The hottest Candles on the market right now – CandleCalm! We interview the Marlow family behind the business…
With Christmas just around the corner, the search for the perfect gift can be a challenge. Not any more! Let me introduce to you CandleCalm; the Marlow-based candle company who create natural and healthy candles with beautiful scents.
Read Nok and Chris’ amazing CandleCalm story and why not bag yourself an exclusive discount while you’re there!
Welcome Nok and Chris! We are obsessed with your candles and with Christmas around the corner, we thought it only right to share your inspiring story with our Marlow Mums!
Nok, tell us how CandleCalm came about?
First of all, a massive ‘Hi’ to all the subscribers of MarlowMums and another massive thank you to MarlowMums for having us. CandleCalm was a little bit of an unavoidable collision of passions, driven by a heavily fuelled desire to find a way to spend more time, and therefore provide more support to our daughter, ‘Alice’ who suffers from a horrible disease.
Back in 2017, when we were still living in Thailand, Chris, my husband, was working rotations offshore in the oil and gas industry. After being diagnosed with anxiety, he had turned to aromatherapy by using essential oils to try and help with breathing, reduction of stress and sleep, and it worked really well for him. One half of the passion that forms CandleCalm, developed from here!
I had an interest at the time in making body butters, balms and candles, so I took the opportunity to obtain various natural waxes and butters from the wholesaler where Chris was purchasing his essential oils from in Bangkok. Our Body butters and balms unfortunately fell to the wayside, but candles became my new favourite pastime. This other half of the passion that forms CandleCalm, developed from here.
In January 2019 and at 3 years of age, Alice was unfortunately diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the world’s biggest genetic killer of infants. We knew that we’d need to move our own wants and needs aside in order to provide her with the support she’d need as she was growing up, and inevitably growing weaker. We sold up within a week and rushed Alice back to the lovely UK (This was when we discovered Marlow) for treatment, which she is still undergoing, and will have to for the rest of her life however, she’s smashing through it all and is a very happy child with some very special friends. We couldn’t be prouder of our little Munchkin.
Once back in the UK, one night Chris was working on his laptop and seemed pretty stressed, so I lit one of the trial candles I’d made using his essential oils (Lavender and Peppermint; and now one of our best sellers) and placed it next to him. He was so excited about the concept of having his aromatherapy blends fused with soy wax as a release mechanism, and I was so excited that I’d found a way to scent my wax, healthily and in a way that offers actual benefits. We were even more happy that we’d accidentally stumbled across a potential way to run a business from home, to provide more time and support for our daughter Alice, which remains the main reason why we drive CandleCalm forward. So, we started CandleCalm, and it was our son Joshua, who was 9 at the time, who created the name.
As a family run business, do you have your defined roles and are the children involved?
Kind of, well the kids have been given defined roles as they love the titles. Chris and I have just naturally settled into what we think we’re good at, with Chris, this is pretty much everything lol.
I make all the products by hand in the workshop at home. I control all the materials and equipment and run the business admin side of things such as accounts and tax, supplies and stock levels, collecting and sorting orders and dispatch. Chris made the website, deals with suppliers and does a little bit of designing now and again, oh and he drinks lots of tea whilst watching Netflix and complaining he’s overworked by me as he has another job, which he reminds me of everyday!!
We love to involve the kids as much as possible. Our son ‘Josh’ is 12 and has been given a soft management position; the big words make him feel a bit special and loves threatening Dad with being fired for poor efforts. Josh helps with the sales when we do stall days, digital marketing on social media, which includes me telling him to turn off Minecraft and finish the company post on a frequent basis. Having a tech savvy kid in charge of this department seemed a great way to create a bit more interest from him into the tech side of things and he has now also turned his hand to coding HTML, Python and CSCS.
Alice is a bit of quality control manageress. She gets to check levels of soy wax to make sure CandleCalmers are not subject to bad hand pouring, she checks the wicks are centralised and the scents are nice and strong. We put her in this role so we can blame her for any complaints that come back in. We’re still waiting…!
We know your candles are not the ordinary scented candles that most of us are used to buying; what is about them that makes them healthy and natural?
The problem with today’s candles, is that many of them are made from paraffin wax and are scented with fragrances and perfumes. These are very easy and cheap to manufacture and contain some little nasties you really don’t want to be breathing in over long periods of time. Most of these types of candles create VOM’s (Volatile Organic Materials) when burned. These can contribute to long term chronic health effects and have been recorded as damaging unborn babies during pregnancy.
