Interview with Sea Love Candles & Company

Interview with Sea Love Candles & Company

Today's blog is the third installment in our Featured Maker Series. This month we are thrilled to be interviewing Stacy from Sea Love Candles and Company. We currently sell some of her amazing soy candles and are adding a few more to our Spring/Summer 2020 line, launching April 6. During the month of April, Sea Love Candles and Company candles will be featured on our site. If you sign up for our newsletter you will receive a discount code to use on these candles. Enjoy our Q & A with Stacy.

1) Tell us about what you do.

Sea Love Candles & Company is a lifestyle brand that custom creates and hand-pours home fragrances of premium coconut and soy wax candles, reed scent diffusers, and line & room mists. We’re a husband and wife team who adore living in Kennebunkport, Maine and believe that a home is special and needs to be a place where the soul is rejuvenated. The purpose of Sea Love is to help create beautiful spaces where family and friends feel happy, safe, and comfortable.

2) How long have you been making your products and how did you get started?

Sea Love was established in 2018 - inspired by my love of style & design and belief your home should be a sanctuary. I’ve always loved the glow and ambiance of a good smelling candle but could never burn them since my husband, Barry, has allergies and was very sensitive to overpowering smells of the normal store bought candle I used to buy. I struggled finding an unscented all-natural soy candle in a pretty vessel, so I started researching and dabbling making my own.  Eventually I created a clean burning candle with fragrances that didn’t bother his asthma. Slowly I began to make them for friends and a close friend encouraged me to try selling them. That was three years ago and I’m tickled that our candles are on the shelves of almost 200 small curated boutiques across the country. Staying small batch, hand poured and close to our origin, we are slowly growing our brand and meeting new folks that believe in safe and natural products for their homes that are also designed to complement a wide range of aesthetics.

3) What is your favorite part of the creative process? Least favorite?

Scent is a powerful thing. So many of our beautiful past stories are re-engaged by the power of scent. Sitting at the beach with good friends and delicious fruity cocktail.  Falling in love with your best friend, walking through the forest in the dead of winter, or just seeking an opportunity to replenish your soul. There is a scent that triggers a beautiful memory. I love creating fragrances that capture the essence of some of your fondest memories no matter what time of year it may be.

The creative process can also be challenging when blending fragrances, mixing the right ratio of oils to wax, and finding the right size wick for the perfect clean burn. It’s my favorite and rewarding part but since testing is vital, trial and error can be costly. If time permitted I would offer a new fragrance or more monthly – instead we may vault (or retire) 1-3 fragrances from our signature collection and introduce seasonal scents in the spring and fall.   

 4) From where do you draw your inspiration to create your products?

The beach mostly. It’s where I create the happiest memories.  I also look towards others that think with a similar perspective of life and home. Women that have these beautiful dreams and lives…and in this little space we call life, we encourage each other. We collaborate and push each other and we laugh. We laugh a lot.

5) What values does your business embody?

All of our ingredients are carefully, thoughtfully sourced to create beautifully safe, sustainable products that are vegan, cruelty-free, phthalate-free, petroleum free, and never tested on animals.  We also source all materials through suppliers who provide eco-friendly alternatives to packing, production, and fulfillment. We encourage to re-purpose our pretty jars to be used for trinkets, decoration, or small planters.  It just means so much to us that you purchase our pretty jars, but we hate to think they are ever anything but recycled.

6) Is your business a full time or part time venture? Do you have plans to grow/expand?

For two years Sea Love was a full-time side hustle. We will continue our wholesale business but I recently left a full time corporate job to expand our journey in candle making to open a candle bar.  I am excited to be the 1st in Maine to offer a DIY custom candle experience where you can blend your own fragrance, pour a candle, and create your own memories – with friends, the local community, and visitors of our beautiful state of Maine.

7) There are many challenging that come along with running a small business. What is your biggest challenge and what is your biggest reward or success?

Space and technology. We have a dedicated workshop in the basement of our house about 500 square feet. I just did a major overhaul of the space to make it more usable but an actual workshop facility will be our next move.Technology, I know I need to pay someone to update my website to increase traffic and improve presence on all social media channels. I wish I had more time to learn to become more tech savvy. My biggest success was knowing when to ask for help.  Marketing, design, or otherwise – my biggest reward was realizing that I didn’t have struggle doing things that weren’t my forte.

8) How do you spend your time when you aren’t creating?

When not making and creating candles, I'm enjoying time with Barry, our two fur babies Chewbacca and Cleo and our new baby grandson, Cruz, just born in March.Together, we love going to the beach and exploring the beautiful Coast of Maine. It's what truly inspires me the most. 

9) Salt and Branch sells only a few of your products. Where can people go to find more of your products?

We’re so honored to partner with retail shops and excited when our products are offered to their customers. We also appreciate and value our social media friends on FaceBook and Instagram. It’s a beautiful (and fun) community where we can showcase our candles in our home and love seeing how our customers style our candles in theirs.  Tag us and follow our adventure @sealovecandles!      

10) Is there anything I didn’t ask that you would like readers to know?

Thanks for reading about us - we love what we do and feel so grateful for people like you who take the time to listen to our story and support our product.   Cheers!  Xo Stacy

                 

Many thanks to Stacy to taking the time for our Featured Maker interview! If you enjoyed reading about Sea Love Candles and Company, check out March's featured maker interview and February's featured maker interview

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1 comment

My daughter in law gave me a pine sample and I just love to inhale it —especially when stress overcomes me! Talk about aromatherapy! I intend to order ASAP.

Patricia

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