation administration, she served as a volunteer to help plan recreation activities for the community.
“Working with the gardener for two years was a great experience for me,” says Kalnay. “It helped me move beyond being an intellectual to become more grounded. It awakened in me a desire to nurture my creativity, and I began to expand my interests.”
During breaks from the solitude of Kemano, Kalnay attended as many continuing education classes as she could, including an art therapy class in Victoria. While living in Kemano, she took distance-learning courses through the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. She studied reflexology, aromatherapy, metaphysics and more. A friend taught her to quilt and, while she found all the straight lines and precision of quilting “a little anal for me,” she did learn that she loved working with fabric. To elevate her mood during the long, dark days of a Kemano fall and winter, Kalnay crafted with fabric, using bright colors, aromatherapy, and lots of fluorescent lighting to keep her motivated.
In 1993, Kalnay secured a grant from the Terrace Community Futures Program. The grant enabled her to market a line of one-of-a-kind sweatshirts created with fabric she had hand-dyed in her basement. She marketed them under her own label: Flying Colors – Let your imagination fly! Her shirts were sold through local markets and she became known as the ‘Flying Colors Lady.’
Eventually, the people of Kemano learned that Kalnay could perform aromatherapy and reflexology treatments, so she started doing that, as well. When they asked for massages, she took some courses and then added massage to her repertoire of services. She soon learned that, in addition to body treatments, she became a confidant. “These people were stressed and needed a massage or reflexology treatment and someone to listen to them with an open heart. I felt privileged to be able to be there for them.”
In 1999, the residents of Kemano were informed that the town was going to be completely shut down. Of the 80 homes there, 10 were moved, four were left standing, and the remainder were used by BC firefighters for ‘practice’ and they were burned to the ground. The closure of this town was so significant that Canadian Geographic Magazine did a feature story on it.
In 2000, the Kalnays moved to Gabriola Island. They spent the next year building a log home while Chris looked for work. Kalnay started a massage/reflexology/aromatherapy business in a yurt—and by now had added hot stone massage to the mix—still continuing to peruse advanced education, focusing now on aromatherapy.
Kalnay was consumed with learning more about the use of various essential oils as a complement to other alternative health services. She learned that ‘scent’ could be used to relieve stress, enhance mood, improve sleep, boost the immune system and much more. She traveled to Washington and earned a diploma in the holistic science of Spiritual PhytoEssencing, which is based on an interface of aromatherapy, herbal medicine, physiology, homeopathy and other natural healing modalities. She is one of only six people in the world to have received this level of accreditation. She also studied under international aromatic consultant Michael Scholes of LabofFlowers.com and organic chemist Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy in California. Somehow, she also found the time (and energy) to become certified as a Kundalina Yoga instructor. This style of yoga is designed to strengthen the neuro-endocrine system, ‘exercise your potential,’ and increase self-awareness through meditation.
In the meantime, Chris’ efforts to secure a teaching post on Gabriola Island had not been successful, so he began looking elsewhere. “He applied for a job in Alert Bay and got it. At the time, we didn’t even know where it was on the map!” recalls Kalnay with a laugh.
The couple sold their island home, packed up and, in 2004, moved north to the rugged coast of British Columbia. This time, they were able to make regular escapes from the solitude of a small town and they traveled to the Comox Valley almost every second weekend to ski and enjoy many of the other recreational activities offered here.
Anita rented a storefront location in Alert Bay and, for the next four years, operated a successful aromatherapy, reflexology and massage business. She also offered yoga classes out of space donated to her by the local Family Resource Centre.
In Alert Bay she got serious about mixing personal essential oils blends for clients. She started another division of her Flying Colors brand and called it Genie in a Bottle. In 2007, one of her spiritual teachers said to Kalnay: “You are only operating from one per cent of your full potential.”
Kalnay tells me this just as I am taking a long sip of herbal tea. This seems so absurd I almost choke on my tea. I was still trying to figure out when this woman had time to sleep. Surely this ‘teacher’ had to be kidding.
“Seriously! That’s what he told me,” Kalnay replies, then pauses. She takes a sip of her tea and then continues: “Anyway, I did some soul searching and decided to take my business to the next level. I signed up to apprentice under Vancouver-based Ayala Moriel Parfums, an Israeli artisan perfumer dedicated to the art of natural perfumery. For the next three years, I traveled to Vancouver once a month to learn from her.”
