Q & A With Owner Of Wooly Wax
We first discovered Denver- based candle company Wooly Wax through instagram a few months ago. We loved their story and concept and knew we wanted to collaborate with them. Rachel, the brains behind Wooly Wax worked as a chef for over 20 years before she decided to start her own candle company. Inspired by stories, travel, and her own surroundings, Rachel comes up with beautiful scent profiles for her own brand and the people she collaborates with. When working on The Wanderly Collaboration, Rachel first researched the Toronto area, to come up with a beautiful cedar and spruce scent, that we call the Forest Wanderer. We wanted to learn more about her own story, work process and inspiration, so today on the blog enjoy a Q & A with Rachel!
Rachel, You used to be a chef, what made you want to get into making candles?
As a chef for 20 + years, I wanted to better understand the correlation between taste and scent profiles. Both are strongly connected and both evoke memory that I find fascinating. Making candles is an outlet for me to be creative in scent profiling and customized scents.
Can you tell us a little about your process?
My process starts with an idea. I look around my environment to find inspiration and I start the process by establishing a base fragrance note. From there I build middle and top notes that usually tend to be the stand out scent. It’s all heavily influenced by my surroundings and travels.
How do you get inspired to create a scent profile?
I get inspired to create scent profiles from my surrounding and collaborations with others. I enjoy listening to people’s stories and creating scent profiles that will remind them of a particular moment in time.
Can you tell us your favourite WOOLY WAX story?
Since Wooly Wax Candles is such a young company I’m still in the process of building favourite Wooly Wax stories. However, recently for my birthday I traveled to Palm Springs, California for the weekend. Palm Springs (P.S.) is a beautiful desert resort city located in the Coachella Valley. The valley is filled with unique and fragrance aromatics such as the minerality of the desert floor and the citrus scent of the abundant lemon trees wafting through the air. As I walked around picking herbs and plucking lemons from the pergola, I thought what a terrific scented candle that would make and thus, P.S. I love you came to fruition. I will forever be reminded of that special weekend. Those are the kind of stories I want to continue to make.
What are the rewards and challenges you face being your own boss?
The rewards of being your own boss are pretty straight forward. I get to be the creative and dreamer all the while driving the business in the direction I want it to go. The challenges are: I’m the one who is responsible for this whole crazy thing!
When your not making candles, what do you do for fun in Denver?
When I’m not making candles, I enjoy exploring my city. Denver is a beautiful, evolving city and there is something new to discover every day. I love heading to the mountains to hike, snowboard and just chill.