A Bright Spark

 

The pathway to my candle business began with a science degree in the mid 90s. Not that I had any thought of waxy matters back then, but it did become relevant. Even whilst studying an academic subject I had a thirst for learning other things of a more creative nature and had an interest in holistic methods and practices. 

 

Later, in the early 2000s after tapping into my creative side and, as a lifestyle journalist in the Middle East, I managed to persuade my publisher that our consumer magazine needed a ‘Mind, Body & Spirit’ section, of which I became editor. The position enriched my interest in therapies and meditation to help myself and others feel less stressed (and if you’ve ever worked in print media you will appreciate how fickle and overtaxing the industry is). Coupled with living among people whose cultural practices include the burning of heady oud oils, shisha and spices, particularly during the cleansing period of Ramadan, you could say my inspiration for candle making was already forming. 

 

On returning home, and after an initial stint back in the homestead of Kent and Sussex, I moved to the Cotswolds and retrained as a clinical aromatherapist and teacher in the holistic field, from which my candle business was a natural evolution. I don’t think my therapy space was ever without some kind of natural scent diffusing into the room. I would help my clients feel more relaxed through essential oil inhalation sidled with the soothing ambience from the glow of a flickering flame.

 

So, I started tinkering in my kitchen…

 

The Burgeoning Flame

 

The people I trained with were an invaluable help having been active in the candle industry for over 30 years. They not only helped me in the science of how to make a candle but proffered a wealth of knowledge on how to run a successful business in the field. 

 

My dad and brother, both astute business heads, are a huge influence in what I do and helped me launch my hobby into a business. Not only through encouragement but in their insatiable need to draw up spreadsheets for me all the time. I also have a fantastic designer on board who created and continues to develop my brand. He has always understood the look I was going for, an old apothecary style, not only based on my science background, but on a collection of glass chemist bottles from my late grandmother who worked in the pharmacy industry for a good part of her later life. Going with what I ‘know’ has definitely helped that process, and I am delighted with the result. Whilst there are plenty of white and clear glass brands out there (and believe me I love and have bought many) I am more about the masculine look. I prefer the dark glass as it is also what you keep essential oils in, so it flows nicely with the blends I still make for my clients as a therapist.

 

The process of choosing my company name was trickier than I had anticipated. I started with ideas such as ‘Aroma Jacks’ (my son is called Jack) but then I felt it sounded too much like a coffee shop. ‘The Cotswold Aroma Company’ was another but I didn’t want to limit myself to an area, and I knew I already wanted to cite ‘handmade in The Cotswolds’ on my packaging. ‘The Apothecary Shop’ limited me further. So, after weeks of deliberation (and after all that), I stuck to my name. It’s who I am. And it worked for Jo Malone, so...

 

When it comes to fragrance I am like a kid in a candy shop. Having sampled many and liking nearly all of them, I narrowed the collection to suit a wide demographic as we all know how subjective the matter of smell is. All are hand poured using plant waxes and natural wax-coated wicks, with a maximum scent load packing a punch throughout.

 

I am always tuning in to the nose of my customers and current trends and have the occasional ‘fragrance edit’ where I cull non-starters (bearing in mind this can take over a year to realise after first trying them on the market) and introduce new ones. Perhaps there’s a Middle Eastern-inspired range somewhere in there. I often wake up in the early hours and jot down notes and new ideas. Being a creative is such a wonderful space to be in, but it can arrive at the most anti-social of moments. 

 

Since establishing in 2018 I have gone from selling to friends & family, appearing at markets and small local pop-ups, to regularly selling to larger outlets at wholesale. I was one of the lucky ones where Covid actually had a positive impact on my business, when sales online increased overnight.

 

My home fragrance range includes candles, tealights, reed diffusers, wax melts, scent oils, gift boxes and, five years ago, I designed and registered an apothecary-inspired burner. 

 

I am still an active therapist, teacher and mum.

 

The Science Bit 

 

(skip if I lost you at science)

 

While I love being creative and using my hands in what I do, whether making or massaging, there is quite a bit of ‘geek’ and testing required to develop a candle that actually works. 

 

Being an advocate of essential oils I quickly – and perhaps disappointingly – learned that the British nose is for a strong scent, and I can only truly get that from adding synthetic fragrances to my blends. I did try essential oils for a while but they weren’t getting the throw I wanted for my customers, and I hands down sold far fewer of these than the candles with manmade fragrance. 

 

I would also question the actual ‘therapeutic value’ an essential oil offers when burnt at temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius. There are zero clinical combustion studies to prove otherwise. So rather than ‘sell a misnomer’ and confuse the customer, I stuck with using synthetic fragrance in my main products (although if you hop over to my Apothecary section, you will find essential-oil-only goodies in other exciting formats). The great thing about manmade scents is that they have already been tested for safety and performance in the different mediums I use, so are much easier to handle in wax than essential oils and are quicker to develop into a shop-ready product. I am also pleased to tell you (because I do get asked a lot), no, I do not use the sludge from a fractionating tower (paraffin wax), to make my candles. I currently use soy. Even though there has been a study done on paraffin versus natural wax when burned without fragrance and, contrary to popular misinformation, emissions are pretty similar.

 

That said, it is still hard to please everyone when it comes to the health risks and hidden nature of the ingredients in candles. So below is my full disclosure on this and then I trust the individual customer to make their own informed decision on their purchases.

 

As mentioned, I use EU-regulated soy wax, meaning it is less tied to the more aggressive forms of soy farming elsewhere in the world, and is of course biodegradable and renewable. 

 

None of the fragrances I use contain parabens but there are some phthalates and synthetic musks, depending on the scent. (Like are used in many of your cleaning products, nail products, hair products, body products and toothpastes. Just saying.) They also contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – or allergens – but did you know these naturally occur in essential oils too? These are listed on the safety labels of all my products. Regardless – unless you have specific allergies or intolerances – ALL additions to the wax have been designed to be for consumer use and are added in safe quantities, plus every component is vegan-friendly and cruelty-free.

 

Please bear in mind that with all the testing and considered planning that goes behind all of my products, this is still a handmade item, so please allow for a margin of error where – very occasionally – I can be proved wrong!