Fragrance is one of the most personal parts of making candles.
Every new fragrance begins with something we want to smell, something we want to remember, or something we wish existed but cannot quite find anywhere else.
Sometimes the inspiration has been developing quietly for years. Other times, it appears unexpectedly while walking through the front door.
It usually starts with a memory
This week, the sweet peas outside our house came into full bloom.
Their scent immediately took Richard back to his childhood and memories of long summers in Devon where he grew up. Almost straight away, he began talking about creating a sweet pea fragrance for 2027 or 2028.
That does not mean the finished candle will simply smell like a bunch of sweet peas.
It is more about trying to capture the whole feeling around that memory. Warm air, a slightly overgrown garden, sunlight through leaves, flowers by the door and that very particular sense of summer stretching out in front of you.
Some of our fragrance ideas have started with memories like this. Others have been personal dedications, places we have visited, materials we have worked with or simply interesting ideas that we want to explore through scent.
For us, fragrance design is not about choosing something pleasant from a catalogue. It is about trying to create a world around a candle.
Turning the idea into a fragrance brief
Sargon is the main fragrance designer between the two of us.
Once we have an initial idea, we start working out what kind of fragrance we actually want to create.
We tend to prefer complex fragrance blends rather than simple, single-note scents. A more layered fragrance can change as it burns and reveal different parts of itself over time. It gives the candle a deeper journey and makes it much more interesting to live with.
We begin by writing down the inspiration, memories, colours, materials, places and feelings connected to the idea.
It can become a sort of written mood board. There may be specific fragrance notes in there, but there might also be descriptions of weather, rooms, landscapes or moments that have nothing obviously to do with perfume.
Eventually, we send all of this across to our fragrance house and ask them to make sense of our waffling.
We are very lucky to work with some of the world’s leading fragrance houses. Their perfumers are incredibly skilled at taking our collection of memories and ideas and turning it into something real.
The first batch of samples they send us almost always contain something we immediately fall in love with.
Living with the fragrance samples
Choosing a fragrance is not something we like to rush.
When the samples arrive, we place them under small glass domes around the house and live with them for a few weeks.
We smell them at different times of day and in different rooms. We see how they feel on a cold morning, in the warmth of the afternoon or after the house has been closed up for a while.
Temperature can change the way a fragrance presents itself. So can your mood, the weather and everything else happening around you.
A sample that feels perfect one evening may seem too heavy the next morning. Another might initially feel quiet, then suddenly become the one we keep returning to.
This stage often leads to a lot of discussion between us.
Sometimes we agree immediately. Sometimes one of us becomes deeply attached to one version while the other is convinced that a different sample is clearly the correct choice.
We may ask the fragrance house to increase the intensity of a particular note, soften another part of the blend or angle the fragrance in a slightly different direction.
That process can continue for months.
We don't mind. Fragrance development is one of our favourite parts of what we do, and we would rather take the time to get it right than release something before it feels completely finished.
Testing the fragrance in wax
Once we have chosen the fragrance itself, we order a small amount and begin making proper candle samples.
A fragrance can smell quite different once it has been blended into wax, cured and burned. It needs to work both when the candle is unlit and while it is filling a room.
At this point, we are looking at the strength of the fragrance, how it travels through the space and how it develops during the burn.
We also start experimenting with colour.
Our signature pillar candles have a coloured base, so we make a range of test candles to find the colour that feels most connected to the fragrance.
The colour is not chosen separately from the scent. It becomes part of how the fragrance is understood.
A fragrance may feel warmer, fresher, darker or more nostalgic depending on the colour beside it. We keep testing combinations until the candle feels complete.
Labels, testing and all the important details
While Richard is making candle samples, Sargon begins designing the labels.
This involves finding the right typography, layout and visual language for the fragrance, while making sure it still feels like part of the wider Recycled Wax collection.
There is also the less glamorous but very important job of preparing the CLP warning labels.
These need to contain the correct information for the finished fragrance and product. We work with the documentation provided by our fragrance house and use industry guidance and support from the British Candlemakers Federation* to help us keep up with changes to chemical labelling requirements.
*Yes, there is a Federation, and were a pretty cool bunch of people.
It may not be the most romantic part of fragrance design, but it is essential.
By the time the candle is ready to launch, the fragrance, wax, colour, wick, labels and packaging all need to work together.
Making the photography stock
Once the fragrance and colour are finalised, it is Richard’s time to shine.
We need to make the photography stock, usually around six of each candle, all looking their absolute best and ready to be photographed.
While Richard is making the candles, Sargon finishes the labels and prepares everything else needed for the shoot.
Then the studio is temporarily transformed from a candle workshop into a photography studio.
It is always a great day, but it is also intense.
We are not professional photographers, so we take a long time making sure everything looks right. We adjust the lighting, move things by tiny amounts and check each image several times.
Once the full shot list is finished, Sargon usually asks Richard to check that nothing has been forgotten...
Richard normally forgets something.
The digital magic
When the photography is finished, Richard is usually left to tidy the studio and turn it back into a usable production space. Its half cleaning, and half loud music dance party.
Sargon downloads the photographs and starts the process of editing, correcting and preparing them for online use.
This means creating different sizes, crops, formats and versions for the website, emails, social media and anything else we may need.
Richard is not the most digitally savvy person.
His usual contribution is to wander into the room, request a wonderful new image size or format and then leave Sargon to make it magically appear.
Sargon really is a wizard with all of it.
Finally releasing the candle
After months of planning, fragrance testing, colour experiments, label design, candle making and photography, the new fragrance is finally ready to leave the studio.
We usually send the first batches to a small group of people whose opinions we really trust. Our Candle Club subscribers may also receive early samples, previews or experimental versions of things we are developing.
This gives us a chance to hear how the fragrance behaves in other people’s homes and make sure we have not missed anything obvious.
Once that final feedback comes in, the candle is ready to be fully released.
It is a long process, but hidden inside every candle are months (sometimes years) of conversations, memories, experiments, disagreements, small adjustments and a lot of excitement.
The sweet pea fragrance is only at the very beginning of that journey.
We do not yet know exactly what it will smell like, what colour it will become or even whether it will be ready for 2027 or 2028.
For now, it is a collection of flowers by the front door, memories of Devon and the first page of a new fragrance brief.
We cannot wait to see where it takes us.