Journal Inside Maison Blanche

Meet Maison Blanche's Chief Chandler

Meet Mikey He lovingly hand makes each Maison Blanche candle. What is your favourite scent? Cedarwood and wild patchouli – because it’s different from the rest. I like the muskiness. How did you start? Kristy taught me everything I know. I’m a slow learner but she’s been patient with me. I started packing boxes, then cleaning the candles after pouring, and eventually I learnt to pour. Why candles? I like it. Compared to my other jobs, it’s a lot more exciting. I feel like I’m actually achieving something — I get to make something from start to finish. What’s your favourite part of your job? Pouring. It’s the most satisfying. I like seeing things come together — starting to look and smell how they should. It’s also where things can go the most wrong and I need to troubleshoot the process. What’s the hardest part of making candles? Temperatures. Colder temps make candles set faster — but the cold makes the wax contract. On a hot day, candles can end up setting mushy and gross. They’re also prone to explosion! Jokes. I don’t know all the science behind it. Hot is bad, super cold is bad. If you could capture any scent in a candle, what would it be? Campfire, leather, or gunpowder. Taking something with a strong, powerful, and recognisable scent and turning it into a candle. Why are hand-made candles better? It’s all about attention to detail. Being handmade is a source of pride. It’s a craft instead of just a production line. What’s your favourite part of working at Maison Blanche? The people — even though I work alone most of the time these days. What's your current favourite Maison Blanche product? My current favourite product is the Sea Salt & Thyme candle. Describe a day in your life. I get up at 8:10am. I have a strong black coffee for breakfast and gauge what needs to be done. Every day at Maison Blanche is different. Sometimes there’s a full day of orders to be sent out, but mostly my workday involves candles being hand poured. What would you do if you weren’t pouring candles? There is literally nothing else I would rather be doing. I love making candles. BUT, if I had to pick something else, it would involve making or creating something with my hands. Experience the products Mikey lovingly creates every day for yourself. Shop now

Nov 14

Ten Questions with Maison Blanche's Creator, Part 2

10 Questions with Kristy – Part 2 Our interview with founder Kristy Payne continues — we talk about a scent for the President of the United States and her dream project. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here . How do you think scent, fragrance and smell play an integral part in people’s lives? Because the part of your brain that transmits smells from your nose is part of the brain’s limbic system — an area so closely associated with memory and feeling that it’s sometimes called the “emotional brain” — the brain automatically links scent and emotions. This means that smell can call up memories and powerful responses almost instantaneously. The power of smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people’s moods, and even affect their work performance. I love that I get to create scent for people’s homes that can do all those things. And because I don’t know the stories of my customers, it’s one of the best compliments to hear that one of my candle scents reminds someone of a wonderful time or person in their past. Candles are often perceived as a female-oriented item. How could candles be integrated into an average male’s lifestyle? Are there particular appealing scents? I think the idea that candles are a “lady product” is becoming less and less true. The men in my life buy and use candles just as much as the women. I get photos all the time of them with a candle burning while watching the footy, when they go camping, and even once when one of them took a bubble bath! Men go crazy about good smells — it’s just about finding the right ones. Floral isn’t a big hit with men (unless it’s gardenia or jasmine — I think it’s a mum’s garden thing). Earthy and fresh scents are the most popular, like Lime & Sandalwood or Fig and Cranberry. Do you find your individual fragrances identifying with certain personalities? There’s a constant pull between what scent people identify with the most versus what they want to burn in their home, so it’s quite difficult to find trends. I think there are a lot of go-to scents people are comfortable committing to for an entire 80-hour candle — coconut or vanilla, for example. But once people go outside their comfort zone, it all changes. Before I started making my own candles, I was in a monogamous relationship with vanilla candles. But once I had the freedom to make anything I wanted, and I didn’t have the pressure of choosing “the right one,” I discovered I really enjoy citrus. That said, it depends on my mood or the room. If you were to make a candle for the White House and the President himself, what blend would you create that resonates with the President and the ambience of the place? If I were to make a candle for the White House and the President, it would have to include an earthy base of musk and mahogany to keep the scent grounded and strong, a dash of whisky, and a subtle top note of sweet rose — America’s national flower — as an ode to the First Ladies of the White House. Ignoring money and rules, what would your dream project be? I’d want to travel the world and make bespoke candles for people. Get to know them, learn who they are, what they like, what their dreams are — and then create the perfect, unique fragrance for them to burn in their home. Scent is such a personal and powerful medium. One smell can take you back to your childhood, your wedding, or your first love. Imagine having a fragrance with all those memories layered into one — unique to your story.