In 2009, Chris was offered a teaching job on Cortes Island. They bought some property there and, while Chris commuted from Cortes, Anita continued building a life (and her business) in the Comox Valley. Along with her friend and colleague, Sandra Shotton, she also opened an Ayurvedic Spa in Nanaimo at Island Yoga Vista. She spends one week a month in Nanaimo giving ‘intuitive’ massage treatments, which use herbal-infused massage oils from India.
In 2010, during her final year of internship, Kalnay produced a line of artisan perfumes called the Flying Colors Muse Collection. This past summer she was one of several perfumers from five countries who accepted a challenge to create a new blend in a ‘soli-flore”—a single-scent perfume. Another Canadian perfumer, Lyn Ayre, of Coeur d’Esprit Natural Perfumes, sponsored the contest. Kalnay’s wild azalea blend she labeled as Kokoro—inspired by a visit to the Mount Shasta region of Northern California—took top honors.
“I am very grateful to Lyn for opening me up to the ‘world’ of perfuming and encouraging me to enter challenges such as hers,” says Kalnay. “The entire fragrance industry is based on responding creatively to ‘briefs’ that poetically describe the needs of the clients. So, perfumers can’t shy away from competitions and the artistic challenges they bestow. As a result of my success in this competition, I have now been invited to participate in a ‘top secret’ international challenge in 2012.”
It has been a long and sweet-smelling journey, but it is time to let this ‘genie’ out of the bottle! Flying Colors: Genie in a Bottle now boasts a product line of more than a dozen blends and Kalnay has been busy creating her 2012 spring collection, as well as developing marketing materials, building her website, and promoting her natural perfumes. As a result of her diligent efforts, Flying Colors perfumes are catching the attention of natural perfume aficionados across North America, putting both Kalnay, and the Comox Valley, in the spotlight.
For more information call 250.650.1204 or visit: www.genieinabottle.ca
Trained Senior Peer Counsellors like Christine (right) are here to help support local seniors like Betty.
Photo by Boomer Jerritt
Christmas is a joyous and cherished family and friends time of elation and celebration as folk gather together to share gifts, arthritis
a fine meal and a sense of bonhomie.
Or so we are led to believe. Unfortunately, for some it is a time of isolation and loneliness in which the glittering profusion of festivities only punctuates the sadness of those who are not part of all the glitz. And in no demographic is this isolation felt more profoundly than with some members of our seniors’ population.
It’s in dealing with the wants and needs of this element of society that Comox Valley Senior Peer Counselling (CVSPC) comes into the mix and works diligently to bring some deserved Christmas cheer to the lives of such residents of our community.
“The older you get, losses occur,” says Colleen Malek, chair of Senior Peer Counselling. “For many years of our lives we have our supports, but then people move away; our friends age, and some of them pass on. What do you turn to? It’s reality. But, whom do you turn to when these life events happen? Some people end up at a loss and they isolate.”
CVSPC was founded in 1992 as a non-profit society designed to help Valley seniors in overcoming such challenges in life as bereavement, isolation, illness, multiple losses and depression.
With CVSPC, confidential services are provided by trained, compassionate volunteers who are themselves past the age of 50. The goal of these volunteers is to develop a relationship of trust with the client in which they provide non-judgmental emotional support in order to promote wellness and reduce social isolation.
CVSPC programs include the Visitors program, which provides weekly social visits to lonely housebound seniors, Group Outings for isolated seniors unable to drive, and Caregiver Support Groups, which meet each month for support, education and social contact. One group is specifically designed for Alzheimer’s and Dementia caregivers.
As well they offer respite care, where trained volunteers provide a few hours relief per week to caregivers of seniors with Alzheimer’s or dementia and individual counseling, where trained volunteers again provide guidance, support and encouragement to seniors facing challenges in their lives. This is not professional counseling, nor does it replace it.
As far as gender disparities are concerned at this stage of life, Malek says that women are usually better off than men in terms of relationships in later life, and this often results in men being left in the lurch, in the case of couples, if the wife predeceases the husband.
