When reading books during her time at UT, Madison Venza said she often associated scenes described on the pages with certain scents. When visiting a New Orleans perfumery with a group of friends, the former English major said she finally conceived the idea to apply her olfactory imagination to a business.

“I’ve always been interested in the way smell triggers imagination,” Venza said. “When I was at UT, I would be reading, and I would imagine, ‘What do these places smell like?’”

Tooth of a Cat Apothecary melds Venza’s love for literature and mythology with her aromatherapy aspirations. Products range from bath bombs inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” to soaps corresponding with each zodiac sign. 

In 2019, Venza opened the business alongside her husband Chad Banicki, who oversees the store’s marketing. In addition to soap selling, Venza serves as a bureau chief for Courthouse News Service, and Banicki works as a technical product manager for Apple. Banicki said a house teeming with Tooth of a Cat products greets him after his day job each day.

“You’d feel like I live in a Bed, Bath and Beyond,” Banicki said. “Probably the biggest obstacle for anybody looking to start a small business is that you can’t dedicate all your time to it, but it’s going to take up all your time.”

Banicki said he met Venza at Hole in the Wall after their time at UT, and the pair bonded over their mutual love of literature. Today, their business still incorporates their shared interests and even occasionally includes their 11-year-old daughter who occasionally plays music alongside her parents at local markets, Banicki said.

“I like to sit and … listen to (my daughter) play the guitar and sing,” Banicki said. “I like being out with people and talking to them about the products. Being out in different markets within Austin is the most fun for me on a nice day.”

Banicki, an economics alumnus, said he enriched himself in UT classes such as Gothic literature and film, where he studied a myriad of classic novels. One of these titles, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, served as a muse for a Tooth of a Cat candle and wax melt.

“We’re making products that are pretty standard like soaps and candles, but we’re adding a twist to them based upon our mutual enjoyment of gothic literature and film,” Banicki said.

With Tooth of a Cat partially relying on the internet to reach potential apothecary enthusiasts, photographer Heather Miller snaps shots of Venza’s various creations for the business’s Instagram. While this marks her first experience with product photography, she said Tooth of a Cat allowed her to sharpen her skills as a photographer. 

“It is my first time doing product photography and social media, and it’s nice to have that challenge,” Miller said. “I can gain the experience and learn something else to add to my craft.”

Before she can sell her products at a market, Venza said she must go through an application process for each one. Venza said she applies to numerous locations in hopes of finding a space to distribute her products, which occasionally can come with rejection. However, despite the occasional rejection, Venza said sparking readers’ imagination outweighs these obstacles. 

“(Your business) doesn’t have to be perfect,” Venza said. “You can learn along the way, and you never know where it might take you. I like getting to visit other places in (my) mind, and that’s the same thing I’m trying to do with scent.”