They’re ba-ack! Our favorite candles are back in store. They come with rich memories, if you knew them in the past, and if this is your first date with them, you’re in for a sweet surprise. Here is the back story of how they came about.
Many years ago, on one of our first shopping trips to France, we stumbled upon an amazing candle maker whose tea-scented candles stopped us in our tracks. I’ll never forget the feeling of walking into her shop: The gracious 16th Century stone stable was filled with the candles, and the thick stone walls soaked up the fresh scent and enveloped the space like a warm, heavenly blanket. We were instantly mesmerized … and completely obsessed.
Our first reaction was to buy as many as we could carry, and stash them into every bag we could find. I rushed home to Les Murets and burned a few candles around the house, hoping the thick plaster walls would absorb the fumes forever and imbue all our furnishings with their special scent (it worked for a while, until there were no more!). Undeterred that our overweight and sweet smelling bags might alert the senses of the U.S. customs, we stubbornly brought them home to the gallery, where Linda was as excited as we were to keep them burning. That’s when the true love affair began.
At the time, we only had the art gallery, and it was fun to watch the reaction as our customers came through the door. It usually started with, “What is that wonderful scent in here?” followed by an urgent request to buy them. Buoyed by their popularity, and eager to replenish our own diminishing supplies, we contacted the vendor in France. A few months later, we were happily known for our candles along with the art, and I don’t think a day went by that we didn’t sell at least one candle. Some clients would buy 6 at a time, stocking up for Christmas and filling their closets with hostess gifts. In fact, we have lots to thank for these candles as they became our first product to propel us with the launch Huff Harrington Home many years later.
Over time, our love affair blossomed with the candles and the scents, but not with the packaging, which often arrived damaged in the shipments. We sensed that our vendor had shifted her focus to other products and we tried desperately to keep our candles flowing. And then our prescient fear was realized: The vendor stopped carrying them … and sadly, our candles burned out.
For many years, we tried to track down the original candle maker and through some savvy sleuthing that required months of patience and literally sniffing our way around fairs in France, we found her! Ten months ago, in September, we sat down and literally snuffled our way through the order, deciding to stick with the two most iconic scents: Thé Noir and Thé Blanc. Afraid that we would run in to the same packaging issues as the last time, we decided to design our own box and have it manufactured in the U.S.
We made a bet that with all the coordination between French candles and U.S. box manufacturing, it would take at least a year to get the candles in our store, and we’re happy to say that we lost the bet … but won the prize of all: The candles are here in their brand new HHH designed boxes!
With gorgeous new packaging that we designed and manufactured in the U.S., our delicious French candles have made their debut at Huff Harrington Home and Huff Harrington Fine Art. We are now prouder than ever (and happier too!) to re-introduce the scent that launched us in to home products and accessories, the iconic first product we ever carried: HHH Thé Noir and Thé Blanc.
Ta ta,
HH
P.S. Sam Jones, always the creative one, decided it would be fun to create a mountain of HH candles!
What a wonderful story! I think I’ll try both scents.
I love a good candle. I will have to try one of these! I especially enjoyed your story!