A small company in Wester Ross who design and manufacture high quality perfumes and soaps has just celebrated moving into a new premise.

Amora Perfumes Ltd, situated in Mellon Charles near Loch Ewe can extend their operations now that a new high-tech structure has been built onto the 200 year old croft house.

The business was established by George Dodd and his partner Liz Mountford and has been trading for three years from a croft house.  They formed Amora Perfumes and AromaSciences with the aims of restoring an artistic vision to perfumery.  Perfumes and soaps are designed and created with dried herbs from the croft for customers throughout the world including boutiques, gift shops and museums. 

This is an exciting step forward for the company with the creation of a new production facility to assist in the research and development of perfumes.  In addition, the new facility includes a gift shop and a visitor centre where tourists can find out more about the perfumes, some of which are the world's first entirely natural perfumes.

These new developments in the Wester Ross area will see the creation of six jobs, as well as the employment of a graduate trainee chemist. 

George Dodd has, for many years, been teaching science to school children and it is hoped that young people in the area will take an interest in the field and select it as their chosen career. 

The company has already won a contract with a leading beauty salon and spa chain, to supply luxury natural skincare products.  At the moment the team are working on creating a perfume for a well-known chocolate company in England. 

To help Amora Perfumes press ahead with these plans, HIE Skye and Wester Ross has agreed to contribute £63,000 to the construction costs of the new manufacturing facility.  The café and retail area have had approval for funding under the Agricultural Business Diversity Scheme from SEERAD. 

George Dodd welcomed the grant.  He said:  "We are delighted that our operations are set to expand here in Mellon Charles, with the construction of the new facilities, which is vital to the development of Amora Perfumes.  The last three years have seen the company developing from an idea, into research and development and then on to a small company.  The next stage of the development was to expand into a bigger premise and we look forward to employing new staff from the area and bringing the business forward."

Raine Maclennan, growing businesses development manager for the local enterprise company said:  "George is an international perfumer and as a result brings a unique quality to Wester Ross.  We are pleased to assist this company in continuing to expand their operations in the area where their presence remains a valuable asset to the local economy."

Visit Aroma Perfumes' website on www.aromasciences.com