MARCEL LAVABRE
Innovator, Writer, Formulator
DAY 1
16/2/24
Marcel Lavabre was born in 1950 in southern France on a small farm with a small vineyard and a tiny plot of lavender, his favourite harvest, with the distillery where all the magic happened.
Marcel was admitted in 1969 in the mathematical section of the prestigious "Ecole Normale Supérieure" rue d'ULM in Paris. He graduated in Model Theory in mathematical logic.
He gave up an academic career and moved to the Jabron Valley near Sisteron in the Provence region of southeastern France in the mid-70s. Farmers there had been collecting medicinal plants and distilling essential oils for centuries and had deep knowledge of their virtues.
Staffed by his horse and a mischievous donkey, he started a small enterprise harvesting wild medicinal herbs and distilling all kinds of plant material.
He moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 1980 with a suitcase full of essential oils of his own production and a few diffusers, intent on starting a new aromatherapy venture in the United States. But when he approached prospective customers, he was met with blank stares and incredulous "Aroma-what?".
He soon realized that education was the key and started giving lectures and seminars, first in front of sparse audiences and then in classrooms that began to fill up with eager students. He gave lectures and seminars all over the United States and all over the world, especially in Asia and Latin America.
He started organizing his teaching notes and published them as a bound notebook from Kinko's. This became the Aromatherapy Workbook, published by Inner Traditions International for the 1990 AATA convention.
Marcel moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and changed the name of his business to "Aroma Vera", offering one of the most comprehensive lines of essential oil of his time around the world, later adding absolutes, carrier oils, then creams, lotions and a range of other products. He travelled the world sourcing producers of essential oils from India to Paraguay and offered organic products that were rare and unheard of in those days.
In 1987, Marcel joined forces with fellow aromatherapists and aromatherapy entrepreneurs to create the American AromaTherapy Association (AATA). He was charged with organizing the third AATA convention in 1990 with his then-marketing director and future partner in teaching, his good friend Michael Scholes. The convention gathered the who's who of aromatherapy at the time and was a smashing success.
In the 1990s, Aroma Vera grew into one of the world's largest and widest aromatherapy companies, with extensive distribution in Asia and South America.
Marcel retired from Aroma Vera in 2000 and kept teaching on a limited basis.
The Aromatherapy Workbook underwent a complete revision and extensive update in 2020 for its 30th anniversary. Its new chapter, "Comparative Study of Modes of Administration", is the most definitive work on the topic.
Marcel is working on "Impermanence and Resilience: A Brief History of Life and Sentience on Planet Earth".
