We recently launched our first Fenit Without home fragrance, the Sea Salt & Samphire candle. The product is manufactured in Fenit by Mary Hannon in the Lighthouse Candle and the whole process, from concept to creation, has been simply wonderful. We thought that it would be nice to share this journey with our readers.
What's with the Name?
The name for this product has been with us for a while. We felt that it represented 2 core elements of the Fenit community, our love for the ocean and the hardy little plant that thrives on our rocky shoreline (and also applies it's name to the home of our lighthouse / our logo).
Choosing a fragrance
This part of the project took weeks, and God bless Mary's patience. She supplied us with a host of fragrances, always adapting, tweaking, adding, subtracting scents and mixtures until we landed on something that we felt best represented the concept - Black Fig. Once we'd settled on Fig our attention turned to how much Fig. Again there were samples, prototypes and we even farmed a few samples out to trusted friends for their feedback. We also toyed with the idea of applying a dried samphire garnish to the top of the candle but to be honest it compromised the scent so we shelved that idea, for now. We would still love to include some organic and local samphire in the packaging, watch this space!
Meet the maker
Mary, the Fenit Chandler, and owner of The Lighthouse Candle has been operating from her premises in the Navo complex for just over 1 year. If you have ever paid her store a visit you'll already appreciate the care and attention that she invests into her craft. She is so open about the production process and loves to explain to her visitors how the whole thing works. Her candles and soaps are already stocked in a number of local retailers, chemists and hotels and as with many local crafters it's her personality and enthusiasm that shines out through each product. Her knowledge of blending fragrance and wax was mesmerising and we learned so much from her during the whole project.
How's it been received?
Crazy! We've sold out on a number of occasions already and our whatsapp group with Mary is largely made up of chats about production volumes, good news, feedback and testimonials. The candles have found new homes in Dublin, Kildare, Cork, Tipperary and of course Kerry. Visitors to Barrow House have also indulged in the fragrance and Darragh (Barrow House owner) keeps a candle burning in reception with a stock available for her guests to take home as a souvenir of their time in this part of the world. We are so pleased about how the whole project has been received.
What's next?
We have some new fragrances and brands in the works and we would love to tell more stories about Fenit through our future products, so keep an eye out for that. Fundamentally this project has delivered on all that we want to promote through Fenit Without. Collaborating with local businesses and crafts to produce lovely products and stories that highlight our community. Keeping it local but telling the world - we are still trying to figure out how we post a candle to a Fenit native stationed in Mexico!
