Iggy Box Reveal | May Maker
Welcome to your May box ‘An ocean breeze puts the mind at ease…’
Meet Your May Maker
Jack and Steve, our featured makers, launched Candles By Luma in early 2020, after 6 long months of intense testing, whilst balancing full time jobs from their base in Wakefield, Yorkshire…
The collection has been created with nostalgia in mind, reminding us of the happiest of memories and striving for perfection at every stage of the process, using sustainable, organic and recyclable materials. Keep an eye out for new products in the pipeline and events to raise money for local charities, which are all planned this summer.
Wicks Inside My Box
The candle
‘Tamika’ Coconut and Lime
This month we have a timeless amber apothecary vessel, featuring for the first time since May 2020. This scent won the hearts of the entire team in our blind smell testing and will leave you dreaming of that salty sea air and wind in the palm trees…
Tamika is a sweet coconut and lime aroma, fused with lemon, orange and apple. With a touch of soft florals, resting on a base of vanilla, musk and gentle woods, it is a truly exotic scent to whisk you away to the tranquility of your favourite beach…
The Wax Facts
The Little One | 180ml | 30 hr burn time | RRP £18
The Bigger One | 250ml | 45 hr burn time | RRP £25
Inside your Iggy Box this month, you’ll also find your ‘Little Something Extra’…
This month, we have partnered with Plant Pops to bring you their Popped Lotus Seeds! A deliciously crunchy snack in a classic lightly salted flavour to satisfy those taste buds! These vegan friendly, palm oil free lotus seeds are hand harvested, popped and roasted in small batches to create a great snack.
Plant Pops founder, Anushi, grew up in India, enjoying popped seeds throughout her childhood and after months of recipe testing with friends, from her kitchen, Plant Pops began its journey… A partnership with Action Village India means donations are made from profits made to help give back to farmers and their families in Bihar, India, where the seeds are sourced. A great snack at any time of day. Try on a sunny evening to transport you to that beach bar…
Let’s learn a little more about Candles by Luma! Earlier this month, we sat down with Jack and Steve to talk all things candles…
How long has your brand been going/ is it full time or do you do other things?
We currently work for a promotional products distributor in the US as designers and we started Luma at the beginning of 2020. Our vision for Luma was to grow the business to where we would be able to leave our full-time employment and focus all our time and energy on the business. Currently, we are still working full-time whilst balancing Luma, but as soon as our company is where we want it, we plan to make Luma our main venture!
Where in the UK are you based and what space do you use for your ‘workshop’?
As all brilliant candle ventures do, starting out, we did all of our testing out of our kitchen. As we grew into an actual business, we were lucky enough to have a family that owns an old warehouse where we now create and hand pour all of our candles.
What inspired you to start making candles? Do you have a passion that has been embedded in your brand?
We’ve always been makers, creators and intrigued by the process. We had just finished a 4-hour meeting sat at our desks and we both expressed we wanted to occupy our spare time. It had to be something we could create whilst not staring at a screen for 8 hours a day. We’ve always been avid candle buyers, but only in the last 2 or 3 years soy wax candle buyers. We decided to buy a candle making kit each and one weekend we gave it a go. We were blown away at how complex it can be to create a candle, especially a perfectly poured candle, and it inspired us to refine the process.
What do you love about our featured scent ‘Tamika’?
We love Tamika as it takes us back to being on Holiday. One whiff and the memories of being on family holidays on the red hot beach come flooding back. The sweet coconut opening and then a secondary zing of lime and fruity tones reminds us of everything sun and fun, it’s a real feel good fragrance. We know smells are subjective and with each of our fragrances we try to capture something that can be relatable to all and hopefully bring back memories of wonderful past times.
There are so many scents you can choose to make…How do you go about choosing for your collection?
Our process is very simple. We start with categories such as “fresh” or “fruity” and then consider what we would like in a candle. Once we’ve categorised and made it, we ask ourselves, would we buy it and does it suit our brand?
What has been your proudest moment since starting out?
After over 6 months of crafting our candle business, making sure our packaging was perfect, the experience of buying from our site and most importantly, testing our candles. Our proudest moment was finishing that day, taking a step back and looking at the stock we had ready along with pressing the button to release our website into the world. We truly believed we had created something special.
Do you have a fun fact or anecdote about your brand?
Being two guys, we almost created a candle brand for men and named it FLAME ON. Phew lol.
Do you have any specific ambitions or goals for Luma?
Our goal is to continuously bring quality products to our customers whilst being mindful of the environmental impact that our business has on our world. We always where possible ensure we use organic, recycled or recyclable materials. Our goal moving forward is to ensure we still to our values and always deliver on them. We’re striving for more people to know about our brand as we truly believe we’re crafting something that people love.
Do you have any charitable or environmental partnerships we should know about to share?
Once lockdown has been lifted, we have planned some charity events where we will be selling wax melts in our shopping centre in Wakefield. We’re hoping to raise money for Wakefield Hospice in our hometown.
Is there anything that you believe makes your brand different or stand out?
We believe our brand stands out because of our attention to detail. We really do not sacrifice quality in anything we do. If it is not 100% perfect, it completely shatters our values. This shines through in the quality of our scents, packaging and the service we provide to each and every one of our customers.
Are there any plans for new products or news over the next few months?
Over the next few months, we are planning to retail wax melts burners, soy tea lights and also other small candle related accessories such as coasters! We do have a vision to always be bringing new scents out for the seasons, but this is a slow process as we’re very picky and want anything we retail to be 100% perfect.
So there you have it, our May reveal!
With temperatures rising, we hope your May box whisks you off to your favourite tropical beach bar for some Summer holiday calm. Happy burning, Iggy Boxers!
