We Are 10

As Maison Blanche turns ten, I’m filled with pride for what this business has become. I’ve grown up alongside it. When I started Maison Blanche at 22, I could never have imagined the journey it would take me on.

Running a business is hard. It’s isolating, exhausting, and sometimes heartbreaking. But as I reflect on the past decade, I’m deeply grateful for the highs and for the lows. Each difficult moment taught me resilience and shaped me not just as a business owner, but as a person.

From travelling the world to source materials and attend trade shows, to seeing my candles stocked in dream stores and working alongside some of my closest friends, Maison Blanche has given me more than I could have hoped for.

To our customers: thank you. It has been an honour to fill your homes with fragrance over the last ten years. I hope we continue to scent your favourite spaces for many more to come.

How It All Started

Maison Blanche began in November 2012. At the time, I was working a job that gave me terrible anxiety. Lighting a candle each evening became a way to signal it was time to slow down and reset.

One night, I left a cheap vanilla candle from IKEA burning in my bedroom while I was in the shower. When I came back, the flame had flared so high it had scorched the wall and burned through the shelf above it.

After cleaning up (and throwing away the candle), I started researching candle materials and discovered soy wax. Back then, soy candles were rare. I found a candle supply website, spent $40, and followed a step-by-step blog tutorial to make my first soy candle - vanilla, for my mum and myself.

That first batch led to more. Mum asked for extras to give as Christmas gifts. On Christmas Day, my aunt asked me to make more for her friends. That’s when I knew I wanted to start a soy candle business.

The Growth

From that very first candle, things moved quickly. I reinvested every dollar from those early sales (along with a little help from my mum) into supplies and started making candles every night in my kitchen. They weren’t perfect, and it kept me up at night. But I kept going. I learned a lot in those first few weeks. Much of what I discovered then still shapes how I make candles today.

By February, I had picked a name, created a logo, and opened an Etsy store. I made my first sale three days later. For a while, I worked full time by day and poured candles by night, with my mum and a few friends helping to keep up with orders. Nine months in, I left my job to give Maison Blanche everything I had.

It grew fast. Within 18 months we were stocked in Sephora, featured in Vogue Living, and preparing to move into our first warehouse. I hired my first employee. It was more than I had imagined, and it just kept going.

Meeting my now husband James in 2016 was a huge turning point. He reminded me to celebrate the wins, even the small ones, and stood by me through every low. His belief in me and in this business is a big reason Maison Blanche has reached this milestone.

Over the years, Maison Blanche grew in ways I never expected. We moved into larger spaces, welcomed a full team, found customers overseas, refined our branding and eventually launched into Myer nationally.

Then COVID hit. For a while, I thought it might be the end. But somehow, candles became one of the few little luxuries people were craving while stuck at home. For months, it was just James, my dad and me in the warehouse, packing orders and figuring out how to make scented hand sanitiser, which turned out to be a hit.

When things reopened, we rebuilt. We brought the team back, welcomed old stockists and partnered with new ones, including department stores in Asia and The Iconic here at home.

Looking Forward

Maison Blanche has no plans of slowing down as we move into our next chapter. This year will bring new fragrances, new products, a new website, in-person events and sales, as well as refreshed branding. We’re also excited to be more transparent, sharing more behind the scenes and showing how each and every product is made by hand by a small team who truly care.

Speaking of our team, this year we’re acknowledging that they are our greatest asset. We’re shifting to a four-day work week, with all staff compensated at full pay. Maison Blanche has always been about slowing down and making space for joy, ritual, rest (and fragrance!) and now we’re embedding that into our workplace too. We believe people do their best work when they feel supported, rested and fulfilled. This is our way of making sure our values aren’t just part of our products, but also part of our culture.

If the past ten years have taught me anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. So as I look toward the future of Maison Blanche, I’m intentionally leaving space for the brand to evolve naturally with the market and with my own life. I hope to revisit this message ten years from now with new stories and a brand that has continued to grow with purpose.

Thank you for all your support.

Kristy Payne
March 2023