Where the idea came from
My husband and I met at Howard Law and now run a search firm that specializes in the placement of diverse attorneys to law jobs. We were able to travel for months on end as digital nomads, but when the pandemic hit and borders closed, we really wanted an outlet for that wanderlust—specifically, I really wanted to get my hands on a candle that was sold at Changi Airport, but I was not able to, due to Covid restrictions. My husband encouraged me to create my own. I had made fragrances before, but it took nearly a year to learn how to blend different fragrance oils to create a scent for a candle.
The goal
Our goal was to recreate a travel experience in our home—making candles and then pairing them with cocktails and cuisine from that region. We went to Singapore for our honeymoon, and so I created a candle to take myself back on the sensory journey to the gardens of that city. I would light the candle, make Hainanese chicken rice, and pour up a Singapore sling. We named it after the airport code SIN. We did the same for the candles we made for our Tokyo night (NRT) and others.
First steps
When we created CDG (obviously for Paris), we gave one to our parents and said,“Hey, our friend actually just launched a candle brand—what are your thoughts?” Just to get a blind reaction. They fell in love with the scent and the packaging. In fact, my father-in-law was like, “Who is this? I want to be able to buy their candles and amplify the brand!” We did that a couple of more times with friends, who all loved the candles. So we launched in a pop-up in Long Beach, California, where we nearly sold out of our candles.
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The hardest moment
We are industry outsiders in the fragrance space. We are a small brand; we don’t have a major marketing budget. There are times where it’s like, Is our brand connecting with people? Are we being seen?
The moment you thought this just might work
We were at NY Now trade show, and we had no idea what we were doing. We were totally, totally new in this space, but we won the Best New Product Award in Beauty and Wellness. I tell you that I was in tears when that happened, because we were being seen. We also heard from buyers. One said, “I was just at Atlanta mart and your EZE [Buenos Aires] candle was at the Hyatt Regency. It had a really nice position where everyone could see it.” Not only are we being seen in ways that we may not understand, but our hotel partners are also amplifying our brand.
Favorite story
One of our customers actually bought a Kyoto-inspired candle, KIX, for a friend who’s from Japan—she told us that her friend burned it every night to remind her of her home because she couldn’t travel there for months during the pandemic. She felt very connected to the candle based on just the scent.
The results
Our candles are carried at a number of luxury hotels, from Andaz West Hollywood, where we have our cobranded WeHo candle, to the Thompson Hotels and Hotel Kabuki, so we’re definitely growing in the hotel space.
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