“Women make the social arrangements for the most part, and they have done so for decades throughout the marriage” she says. “So if the woman dies first the grieving husbands have never really learned how to reach out. They (the widowers) too often end up turning inward and isolating.”
A very poignant time in this regard is the Yuletide season. And in that context the CVSPC attempts to bring some light to what should be a joyous season, but is often a huge challenge for seniors—much as it often is for other groups in society.
As far as Christmas is concerned CVSPC arranges outings and various other programs with a seasonal flavor. They take members out to look at Christmas lights and to hear the children’s choir. Christmas, Malek says, is a time many people find difficult—not just seniors. But, in the case of seniors the problems can be exacerbated by age and loneliness.
“We try to offer a number of seasonal things,” she says. “And, as we’re a non-profit much of what we’re able to do depends on the money available. But it doesn’t need to be elaborate in order to address the need in somebody. Sometimes it takes something just as simple as a phone call. Sometimes the person just needs someone to speak to in order to get them thinking in a different way.”
The problem with Christmas, she says, is that there is a huge emotional buildup leading to the day, and then when the 25th arrives, everything closes down and for those who are isolated, this only punctuates their aloneness.
That said, clients of CVSPC can anticipate a special Christmas dinner, albeit not on Christmas Day, and they are booked to hear the Children’s Choir, as well as other seasonal offerings.
And the volunteers are also remembered at Christmas for their tireless efforts. For them there will be a special luncheon at Crown Isle held in the Christmas season, and for which Crown Isle pays half the cost in recognition of the work that the volunteers do in the community.
The volunteers in CVSPC (whom Malek cites as “wonderful”) regularly do extra for their clients at Christmastime. At the same time, they are ever-vigilant in not encouraging dependency on the part of a client. Indeed, the discouragement of dependency is a basic credo of the organization in all their dealings.
“Individual peer support is offered,” she says. “This is designed to show means of enhancing quality of life, with the idea being that ‘you’ (the client) can change what you do with what is left for you. Ultimately the client is encouraged to move in the direction of being empowered to take action. The goal is to encourage independence and to not have the volunteer peer counsellor in effect ‘stuck with’ a client. We try to encourage the attitude that life is a journey not of losses but of change, and acceptance of new realities allows change to take place.”
Of course there are complications in their dealings with seniors, Malek readily concedes. “There are some clients on the road to dementia and they won’t get better,” she says. “I had one client who went that route and I simply carried on as an advocate for her even after she moved into a facility. She seemed to value the tie because she had nobody else.”
While some clients continue to live fulfilling lives well into their 90s, others deteriorate at an earlier stage. In those cases they are sometimes victims of their genetics, but Malek also firmly believes that attitude plays a major role and volunteer counsellors work diligently to encourage attitude shifts.
“We work to empower,” she says. “We want to encourage the client to realize that hey, I can do these things. I don’t need to depend on somebody else to do them for me.”
Malek believes the function of what they do is invaluable in the community and is becoming increasingly vital as the population of the community ages. She regards the organization is being an aspect of overall health care.
“I’ll give you an example of a reality for an older person,” she says. “The older person, due to age, loses a driver’s licence. He or she is left looking at four walls, with little ability to get out and about. With no outside stimulus they end up getting depressed. This costs the health care system. Yet, just one outing a week can make a huge difference to that person’s quality of life.”
So, the role of the peer counselor is to have the client realize that even though a change has taken place—the loss of the ability to drive and being left having to rely either on friends or public transit—life can still go on at a quality level. Adjustments must be made and the counselor must diligently move the client away from turning inward and isolating.
So, outings are set up. Outings to see Christmas-themed events like the ones mentioned, or outings for shopping.
Meanwhile, Malek is unstinting in her praises for the dynamic and dedicated nature of the CVSPC board through the years. It has consistently been the glue that has held it all together.
“Without the board there would simply be no society,” she says. “But, we need people to assume board positions. We have voids that must be filled if we are to continue as we have been. We’re looking forward to a new chair and the board definitely needs new blood.”
In that regard Malek, as current chair, notes that she is planning on stepping down as chair, having served the organization for many years.
“The society is rebuilding from the ground up,” she says. “It’s an exciting time. With change comes growth.”
For more information about Senior Peer Counselling, and especially if you are interested in volunteering, please contact them at 250-890-0099, or www.cvspc.wordpress.com