I love aromatherapy and candles. Over the years I have made the switch to soy candles as they are better for your health and the environment.
Recently I had the chance to chat to the founder of Nula Soy, Helen Cornford to learn more about the brand.
MY JOURNEY
The journey began a long time ago with my Grandparents. My Grandmother was born and lived near to Great Budworth in Cheshire, she was a true country girl. Looking back I realise how ahead of her time she was when it came to natural living. She made and used natural remedies and was a keen organic grower. With my Grandfather in the 1950s she bought some land and set up a plant nursery and florist along with two of my aunts. This business still thrives today.
I feel that growing up in this naturally scented environment was my inspiration for Nula Soy. My sister and I really enjoyed playing in fields of flowers or helping to water the geraniums and other plants that grew in our grandfather’s greenhouses. A favourite treat was accompanying him to the early morning flower market in Manchester. I can still remember the scents so vividly.
The benefits of natural organic living has been intrinsic to my life, and in my 20s I developed my passion for essential oils that remains until this day. It still drives me to continue to learn as much as I can about different oils and their therapeutic properties. I have studied aromatherapy and perfume making in great detail in order to understand more about this beautiful art. I cannot think of many days when I have not used essential oils for one reason or another, especially since having my children.
In 2012, I founded Nula Soy Limited in Bollington, Cheshire, with the aim of creating and producing a range of exceptional English made soy wax candles, fragranced using only 100% pure certified organic essential oils.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Why candles? – Scented candles are a wonderful and popular gift to both give, receive or buy for yourself. Burning candles can have so many different meanings such as a gift of remembrance, uplifting or calming a mood. Life being so hectic, we often wonder if candles are the perfect antidote to 24/7 living – connecting us to slower pace of life enjoyed by our ancestors.
We use only carefully blended formula of 3 or 4 100% pure certified organic essential oils in natural soy wax from North America. Blending has been my greatest joy with Nula Soy.
We decided to use only a handful of oils in each fragrance when developing the blends as we discovered that my customers, friends and focus group members alike simply love to be able to pick out individual essential oils for themselves.
I have endeavoured to use the highest integrity in all aspects of our sourcing raw materials and packaging.
We took the decision to use only 100% pure certified organic essential oils as these are in my opinion the finest fragranced oils in the world and their use promotes kinder farming.
Furthermore, our certified organic 100% pure oils have all been created using traditional farming methods without the use of pesticides, herbicides or GMs. Our essential oils have been certified organic by either The Soil Association or The Organic Farmers and Growers in the UK.
I have been privileged to work with some very talented professionals who believe in Nula Soy. We buy and collect all of my oils apart from my English Lavender and Roman Chamomile from a wonderful Cheshire family firm which has been importing and selling oils for over 150 years.
Each Nula Soy candle is hand-poured in Cheshire, England to the highest possible standards. There is no place in our candles for paraffin waxes or other petroleum products, artificial colours or synthetic fragrances.
You can be assured that we only use natural renewable soy wax, cotton wicks and 100% pure essential oils.
We do not use animal products and our soy candles have not been tested on animals.
Our unique candles are registered with The Vegan Society. We care deeply about our beautiful world, so as we take from nature, we like to put a little back. Five percent of our profits is donated to The Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
THE CANDLES
Candles to evoke the essence of a beautiful place…
Journey with us on a one of a kind adventure stopping off at wondrous locations….
We begin our soy candles collection in 1568, meandering through one of England’s romantic, perfumed Elizabethan Gardens
We then travel on to the wide, expansive beauty of Las Pampas in Argentina, home to the passionate Gaucho.
Soon after we reach Maui Beach and its sensual, gentle surf on the exotic island of Hawaii. This is our half way point.
Our next location is the sun-kissed island of Bali where we rest and experience absolute tranquillity.
Onward, we journey to the restorative Blue Mountains in Australia and watch the whispering blue dawn unfold …
With our senses heightened, the final destination in this beautiful candle collection is Peaceful Earth a place of stillness and complete harmony
DEVELOPMENT
I have endeavoured to select individual oils belonging to each location although in some instances I have had to use a little poetic license. I was determined at the offset to have an ‘English’ candle considering I was creating and producing them here, it only seemed fitting to do so.
Like many people worldwide, I find our Elizabethan period of history both rich and fascinating and I took the inspiration from these times. I spent some time at my favourite Elizabethan House which is Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire to immerse myself in this little gem of a hall in order to be able to communicate this feeling to my designer.
I was fortunate to find out about an organic farm in Cheshire that makes the most amazing English Lavender and Roman Chamomile which I was delighted to collect in person. This candle for me represents all types of love.. Each of my fragrances has taken many months of similar research in order to accurately portray each location.
It has been a privilege to work with some very talented professionals who believe in Nula Soy. In particular, designer Andrew Greenwood, the founder of Visual Sense, whose creativity has been incredible. Lecturer and aromatherapist, Anne Delooze, has patiently and willingly advised me regarding the countless blends I have created over the last two years.
DESIGN & PACKAGING
Our mesmerising candles have been meticulously crafted to evoke the essence of a beautiful place. Our current journey stops at six destinations Elizabethan Gardens in England, Las Pampas in Argentina, Maui Beach in Hawaii, Bali in Indonesia, The Blue Mountains of Australia and finally Peaceful Earth. We have more waiting in the wings for you.
Our luxurious candles have different therapeutic properties such as soothing, or fortifying, enticing or harmonious. The modern crystal glassware we use comes in two different colours per fragrance perfectly matching the colours of each location.
Each of our exquisite English made boxes are designed to reveal a stunning illustration of the location. Everything has been designed to transport you to a beautiful place from the comfort of your home.
The Nula Soy brand marque has a natural organic character, to fully reflect the character of the candles. We developed a marque that had both a seed-like (organic/natural) and also flame-like (candle) quality. The left-hand side of the marque always carries the main brand colours – brown and green to reflect the organic qualities of the brand. The colours on the right-hand side of the marque are matched to the fragrance colour. As an identity it’s quite fluid and adaptable.
All illustrations were created in-house and were developed in close partnership, so that we could accurately portray the fragrance of each candle. The fragrance elements are visually portrayed within each candle’s unique illustration. We’ve used both literal and metaphoric visual clues for each fragrance. For example, for Maui Beach we included illustrations of both the Pikake flower and also the Moon as this is the time when the flower’s fragrance is released.
SIZE AND SCOPE
Rather than use standard glassware, we decided that given the beauty of our fragrances, we created a range of inspiring glassware to reflect Nature’s bounty of colours found at each of the candle’s destinations.
A totally unique aspect of our glassware is that they are available in two beautiful colours to complement or blend with different décor. We believe that this is a fabulous aspect of Nula Soy’s candle range.
Furthermore, our candles are also available in three different sizes:
Our beautiful crystal glassware is made to the world’s highest ecological standards in Bavaria, then colour-coated and branded in the UK.
And finally …
We have loved every single aspect of our journey whilst creating our candle range. It is most certainly our hope that you will love Nula Soy candles as much as we do!
Shop Nula Soy here.
Lola ♡