Interview: Luma & Felipe from BZZWAX

We’ve caught up with Luma & Felipe, founders of Bzzwax London to talk about their story, brand and creation process.

Could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what you do?
We are Luma and Felipe, a Brazilian-born couple with a background in design and e-commerce. We are from Sao Paulo and lived in the Czech Republic for 3 years before moving to London.

Where and when did your candle-making journey start?
The idea of applying our knowledge to a brand/product that was 100% made by us was always there, we like art, photography and design and the ritual of burning candles was a thing for us, so the idea just popped in our heads one-day, although I feel that we have been developing it unconsciously through the years.

What made you choose to use beeswax?
Once the “candle business” idea was mature enough, we started a long research on materials. Beeswax stood up as a good choice due to it’s sustainability and history. Unfortunately, there are loads of offenders in the market selling fake or “cut” beeswax mixed with additives and toxic materials.

We had to learn the hard way and study a lot since there’s not much information about it.We were almost giving up on Beeswax until we had access to raw organic beeswax. It was decisive for us, when you work and touch it you can clearly see the difference between beeswax and paraffin or soy wax and the natural smell, texture and history behind it made us fall in love.

Can you tell us about your creation process? How do you go from the idea to the finished piece?
Our ideas are usually born and perfected in our daily conversations at the dinner table, we are very visual so we just put the idea in action once almost everything is clear, from process to final product. If the idea is not mature enough we either discard it or keep working on it until it makes sense.

What inspires you?
Design and minimalism, the ritual of burning a candle, realising that our candles can go to places where we’ve never been. Nature and everything that is planet conscious.

What’s unique about your work? / How would you describe your signature style?
I think it is the simplicity, making the most with the minimum.

What are the challenges you face in your craft?
The most challenging part of our work is to find organic beeswax, since we specifically want to work with this scarce and precious material, a long time and effort needs to be put into creating a network of local beekeepers willing to sell their beeswax.

What do you love about your craft?
The consistency, working with the same material and keep improving the techniques, understanding it. It’s magical every time, to have guests over and make them a candle, Experiencing how amazed everyone feels when they smell a real beeswax candle for the first time, the freedom of being creative and just keep perfecting our craft.

What project/item are you most proud of?
There are two projects very special to us, the first is the double cone because I feel like it became our brand staple, although the cone is just a simple shape it makes people impressed, It was also our first candle set.

The second one wasn’t so simple, we already had the business running at the time when we decided to make a scented candle, so the Vessel came in. It was a really long process to find a perfect container that was truly sustainable, the scent choice was very difficult as well since we wanted a functional candle that could be used somehow as a summer candle.

We really had to invest time and resources in this project and in the end, I feel like it was worth it. This project also helped us to define what we want visually for the future of the brand.