Melissa Meisel, Associate Editor01.27.12
The romantic connection between New Yorkers Pauline Dana and Raffi Arslanian began at a restaurant called Ferrier on the Upper East Side. After years of knowing each other, Dana and Arslanian had their first “real” date at the Thompson Hotel. Now, the union is celebrated in a home fragrance collection aptly named Thompson Ferrier.
The candles ($48-$68), sold nationally and online at www.thompsonferrier.com, are available in 11 unique fragrant blends ranging from Golden Amber (tobacco, patchouli leaf, golden amber, warm balsam and sandalwood with a touch of rose) to Indonesian Vetiver (vetiver, jasmine petals, grapefruit, petitgrain, clove bud and tonka resin). The wax is a cosmetic grade soy blend and the cotton wicks produce a clean flame, according to the company. Each candle has a 45-75 hour burn time, depending on its shape and size and is hand-poured and packaged in the US completed with hand-sewn pouches.
According to Dana, “Raffi and I worked together staging model homes for his real estate developing company. We noticed that when we would light candles in our staged condominiums people really reacted to them and complimented them. We also found the fragrances of the candles we selected made buyers more relaxed, calm and better engaged.”
And yet, the couple always hid their candles because they never liked how they looked.
Thompson Ferrier luxury candles |
“So we decided to make a line of fine fragranced candles that are also visually appealing and can work in any décor or setting,” explained Dana.
With a family history in both real estate and fine fragrance, the duo understands the journey consumers experience from seeing the product on shelf to gifting to displaying the vessel at home and finally enjoying the fragrance, added Dana.
In an effort to create a selection of fragrances that were meaningful and personal to them, the pair tested hundreds of formulations from their international perfumers over a two-year period. This led to fragrances with deep top, middle and base notes. In addition, Dana and Arslanian studied every detail and did thousands of tests in all imaginable spaces with a multitude of wax, wick and fragrance formulas to find the right combination of how a candle should diffuse, how high a flame should be and how the wax should pool.
The happy couple. |
“Our candles are a luxury brand meant to evoke the most aspirational living at a price that is within reach,” Dana said. “Our niche is high fashion in a traditional manner.”
For Spring 2012, Thompson Ferrier is amping up its product design to feature larger vessels in elegant visuals, Dana told Happi.com.Fragrance development is directed toward mixing fruity notes with spring floral.Look out for a line expansion of reed diffusers and room fragrances later this season.
More info: www.thompsonferrier.com