Gregory Foster is as curious about the paper a perfume label is printed on as he is about what is inside the bottle.
Foster is a Vancouver-based writer, artist and content creator whose Instagram, @gregoryfoster_, covers fragrance, menswear and contemporary living. He studied studio arts at university and began taking content creation seriously about two years ago. He also writes essays on Substack about scent, objects, money and time.
Before Instagram, he managed Transitions, the thrift store run by the nonprofit Islanders Working Against Violence on Salt Spring Island, whose proceeds help fund affordable housing and support the local women’s transition house. He grew up in rural New Brunswick, spent 13 years in Montreal and has lived and worked all over Canada and the US. Vancouver, where he can now walk to the water from his apartment, is the city he chose for its mountains and ocean.
For Locals Insider he explains why perfume matters to him, how fashion came first, what contemporary living means and why Vancouver won out over Montreal, and he closes with his picks for perfume shops, Gastown menswear, tea, books and records.
Perfume is an invisible art.
Gregory Foster
Becoming an Instagram Creator on His Own Terms
Instagram has been part of my life since its inception, but I started taking content creation seriously about two years ago. It was something I’d always wanted to do, though I felt a bit self-conscious about the stigma around “influencers.” Once I realized I could do it my own way, it opened up a whole new avenue for me creatively.
I went to university for studio arts and have painted and illustrated since I was a teenager. I found that making things for Instagram could feel just as satisfying, and it gave me a way to share my interests with a community of people who genuinely seemed hungry for my ideas and opinions.
The amount of work and creativity that goes into making content is often underestimated. I’m always learning how to be a better photographer, editor, writer or designer. I consider myself a bit of a polymath and have historically jumped from one interest to another, so I’m never bored by all the ways there are to express myself on social media.
It’s an incredible tool for self-development and a lovely way to share your life with the world.
Fashion Before Fragrance: Fashion Television, Flared Jeans and a Bedsheet Belt
Fashion was certainly my first love. As a gay teenager growing up in rural New Brunswick, I watched Fashion Television, hosted by Jeanne Beker, religiously. The show took me inside the creative minds of designers all over the world and gave me a glimpse of a life beyond the one I found myself in.
My friends and I were avid thrifters in the late ’90s, and fashion became a way for me to express and affirm myself in high school.
On the first day of Grade 10, I wore women’s flared jeans and a black baseball T-shirt I’d painted flames on with bleach. I had mehndi on my hands, inspired by Madonna’s “Frozen” video, and a white “belt” I’d made from a torn bedsheet that trailed behind me on the floor. That idea came from watching a live performance by one of my favourite artists, Tori Amos.
Fashion was a way to say, “I’m not like you.” These days it feels more personal, though I’m sure some of that impulse lingers. We’re all saying something when we choose what to wear.
Fragrance came later. I’d always enjoyed it, but the real love and dedication came in my 40s.
What Perfume Means: Scent as Memory, Myth and Something Tender and Fleeting
Perfume is the thread that connects me to my past, present and future. Smells are like signposts for me. I remember the lilacs in my grandmother’s garden, shelling peas in the sun with my cousins, the almond face cream my mother used when I was a child, the fragrance my first crush wore, and the smell of paper in the used bookshop where I spent hours as a teenager.
When I started exploring perfume, I found it connected me to so many interests I already had. Sometimes I wonder if I should care as much as I do about the bottle or the packaging, but it’s all part of how I experience a fragrance. I want to know who made it, what moved them to create it, and what memory or idea they wanted to give a shape to.
Then there’s the almost alchemical side of perfumery, the plants and resins and flowers, and all the mythology and history they carry. I’m just as curious about the shape of the bottle, the label, the texture of the paper and how the house chooses to introduce the fragrance to the world.
And finally, you wear it. Perfume is an invisible art. It’s here for a few hours, and then it vanishes.
That impermanence is endlessly interesting to me. It brings me into the present, connects me to the past and reminds me what it means to have a human life, tender and fleeting. I want to appreciate it while it’s here without clinging too tightly to it.
In many ways, perfume has been my salvation, if I may be so bold. It’s given me a way into art, design, myth, storytelling, fashion and beauty. It’s also opened a door for me as an adult, into a better understanding of where I belong, how I might connect with other people and where I might go next.
