A fragrance founder’s guide to the best of Amsterdam
Take a peek around Abel founder Frances Shoemack’s version of the Dutch capital.
By Divya Venkataraman
New Zealand isn’t the best place to own a bicycle. (It’s mountainous and the roads are often rugged.) In Amsterdam on the other hand? Riding around is a way of life. “It’s perhaps the thing I miss the most after a decade of living there,” Abel founder Frances Shoemack tells The Everywoman, a few years after relocating back to her native New Zealand. Shoemack now lives in Wellington with her family, but Abel, the natural fragrance company she founded in 2013, still has offices in Amsterdam. So she always has reasons to return. “My number one travel tip,” she says, “is to grab yourself a bike as soon as you can and cruise the canals, parks and side streets away from the main tourist drags.”
Abel uses innovative biotechnology to create fragrances using entirely natural ingredients, including fungi, plant sugars, yeast, and bacteria. It combines an Antipodean reverence for nature with a distinct Dutch sensibility. Shoemack also drew from her background in oenology — before starting Abel, she was an expert winemaker. “Great winemaking has the same intrinsic values as the way we make perfume,” she explains. “Deep respect for nature, science and artistry.”
“It’s that golden triangle that I’ve taken from the wine world and ingrained at every touchpoint in our fragrances.”
Below, see the locales in Amsterdam that you can't miss, according to Shoemack.
For an old-world, Zine-forward bookshop
ATHENAEUM
“My bookshelves are loaded with books collected around the world, and devoured in airports and middle-of-the-night jetlag reading sessions. It’s the one purchase I never deny myself while travelling. Athenaeum has one of the best selections of interesting books, zines and design editions, and I step by for a browse every time I’m in Amsterdam.”
For a Dutch take on wellness
SAUNA DECO
“My first introduction to sauna was fifteen or more years ago, and it’s something that has become a key part of my life since. The stunning, original art-deco architecture is reason enough to go, but mostly I love it for the nonchalant and non-wellnessy way in which the Dutch do ‘wellness’ (similar to how they ride bikes, without ‘cycling’).”
For a secret swim and fragrance stockup
SKINS
“Skins has the most incredible beauty and fragrances stores all around Holland (of course, it’s an Abel stockist), and its Conservatorium Hotel location on Museumplein is perhaps the most luxurious. If you’re stepping by, book a treatment at the pristine Akasha Spa(and allow time to relax by the underground pool).”
For a cultural-culinary mishmash
OFICINA
“Officina is totally one of a kind. From the exceptional dishes served up by chef Niara Sabandar to the curiosities in their shop and the wonderful food, art, experience and travel collabs, I find their work very inspiring. Their recently opened contemporary tea room Fonda is also a really special spot inside the Stedelijkmuseum (one of Amsterdam’s best contemporary museums and one I highly recommend).”
