Designer and scent artist who fuses ancient wisdom with modern artistry. Through her candles, she creates multisensory rituals that invite people to reconnect with their most natural selves. With Chaparral, she translates Ojai’s golden hills, wild sage, and citrus groves into fragrance—turning scent into a living story. Known for crafting experiences that awaken clarity and presence, Sakai brings luxury and ritual together in a way that feels both timeless and transformative.

Scent director, evaluator, and designer who translates ideas into finished fragrances and luxury products. With over a decade in the industry and a preternatural scent memory spanning thousands of perfumes, he possesses an almost encyclopedic knowledge of perfume history, materials, and taxonomy. For Amber Sakai, he distills inspiration into a precise brief for each fragrance and serves as a bridge between Amber and a team of perfumers in Grasse—guiding the development of each scent and ensuring Amber’s vision comes to life. At the event, he’ll share how a concept travels from first spark to finished candle.

A master distiller and alchemist of scent, celebrated for pioneering techniques that capture the vitality of plants at their most potent. As founder of Michael David Aromatics, he transforms botanicals into fragrances that go beyond beauty—evoking memory, grounding spirit, and enriching self-care with depth and resonance. His work stands at the intersection of nature, craft, and ritual, offering scents that feel both deeply rooted and luminous.