The First Post: Ramana Maharshi, a Pine Cone and Stolen Roses
I do. It was 2019, and I was reading a lot of Ramana Maharshi, a 20th-century South Indian sage also known as Bhagavan. The post was a framed photo of him alongside a pine cone, a piece of rose quartz and a little vase of white roses I’d stolen from a neighbour’s garden.
I’ve always considered myself a hippie at heart, and it shows. I have fewer crystals in the house these days, but it’s a good snapshot of where I was and who I continue to be. I’m still searching, asking questions and drawn to the mysteries of the world, and to the natural world itself, flowers included.
Perhaps a premonition of things to come.
Before Instagram: Running a Thrift Store on Salt Spring Island
I’ve had more jobs than I can count and have lived and worked all over Canada and the US. Most recently, I worked for a nonprofit called Islanders Working Against Violence on Salt Spring Island. I managed its thrift store, Transitions, where the proceeds helped fund affordable housing on the island and supported the local women’s transition house.
I’d been an avid thrifter for years, so I felt at home around the things people discard, polishing them up and giving them a second life. It was rewarding work, but I was ready for a new challenge. I wanted to give content creation a real shot, so I left the position and moved back to the city.
For a second-hand shopper’s map of another city, see our guide to Berlin’s vintage shops, designer archives and concept stores.
Is “Contemporary Living” Just a Buzzword? Curiosity, Craft and a Handmade Mug
“Contemporary living” is an almost amorphous term. It can describe a current approach to life and design, but with so many different artists, makers and ways to live, it’s bound to mean something different to everyone. With the rise of AI, there’s a lot of anxiety about what will happen to creativity and design.
I see artisans making some of the most interesting things right now, and I believe we’ll always have the desire to make things ourselves.
For me, it begins with curiosity. It can be as simple as trying a different hand soap or reading about an artist whose work makes no sense to me because I want to understand what inspired them. It’s about noticing and appreciating things, and “arranging things,” to borrow from one of my favourite writers, Leonard Koren.
The clothes we wear, the dishes we use, our books, our bedding, our perfume. All of those things can carry an emotional imprint and say something about how we choose to live. A handmade mug can be part of how you take care of yourself in the morning.
There’s a tendency in spiritual circles to treat the inner life as the more serious one. I’ve found a lot of beauty through paying attention to the material world. Consumerism is a plague on our culture, but an appreciation for art, design and even the often-sneered-at world of beauty can broaden our lives and connect us to the times we’re living in.
For more makers and the cities they live in, browse our design section.
A handmade mug can be part of how you take care of yourself in the morning.
Gregory Foster
Why Vancouver? Thirteen Years in Montreal and a Walk to the Water
After 13 years in Montreal, I was ready for somewhere warmer and, frankly, a bit more challenging. People often tell you how expensive Vancouver is, and it is expensive. But I’ve never been one to let other people’s fears decide what’s possible for me.
I believe the world is often the way we expect it to be. If you come to a city already convinced it’ll be impossible to live there, that expectation can make it even harder. Every setback starts to feel like proof that you were right, and it becomes harder to see the ways you could make a life there.
I was curious to find out what kind of life I could make here. I’ve always had that adventurous streak. I left home at 16 to live with my older brother in Orlando, Florida.
Montreal is a spectacular city and I’ll always love it. I spent the better part of my young adult life there, growing up and making mistakes. After a while, the city began to feel like a mausoleum to some of those mistakes, and I needed somewhere new to stretch my wings.
I grew up on the East Coast, but I’ve always felt like a West Coast boy. The mountains, the ocean, the way people live here. I needed to be closer to the ocean, and now I can walk to the water from my apartment in a few minutes.
Vancouver Versus the East: Mountains, Film Sets and Pockets of Real Cosiness
Our connection to nature feels unique. The ocean and the mountains draw a lot of sporty people. I’m less sporty myself, but I love a hike, camping and especially swimming in the sea.
I also love how big the film and television industry is here. It gives the city a buzz you can feel in the background.
People say it’s hard to make friends here or that people are cold. That hasn’t been my experience. If I’d come here expecting it to be hard to meet people, I probably would have been more hesitant to put myself out there.
I came expecting an adventure, and that’s what I’ve found. People take their work seriously, but there’s also a real desire to get outside when the workday is over. It has a bit of a Los Angeles of the north energy.
