Christopher McMahon

Christopher McMahon is the founder of White Lotus Aromatics, the respected natural aromatic materials house he ran for decades with his wife Suzanne from Port Angeles, Washington. His lifelong engagement with the world of natural aromatics began in 1971, when he went to live on a small farm near Bangalore in South India, surrounded by sandalwood, jasmine, davana, tuberose, and the countless fragrant plants woven into Indian daily life.

A trained horticulturist — he served as Lead Gardener and Assistant Garden Superintendent at the celebrated Filoli estate in California — McMahon brought a rare combination of botanical expertise, engineering ingenuity, and deep cultural curiosity to the study of aromatic materials. Through his long friendship with the distinguished Indian essential oil distiller Ramakant Harlalka, he gained intimate access to the traditional distilleries, farms, and extraction houses of India, journeys documented in the extensive White Lotus Aromatics newsletters that became essential reading for natural perfumers worldwide.

Now retired, McMahon continues to write with the same rigour and devotion that defined White Lotus Aromatics. We are honoured to share his work here with his kind permission. The research, observations, and views expressed are entirely his own.