(Written by: Hannah)
You know those moments when you randomly catch a whiff of something that transports you back to a time, place or thing? You may have no idea what that smell is exactly or where it came from, but suddenly you’re taken back to the chapstick you bought on a ski holiday in 1997… and it’s nice to be there again.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to smell that whenever you want a reminder? It’s Giving… is a nostalgic candle brand, designed to take you back to those moments.
The Beginning
The idea for It’s Giving came to me when I was chatting to my husband one night. We were talking about the “It’s giving…” phrase and I mentioned that a smell that day had reminded me of being at home with my parents on a weekend morning.
I joked, “It’s giving… Sunday morning - coffee, croissant and newspaper, smells like you’ve got nowhere to be”.
I had a lightbulb moment.
What if I could recreate that in a candle?
I immediately texted Emma, who is a successful Brand Photographer, to say that I might need her services if my 10-second old idea worked. Once I told her the idea, she and my brother immediately began scheming, and voila!
It's Giving was born.
The Research
Emma asked what I knew about candle-making… I said I’d made one. She said she’d made none. Research ensued.
As well as figuring out how to make a candle, we began looking at what’s out there already and if there’s a gap in the market for us. Turns out that there are mood candles and candles that may smell like certain places such as the beach or a rainforest, but there was a definite absence of candles that are designed to connect you to a memory.
We set about exploring scents. I’d already got the idea for two scents - Sunday Morning and Grandma’s Kitchen - so we ordered some fragrance oils, wax, wicks and vessels and set to work. These two scents later became Over Coffee and Leave No Crumbs.
Only when we started testing did we realise how challenging it would be to actually match the scent in front of us with the memories in our heads. The first rounds of testing didn’t quite get there. There wasn’t enough croissant in Sunday Morning, and Grandma’s Kitchen didn’t smell unique enough for us. In the feedback, it was a “Baked Something-or-Other”, not “Ooooh I’m baking this exact thing with my Grandma!”.
Over the next few months, we trialled different mixes until we finally found something that gave us the feedback we were after.
The Outcome
Throughout this journey so far, one theme in particular keeps coming up in mine and Emma’s discussions - the authenticity behind our scents.
We’re striving to make our candles true to us and our memories, and therefore every decision we make within the business needs to match that intention.
From the rose gold vessels - because rose gold is the colour of mine and my husband’s wedding bands - to our brand colours, which are an equal mix of mine and Emma’s personalities. Our scent names are unique to us, our brand voice sounds like us talking to each other, and even the choices we’ve made around our materials and packaging reflect the things that matter to us.
So What’s Next?
Well, now that we’ve launched, we have absolutely everything crossed that our customers love our 5 signature scents as much as we do and will keep coming back for more, but we also have some exciting plans that we’ll be putting into motion pretty soon. Including attending our first markets and releasing some special edition scents in the future.
Keep your eyes peeled!