At CandleCalm, we only use soy wax and pure essential oils in our candles and wax melts. No paraffin wax, fragrances, or perfumes. Even our wicks are zinc and lead free, all our packaging is biodegradable, we provide seeded paper dust covers to grow herbs from the jars once the candle is finished and every single candle or wax melt purchase represents a donation to one our partnered charities, Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK, or Marlow Refugee Action. We are the mean, green, charitable soy wax machine!
Our soy wax is not manufactured from fossil fuels, is 100% natural and farmed from sustainable sources, and does not produce VOMs when burned.
Essential oils are obtained through a distilling/steaming process of completely natural plants, grass, hay, bark, fruit, flowers and seeds etc. Some of them take a hell of a lot of effort to obtain, and sometimes in very small amounts, which is why they can be quite expensive. They are used heavily in massage and aromatherapy to aid in a myriad of ailments and their therapeutic benefits range from opening airways to assist breathing, to reducing anxiety and inducing sleep.
CandleCalm doesn’t just make scents, we make sense.
Which scents do you offer, and which do you recommend our readers to order before Christmas?
We offer 9 different clear jar blends, which are also available in wax melts. We also have our 2 luxury candles, Hush and Snug, which are packed full of various essential oils, all
contained within modern containers. Unfortunately, we don’t offer the wax melt versions of these scents yet. Our Christmas range is up for grabs now as both a candle and wax melt, and the throw is a very nostalgic CandyCane scent.
You do a lot of charity work for SMA and Marlow Refugee Action, tell us about your charity support program?
We always said from the start, if we start CandleCalm to get that little extra help for Alice, then others have benefit too, which is why we set up our charity support program.
Alice suffering with SMA made this charity the obvious choice, and SMA UK was the first to come onboard with our program. For every single candle or packet of wax melts sold, we donate a portion of the sale to Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK. This charity does amazing outreach work to adults and children suffering with SMA.
As a former Royal Marine Commando, my husband Chris has seen, first-hand, the collateral damage of war. There is no excuse for people in today’s world, especially women and children, to have to live in tented cities with no access to food, clean water, adequate clothing, accommodation, or education. In order to contribute here, we have created a bespoke candle in partnership with Marlow.
Refugee Action called ‘Sanctuary’. This candle smells amazing and for every purchase, a large percentage is donated to the charity, who help with various programs in support of refugees such as their Samos project in Greece, helping with legal aid and children’s education.
**15% Christmas Discount! !**
Exclusive MarlowMums.com special offer
Use the discount code ‘MARLOWMUMS15’ at checkout in order to gain 15% off your order with CandleCalm.
Are you in search of the perfect Christmas Gift? Look no further! Here is CandleCalm; the Marlow-based candle company who create natural and healthy candles with beautiful scents.
Read on to learn about their story and to gain your exclusive MarlowMums discount!
Welcome Nok and Chris! We are obsessed with your candles and with Christmas around the corner, we thought it only right to share your inspiring story with our Marlow Mums!
Hi Nok, tell us how CandleCalm came about?
First of all, a massive ‘Hi’ to all the subscribers of MarlowMums and another massive thank you to MarlowMums for having us. CandleCalm was a little bit of an unavoidable collision of passions, driven by a heavily fuelled desire to find a way to spend more time, and therefore provide more support to our daughter, ‘Alice’ who suffers from a horrible disease.
Back in 2017, when we were still living in Thailand, Chris, my husband, was working rotations offshore in the oil and gas industry. After being diagnosed with anxiety, he had turned to aromatherapy by using essential oils to try and help with breathing, reduction of stress and sleep, and it worked really well for him. One half of the passion that forms CandleCalm, developed from here!
I had an interest at the time in making body butters, balms and candles, so I took the opportunity to obtain various natural waxes and butters from the wholesaler where Chris was purchasing his essential oils from in Bangkok. Our Body butters and balms unfortunately fell to the wayside, but candles became my new favourite pastime. This other half of the passion that forms CandleCalm, developed from here.
In January 2019 and at 3 years of age, Alice was unfortunately diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the world’s biggest genetic killer of infants. We knew that we’d need to move our own wants and needs aside in order to provide her with the support she’d need as she was growing up, and inevitably growing weaker. We sold up within a week and rushed Alice back to the lovely UK (This was when we discovered Marlow) for treatment, which she is still undergoing, and will have to for the rest of her life however, she’s smashing through it all and is a very happy child with some very special friends. We couldn’t be prouder of our little Munchkin.
Once back in the UK, one night Chris was working on his laptop and seemed pretty stressed, so I lit one of the trial candles I’d made using his essential oils (Lavender and Peppermint; and now one of our best sellers) and placed it next to him. He was so excited about the concept of having his aromatherapy blends fused with soy wax as a release mechanism, and I was so excited that I’d found a way to scent my wax, healthily and in a way that offers actual benefits. We were even more happy that we’d accidentally stumbled across a potential way to run a business from home, to provide more time and support for our daughter Alice, which remains the main reason why we drive CandleCalm forward. So, we started CandleCalm, and it was our son Joshua, who was 9 at the time, who created the name.
