Gift Focus - Mar/Apr 2018 (Issue 106)

When did esscentualcandles start up? What was the reason for setting up this business? It started back in 2009 when I began making candles at the age of just 12. My mum bought me a candle making kit and after the first couple turned out really well, I carried on! After a couple of years of testing and giving them away as gifts to grandparents and aunties, I began to wonder if I’d have any luck actually selling them to people. This fascination grew when I saw my mother and grandparents buying seemingly hundreds of candles at very high prices! So, I booked a craft stall at a local flower show and it was an unexpected success. After around three years of doing various shows and events, I decided I would try to enter the world of wholesaling my candles. The very first shop to take them on was a fantastic design-led gift shop called Flux based in Edinburgh, they remain a stockist to this day! How has the company developed over time? As I became keener on the idea of selling my candles to shops instead of spending most weekends selling at farmers markets and the like, I realised just how many candle brands were out there and that I’d need a point of difference if I was to see any kind of success. After many hours of market research and checking out other brands, I found out that so many candle brands seem to concentrate their design effort on either fragrance or packaging, but rarely both. I decided to ensure we throw equal amounts of passion and creativity into both fragrance and packaging and this should be the backdrop to everything we do. Over the last 18 months we’ve teamed up with my colleague Jeff Wall of Cera Consulting, who now manufactures our candles and brings more than 30 years of experience to the company. Tell us about your product offering. Are you planning on introducing any different product lines? Currently, paint tin candles make up the core of our range. It’s important to me that we keep up with current market trends but still offer our customers products with a genuine point of difference. For example, we have identified a growing trend of Cuba as a holiday destination, as well as the Cuban rum that goes with it! So, we’re currently working on a range inspired by this that’ll be launched later this year. In addition to this, we’ve just launched a line of wax melts, this product seems to be getting popular now. The theme of the range is very much centred on relaxation and taking time out for yourself in such a busy world. How do you keep your designs fresh and current? What makes you different in a busy marketplace? Shortly after starting my search to bring a uniqueness to market, I was contacted by an artist who had just finished a degree at Glasgow School of Art and wanted to help revamp my packaging. Her designs are so colourful and illustrative of the fragrances in the candles and we continue to work with her on our new products. I then take care of designing imaginative and original fragrances, which really stand out on the shop shelves and perfectly complement striking artwork! What values are important to the company? As well as standing out from the crowd in terms of the candles we make, I’m a firm believer that exclusivity should not always Aidan Paterson, owner of esscentualcandles chats to Gift Focus about turning his childhood hobby into a business making perfect scents giftfocus 21 company profile