Jul 18

Ten Questions with Maison Blanche's Creator, Part 1

10 Questions with Kristy – Part 1 Maison Blanche was founded by Kristy Payne in her apartment in 2013. Today, we chat with Kristy about everything from bacon-beer candles to how her cat, Mr. President, inspired the brand name. What inspires the fragrance combinations that you create? Anything and Everything. I started this collection with a classic soft, sweet and smooth Vanilla Bean. It was the reason I started creating candles. I wanted the prefect vanilla to burn in my room at night. From there I explored what it was that people thought made a good candle scent; a smell that relaxes them, a smell good enough to eat, a smell to create atmosphere or a smell that reminds them of their childhood. I started to fill in those needs in my collection, hopefully creating something for everyone. What are some of the craziest or strangest fragrance combinations you’ve created? The craziest (worst) was a bacon-beer candle. I told someone in a passing comment I could make a bacon scented candle and it just went from there. The beer was surprisingly fresh, but the bacon was just awful. It smelt like the old dried bacon bits at the bottom of a pre-packaged ceaser salad. I refused to mix them together, so I made 2 separate candles that he could burn at the same time. He loved it…. What’s the philosophy behind what you do and what makes Maison Blanche different? Here at Maison Blanche, we are very proud to be a handmade business, and we think our customers are proud to buy handmade. We think that when you buy handmade products, you’re not only getting a beautiful and meticulously made product, but you’re buying a story. Someone has imagined, sourced and created your purchase out of nothing. It is a reflection of who they are, and you get to take a piece of them home. It is also very important to me that something I’m putting into the world, isn’t in turn damaging it, so with that in mind, I picked recyclable labels and high quality glassware with their reuse just as important as their aesthetics. We encourage our customers to reuse our jars and lids around their homes to cut down on waste. What is the story behind the name Maison Blanche? I was having tea with my best friend and my mum and we were brainstorming ideas for a business name. We were just yelling out things to do with candles and random words. I said that I thought ‘all the good names are taken in English’, so out came Google translator and we started typing in things. I settled on a perfectly good name, but said, ‘I like it a lot, but it doesn’t really feel like me…’, to which my mum explained, ‘nothing is going to feel like you unless its about cats or politics!’ Anyone that has ever come in contact with me knows that these 2 topics rule my life. I have been obsessed with US politics since I was in high school, I even tried to host an election party in 2008 and 2012 but no one wanted to come. And well, cats. Cats are just the best. I have one cat fittingly called, Mr. President. And that was how the name Maison Blanche was born. Mr. President is a white cat. The real President lives in the White House. White House in French is Maison Blanche. Cats and Politics. Aside from coffee, what gets you up in the morning? My cat, he screams for food every morning at exactly 5.43am. I love him dearly, but I have strong thoughts about smothering him too. Head to Part 2 to find out what fragrance Kristy would make for the President of the United States and what her dream project would be.

Inside Maison Blanche

Meet Maison Blanche's Chief Chandler

Ten Questions with Maison Blanche's Creator, Part 2

Ten Questions with Maison Blanche's Creator, Part 1

Leave a Comment?

Complimentary Shipping

Handcrafted In Sydney

Samples Included

Terms & Conditions

Privacy Policy

Maison Blanche – Privacy Policy

1. What Personal Information We Collect

2. How We Collect Personal Information

3. Why We Collect Your Personal Information

4. Disclosure of Personal Information

5. Storage and Security

6. Cookies and Analytics

7. Access, Correction & Deletion

8. Email Marketing

9. Overseas Disclosure

10. Changes to This Policy

11. Contact Us