As a family run business, do you have your defined roles and are the children involved?
Kind of, well the kids have been given defined roles as they love the titles. Chris and I have just naturally settled into what we think we’re good at, with Chris, this is pretty much everything lol.
I make all the products by hand in the workshop at home. I control all the materials and equipment and run the business admin side of things such as accounts and tax, supplies and stock levels, collecting and sorting orders and dispatch. Chris made the website, deals with suppliers and does a little bit of designing now and again, oh and he drinks lots of tea whilst watching Netflix and complaining he’s overworked by me as he has another job, which he reminds me of everyday!!
We love to involve the kids as much as possible. Our son ‘Josh’ is 12 and has been given a soft management position; the big words make him feel a bit special and loves threatening Dad with being fired for poor efforts. Josh helps with the sales when we do stall days, digital marketing on social media, which includes me telling him to turn off Minecraft and finish the company post on a frequent basis. Having a tech savvy kid in charge of this department seemed a great way to create a bit more interest from him into the tech side of things and he has now also turned his hand to coding HTML, Python and CSCS.
Alice is a bit of quality control manageress. She gets to check levels of soy wax to make sure CandleCalmers are not subject to bad hand pouring, she checks the wicks are centralised and the scents are nice and strong. We put her in this role so we can blame her for any complaints that come back in. We’re still waiting…!
We know your candles are not the ordinary scented candles that most of us are used to buying; what is about them that makes them healthy and natural?
The problem with today’s candles, is that many of them are made from paraffin wax and are scented with fragrances and perfumes. These are very easy and cheap to manufacture and contain some little nasties you really don’t want to be breathing in over long periods of time. Most of these types of candles create VOM’s (Volatile Organic Materials) when burned. These can contribute to long term chronic health effects and have been recorded as damaging unborn babies during pregnancy.
At CandleCalm, we only use soy wax and pure essential oils in our candles and wax melts. No paraffin wax, fragrances, or perfumes. Even our wicks are zinc and lead free, all our packaging is biodegradable, we provide seeded paper dust covers to grow herbs from the jars once the candle is finished and every single candle or wax melt purchase represents a donation to one our partnered charities, Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK, or Marlow Refugee Action. We are the mean, green, charitable soy wax machine!
Our soy wax is not manufactured from fossil fuels, is 100% natural and farmed from sustainable sources, and does not produce VOMs when burned.
Essential oils are obtained through a distilling/steaming process of completely natural plants, grass, hay, bark, fruit, flowers and seeds etc. Some of them take a hell of a lot of effort to obtain, and sometimes in very small amounts, which is why they can be quite expensive. They are used heavily in massage and aromatherapy to aid in a myriad of ailments and their therapeutic benefits range from opening airways to assist breathing, to reducing anxiety and inducing sleep.
CandleCalm doesn’t just make scents, we make sense.
Which scents do you offer, and which do you recommend our readers to order before Christmas?
We offer 9 different clear jar blends, which are also available in wax melts. We also have our 2 luxury candles, Hush and Snug, which are packed full of various essential oils, all
contained within modern containers. Unfortunately, we don’t offer the wax melt versions of these scents yet. Our Christmas range is up for grabs now as both a candle and wax melt, and the throw is a very nostalgic CandyCane scent.
You do a lot of charity work for SMA and Marlow Refugee Action, tell us about your charity support program?
We always said from the start, if we start CandleCalm to get that little extra help for Alice, then others have benefit too, which is why we set up our charity support program.
Alice suffering with SMA made this charity the obvious choice, and SMA UK was the first to come onboard with our program. For every single candle or packet of wax melts sold, we donate a portion of the sale to Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK. This charity does amazing outreach work to adults and children suffering with SMA.
As a former Royal Marine Commando, my husband Chris has seen, first-hand, the collateral damage of war. There is no excuse for people in today’s world, especially women and children, to have to live in tented cities with no access to food, clean water, adequate clothing, accommodation, or education. In order to contribute here, we have created a bespoke candle in partnership with Marlow.
Refugee Action called ‘Sanctuary’. This candle smells amazing and for every purchase, a large percentage is donated to the charity, who help with various programs in support of refugees such as their Samos project in Greece, helping with legal aid and children’s education.
**15% Christmas Discount! !**
Exclusive MarlowMums.com special offer
Use the discount code ‘MARLOWMUMS15’ at checkout in order to gain 15% off your order with CandleCalm.
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