Based in Vancouver, luxury, small-batch, eco-friendly candle-maker Roam The Brand was born from co-founder Alicia Haque‘s desire to bring her favourite destinations into the home. We chatted with Alicia and her partner, Matt Hutchinson, to learn more. —Vita Daily
Hello Alicia and Matt! Please tell us a bit about yourselves to start.
Hi! We’re a husband & wife team and the founders of ROAM The Brand, our luxury, eco-friendly candle brand inspired by travel & adventure. Alongside this, we’re photographers, content creators & we run a dive company in Vancouver, and of course we’re candle-makers too! We wear many hats & no two days are the same, but the undercurrent of everything we do is our passion for travel, exploration & visual storytelling. We moved to Vancouver in 2015 from England, initially with a 1-year visa but 9 years on, we’re still here! We love everything about life on the West Coast, and alongside our adventure pup Fino, we seek to experience the magic of the destinations we visit & share it with the world in the form of beautiful visuals & dreamy scents!
Explain ROAM to us.
ROAM is a feeling, it’s a vibe. It’s the silence of the world when you’re hiking in the alpine. It’s the feeling of the sunset glow on the water as it ripples around you. It’s the fire crackling, glaciers creaking and waves rolling in – it’s power and it’s tranquility. We blend & hand-pour our candles in Vancouver and each scent is curated to evoke feelings of wanderlust and calm, drawing inspiration from destinations that carry meaning to us such as Tofino, Whistler, Jasper and Churchill. ROAM seeks to bring style, luxury and sustainability together, blending worldly travels with the comfort of home.
When and why did you launch ROAM? What niche were/are you aiming to fill?
We launched ROAM in September 2022, but the idea began in 2020 during the pandemic. We took up candle-making as a hobby (we never quite mastered Sourdough, so this was the next best thing!) & we loved it. We’d take old candle vessels & refill them with wax, but we soon realised that most vessels lose their aesthetic appeal after 1 burn cycle. We were uninspired by the loud branding of many candles – it’s just not our personal style – and once we began looking into it, realised how toxic certain waxes & fragrances can be. At this point we were also missing the freedom of travel & exploring and dreamed up ways to bring wanderlust and nature into the home. And thus….our idea for ROAM, a luxury & eco-friendly travel-inspired candle brand, was born.
We considered what our ideal product would look like & wanted it to be as much a home decor piece as a candle & something that could be reused or repurposed around the home. We discovered that soy wax isn’t as eco-friendly as we thought (soy production is a leading contributor to deforestation), so we looked to find an alternative. We wanted our candles to evoke a feeling and a vibe, and to act as a self-care ritual and a break from the busyness of life. We sought to capture our favourite destinations in a jar and create a premium product with an accessible price point, while keeping our practices & materials as sustainable as possible. It was a big ask… but we couldn’t find this in other candles out there, so we decided to create it ourselves.
Fast forward to present day…our ROAMs are made with a biodegradable coconut apricot wax, which is clean-burning and leaves a dreamy, smooth candle top. Our scents are blended with pure essential oils and & phthalate-free fragrance oils, set in a reusable & luxurious ceramic vessel. We use a crackling Wooden Wick which makes you feel like you’re relaxing by the campfire and sustainability is woven into our everyday practices, from the wax we use to the packaging we ship our candles in. Giving back is important to us & we wanted our ROAMs to leave a positive impact. 5% of profits from each sale are donated to Coral Gardeners, who help to restore damaged coral reefs & bring life back to the ocean. The exception is our special Churchill candle, which is dedicated to our late brother Paul who we lost in 2020. 10% of profits are donated to Polar Bears International who work to protect polar bear populations in Churchill and around the world.
What products/scents do you currently offer, and what makes them unique?
We currently have 5 core scents, and 2 limited edition Holiday scents. All candles are available in our signature Ceramic Vessels in Natural or Midnight, and our 4oz Travel Vessels. We also launched our WILD Outdoor Candle this summer, which is perfect for camping adventures & the garden.
Candle-making! What’s the process like? Are you self-taught? What was the learning curve like? And what lessons did you learn about making the perfect candle and capturing just the right scent?
We are completely self-taught as candle-makers and the process of capturing the perfect scent is… long (like, really long!), VERY aromatic, frustrating at times but also very satisfying. When we began, it took hundreds of hours of learning, sourcing, testing, blending, failing, testing again, and definitely wanting to give up a few times! But, after much persistence, we found a formula that worked for us & that process is replicated for every scent we create. Because we want our scents to evoke a feeling, emulate a destination and create a vibe, it’s a lot of trial and error to get the blend just right. And as a perfectionist, it makes the process even more arduous but when we nail the scent, it’s the best feeling, especially when our customers love them too!
The 2 biggest lessons I’ve learned from candle-making are:
- Patience & resilience is everything. Especially with building a small business, hurdles will inevitably arise & things won’t fall into place on the first try. It takes adaptability, patience, and a genuine love and passion for what you’re doing in order to justify putting in the work & time to overcome those hurdles. We took numerous breaks in the process of creating ROAM which helped to give us perspective when we hit roadblocks, and I’m glad we persisted as we’ve created something we’re so proud of & personally invested in.
- It will never be “perfect” – just do the damn thing! For me (Alicia), this is the biggest lesson I’ve learned. It’s not about striving for perfection, because it doesn’t exist – but instead, striving for the best you can do with what you know, growing, innovating, listening to what your customers are looking for, and a desire to keep on making it better.
What’s next for ROAM? What other destinations are you planning on capturing in candle form? (And, is there a wedding scent?!)
We’re so excited that our 2 Holiday scents – O Christmas Tree & ’Twas The Night Before – are back for the festive season, and we have 2 new core scents launching this January from a local & tropical destination that we love. Alongside our ceramic vessels & travel vessels, we’re also looking into new product lines & have so many ideas as to where we can take ROAM! And YES – we absolutely made a scent for our wedding! The Lulworth candle is inspired by beautiful Dorset in England, where we got married. It’s a dreamy, sexy, floral and musky scent & it brings back the best memories of our special day.
Dream destination captured in a candle? One each, please!
Matt – I’d love to recreate the feeling of diving in the cold Pacific Ocean through the PNW kelp forests. I’m not quite sure how this would work in a candle…but we’re definitely going to try!
Alicia – I’m going for a slightly warmer destination…mine would be Bali! I love that the streets are filled with the subtle scent of incense & sandalwood from the Canang Sari, which is a Balinese offering that’s left outside homes and temples to offer gratitude, peace & balance. I’d love to capture this in a candle!
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