We love a good lockdown start-up story, and Salt Rock artist Lauren Dely’s launch of Nude Home Fragrances is exactly that. We chatted to the artist, entrepreneur and single mom about her collection of tranquil spoils.
A passion project born in uncertain times, Lauren’s range of Nude candles and wellness products were inspired by a desire not only to bring calm and comfort into our homes, but also to tread as lightly on the earth as possible.
PLEASE SHARE A BIT ABOUT YOUR LIFE AND CAREER BEFORE STARTING THIS NEW JOURNEY. I have lived in Durban for most of my life (apart from a brief stint in London) and I’ve always had a creative calling. I studied graphic design after school and, although I loved it, I didn’t want to go the traditional advertising route. Instead, I worked my way from a textile designer at a homeware retailer to eventually becoming a trend forecaster for a major fashion retailer. I loved the fast pace, travel and creativity of fashion, but I found the demands of the job and motherhood very hard to juggle. I said goodbye to the corporate world when I fell pregnant with my second son in 2016. With a bit more time on my hands, I was able to rekindle my love for oil painting, something I hadn’t done since school, and that really fuelled my creative fire again and helped me ‘return to myself’ in a way.
TELL US ABOUT THE BIRTH OF NUDE HOME FRAGRANCES
Nude is my lockdown baby! In 2020 I found myself trying to navigate both a pandemic and a divorce in the same year. I didn’t feel I could make a living from painting alone (the world changed so fast that year), and I wanted to start a business that would allow me the freedom and flexibility I needed as a single mom of two boys. I also knew I wanted to create a product that would add value and bring tranquillity into people’s lives, if even in just a small way. I started experimenting with essential oil blends (to calm my own anxiety) and fell in love with scent and natural ingredients. This is where the name Nude came from – a natural and eco-conscious take on a luxury product. A few (million!) YouTube tutorials later, and I was fully addicted to the art of soy candle making. I researched, crafted and tested until I felt I had a beautiful product I could put out into the world.
HOW HAS THE BUSINESS EVOLVED SINCE THEN?
I love that Nude has evolved and grown quite organically over the short year that I have been in business. It was always set up to be a small business, but I didn’t anticipate the incredible support I would receive from loyal customers so early on. My vision now is for it to keep growing steadily and consistently. Quality is at the forefront of everything I do, so I hope to continuously better my product offering. I am very excited to be moving to my own premises this year as well and, with that extra space, I hope to be able to host candle-making workshops, open a retail section and focus on growing the wholesale side of my business.
TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE PRODUCTION PROCESS? DO YOU MAKE ALL THE CANDLES YOURSELF?
Yes! At the moment every single candle is hand-poured by me in my tiny kitchen! I pre-blend the essential oils and fine fragrance in bulk – I have my own recipe, unique to my brand, for most of my blends. I prep the glasses and wick them whilst the wax is melting – soy wax is notoriously fickle and temperatures must be exact at the stage of adding oils and blending, as well as during pouring, to ensure a smooth topped and beautiful candle. After they have cured, they are wiped clean, labelled and packaged. I work in small batches of about 20 at a time. It’s labour-intensive, but worth it to create a great performing candle. I am grateful to have two amazing sales assistants to help at markets and I hope to hire and train an apprentice chandler soon.
YOU ONLY SELL WOODWICK CANDLES. HOW ARE THESE DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS ON THE MARKET?
As a lover of luxury candles for many years, nothing used to irritate me more than an expensive candle tunnelling, or the wick drowning halfway through the candle…what a waste of beautiful scented wax! I noticed a lot of international makers creating woodwick candles and decided to give it a try. I have not looked back – they are amazing! The horizontal flame means you get a wide melt pool, resulting in a great scent throw and a clean, even burn all the way down to the very last drop of wax. An added bonus is the little wood fire crackle that is such a sensory treat!
TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE SCENTS AND THE OTHER PRODUCTS IN YOUR RANGE?
I try to create unique scent combinations that aren’t on the market at the moment but are still familiar and beautiful. I absolutely love naming them most of all – scent has the power to transport us and connect us to memory and I try to name the blends after experiences and places I feel connected to, and hope others will too. Scent is very seasonal, so at the moment I’m experimenting with some autumnal scents with lots of woody, spicy and herbaceous notes that I’m very excited about. I’m hoping they evoke feelings of woodland forest walks and being in nature. I also make botanical essential oil bath soaks and wax melts and I’m hoping to expand this self-care product range over the next year.
WHERE CAN WE FIND NUDE PRODUCTS?
They are available online on my website, nudehomefragrances.com, as well as the following beautiful boutiques: Willow & Ruby, Willow, Unison, Catalyst, The Ruby Orchard, The Windmill Junction. You can also find us at Shongweni Market, iHeart Market and Sugar Market.
Details: Nude Home Frangrances: www.nudehomefragrances.com, @nudehomefragrances,
Lauren’s artist page: @laurens_art_journey
Text: Leah Shone
Photos: BTS: Andre Swart Photography, product photography: Olivia Rebecca Photography,
HMU: Kylie Pretorius
