Ecoya’s Bouquet of Candles – Blush Flowers

Categories: Flora + Styling-Ecoya's Bouquet of Candles - Blush Flowers

TUBEROSE & FIG IN COLLABORATION WITH KELLY KARAM FROM BLUSH, AUCKLAND.

Princess Diana loved freesias. Billie Holiday is synonymous with gardenias. Audrey Hepburn loved lily of the valley and for Edith Piaf, it was chrysanthemums. Certain owers have long held the power to communicate something very personal, and Ecoya, a luxury home fragrance brand, has tapped into the evocative aroma of a bouquet in a new range of scented candles.

Known for choosing natural soy over petroleum-based para n wax (which emits more carbon, as well as toxic chemicals), and for inventive in-house blends like Coconut & Elder ower, Sun-Kissed Lime & Sea Salt, and Sweet Pea & Jasmine, Ecoya also has a growing reputation for impressive oral installations at their events.

The business, which began in a Cronulla garage more than a decade ago, is now an international brand sold in more than 25 countries, but this is Ecoya’s first ever collaboration. Rather than a fashion designer or pop star, Ecoya asked three leading florists to help concoct a limited- edition range of scented candles inspired by their dream bouquets. (Who better to fragrance your home than someone who spends their days surrounded by masses of owers?)

“Florists are artists, and the works they create are often all the crowd is talking about at an event,” says general manager Claire Barnes. “It felt like a really natural partnership for us.”

Categories: Flora + Styling-Ecoya's Bouquet of Candles - Blush Flowers

Ecoya asked Sean Cook of Mr Cook in Sydney, Kelly Karam of Blush in Auckland and Jardine Hansen of Jardine Botanic in Tasmania to participate. Each chose four to six fragrance cues, which Ecoya’s perfumer developed into samples, which were vetted to ensure they were distinctive and sufficiently complex.

“Our fragrances are not usually one-layered orals,” Barnes explains. “It’s incredibly important that they’re unique, multi-layered blends.” The best 10 were then sent back to the florists for approval, and graphic designers worked with them on packaging that reflects the essence of their creation.

The result is a trio of fragrances, each with its own mood and aesthetic. Arriving in February 2018 as candles and di users, they’re a beautiful accompaniment to Valentine’s Day owers.

Categories: Flora + Styling-Ecoya's Bouquet of Candles - Blush Flowers

TUBEROSE & FIG IN COLLABORATION WITH KELLY KARAM FROM BLUSH, AUCKLAND.

Kelly Karam was grabbing a coffee at a neighbourhood cafe in upscale Parnell in inner-city Auckland, when she spotted a retail space for lease next door, and decided to make the leap.

After ditching fashion design and makeup artistry for floral design, Karam had run her business from her own home for years, creating luxurious, jaw-dropping arrangements for weddings and for retail and hospitality clients, but now she could have her own space, turning it into an airy, white oasis with concrete floors, a striking brass display bench, and a restful ambience that conceals much of the hard work going on behind the scenes.

Choosing flowers for a bouquet can be tough and many florists’ shops are a visually overwhelming experience. Helpfully, Blush displays its blooms in wide troughs on one wall, accessed via a handsome brass ladder, grouped in orderly colour gradations, and Instagrammed each week.

Another clever innovation is the chic cardboard carry-bags that Blush uses for packaging, saving on paper waste and making flowers look like they’re emerging from a sort of special flower suitcase.
As well as opening her store last year, Karam was one of five New Zealand entrepreneurs recognised by Moet & Chandon for her innovative thinking, and is the only New Zealand florist to have collaborated with Ecoya. “Creating my own fragrance has always been on the wish-list,” she says, “I just never thought it would happen so soon.

“I chose some of my absolute favourite fragrant blooms — tuberose and stephanotis — plus fresh orange leaves, earthy fig and deep musk.”
Karam’s sultry, feminine floriental fragrance has fresh green top notes, a heart of tuberose, jasmine and ylang ylang, and a base of New Zealand cedarwood and fragrant fig leaves.

Categories: Flora + Styling-Ecoya's Bouquet of Candles - Blush Flowers

Photography—Olivia Hemus