There are hippies, industry people and craftspeople, and somehow it all adds up to a city that feels creative and glossy with pockets of real cosiness.
For another Canadian creative’s city, Di Wu Munk of Dots & Lines takes us through her favourite Asian restaurants in Calgary.
Where to Buy Niche Perfume in Vancouver, From Granville Street to BC Houses
Niche perfume is still growing here, and I have three downtown stops I’d start with. The first is Scentrique on Granville Street, an independent shop where you can spend some time exploring niche fragrance.
Around the corner is The Perfume Shoppe in Sinclair Centre. And I’d make time for the fragrance department at Holt Renfrew at Pacific Centre.
Some of the most interesting discoveries are coming from independent BC perfume houses. I’d look up Untamed, Cracher Dans La Soupe, Gaetana and Osero. And if you’re making a trip to Victoria, I’d visit Atelier Flore and Zingaro Floral Perfumery.
A Local’s Itinerary: Gastown Menswear, Granville Island Paper and Main Street Records
I’d start in Gastown. I love Neighbour and Roden Gray for clothes and fragrance, Old Faithful Shop for home goods, and Dutil Denim for jeans.
I’d stop at Café Kitsuné, visit my friend’s jewellery shop, 97 Sins, and go to The Block for menswear and a little more fragrance browsing.
The Federal Store is a favourite haunt for a late-afternoon tea and sandwich, and Wallace Mercantile is one of my favourite menswear shops. For pasta, I’d go to Casereccio Foods. It’s my favourite in town.
For matcha, I love what the folks at cowdog are doing. I also adore Leisure Center, where I can go in for a beverage and lose track of time between the clothes, home goods, perfume, incense and art books.
Granville Island is great for food and people-watching. I always make time for Nooroongji Books and Paper-Ya for stationery, pens and little objects. From there I’d take a False Creek Ferry to Sunset Beach and follow the seawall toward Stanley Park.
On Main Street, I’d browse the new and used shelves at Pulpfiction Books, then spend part of the afternoon at Cultivate Tea. They have beautiful teaware and incense, too. For a glass of wine, I’d go to Bar Tartare.
Can you tell I like Gastown? For a film, I’d head to the Rio Theatre, and if you collect records, leave yourself some time to dig through the bins at Red Cat Records.
Locals Insider · Vancouver · 8 places
Gregory Foster’s Vancouver Picks: Perfume, Menswear, Tea, Records and Pasta
Niche perfumery · Downtown
Scentrique
Niche fragrance
Scentrique began as an online niche perfume retailer in 2019 and opened its first shop on Granville Street in 2020. Alongside perfumes and colognes, it sells scented candles, home fragrances and scented body care.
an independent shop where you can spend some time exploring niche fragrance.
- 466 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1V4Map
- Official websitescentrique.com
Menswear shop · Gastown
Roden Gray
Gastown menswear
Roden Gray is a menswear shop at 8 Water Street in Gastown. Its own about page says it brings together brands from around the world and has been in business for over ten years.
I love Neighbour and Roden Gray for clothes and fragrance
- 8 Water Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1A4Map
- Official websiterodengray.com
Concept store · Yaletown
Leisure Center
Fashion, art and books
Leisure Center occupies a 1930s heritage building in Yaletown that was once a furniture shop. The two-storey, 22,000-square-foot space was designed by Casper Mueller Kneer.
where I can go in for a beverage and lose track of time between the clothes, home goods, perfume, incense and art books.
- 950 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2W7Map
- Official websiteleisure-center.com
Stationery shop · Granville Island
Paper-Ya
Paper and pens
Paper-Ya sells papers, notebooks, pens and cards from the Net Loft building on Granville Island. The name comes from the Japanese word for shop.
I always make time for Nooroongji Books and Paper-Ya for stationery, pens and little objects.
- Unit 9, 1666 Johnston Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 3S2Map
- Official websitepaper-ya.com
Tea tasting room · Main Street
Cultivate Tea
Tea and matcha
Cultivate Tea runs a tasting room and shop on Main Street. You can book a private tea or matcha tasting for one to six guests, or simply stop by to explore the collection.
They have beautiful teaware and incense, too.
- 2280 Main Street, Vancouver, BCMap