These cousins are making {dollars} and ‘scents’ with candles

Hobbies are distinctive issues: everybody has one thing they love to do throughout their free time and, normally, it’s completely different for everybody.

The extra adventurous of us can go for a stroll or rock climb, whereas the homebody relaxes at house, studying, writing and even taking part in video games.

However the extra enterprising amongst us may discover a approach to flip these hobbies right into a enterprise, and that is what these cousins ​​did with candle making.

Meet Sarah Wee and Cheyenne Naidu, who based Nitwick in 2021. Regardless of their busy schedules, the 2 nonetheless discovered time to construct their very own companies and do virtually every part from scratch.

Who says ardour would not pay?

Operating a enterprise is quite a lot of work, particularly since each Sarah and Cheyenne work full time within the non-profit sector. Sarah raises funds for most cancers care and analysis on the Nationwide Most cancers Middle in Singapore, and Cheyenne works as a youth counselor at Limitless.

Regardless of this, they all the time discovered time to spend collectively, and when Sarah proposed the concept of ​​beginning her personal enterprise, Cheyenne was her first alternative as a companion within the endeavor, as candles have been already a shared curiosity between the 2.

We toy with the concept of ​​beginning a undertaking or enterprise for some time. It was the mix of eager to be slightly extra productive with the time we spend collectively and getting out of our consolation zone. It began as a undertaking between the 2 of us, capturing scents that have been particular to our shared experiences.

– Sarah Wee, co-founder of Nitwick

To that finish, they started delving into learn how to create their very own candles: experimenting with completely different scents, mixing fragrances, and breaking down scent profiles.

After they shared what they have been doing with their family and friends, they realized that the connotations their scents evoked weren’t restricted to simply the 2 of them, and that others usually shared that connection as effectively.

So, in June 2021, they lastly launched Nitwick to promote scented candles, wax sculptures, and extra.

Having fun with the artistic journey

One of many advantages of engaged on thrilling initiatives with somebody near you is having enjoyable, nevertheless it additionally entails arduous work.

In truth, creating only one scent may be tough. “Candle making entails quite a lot of science, it is a very exact course of the place we measure temperature, energy and stability a ratio of substances,” Sarah defined.

Along with this, the scents of the mixed substances can differ from the scents of the person substances, and Sarah and Cheyenne needed to take a look at and alter the formulation for every candle, and generally even restart the complete course of.

After all, there are additionally nice moments, like once they title their creations collectively. The merchandise that Nitwick places out have distinctive names: their best-selling product is a candle known as Fir Leaves Navidad, a pun on the Spanish Christmas greeting of ‘Feliz Navidad’.

Different names they’ve provide you with embrace ‘Seashores & Cream’ and ‘The Grape Gatsby’, a namesake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Nice Gatsby’.

These unique and intelligent names are not any accident. Sarah and Cheyenne put quite a lot of thought into these names, and it has change into their method of placing the ending touches on their creations.

The actual deal breaker is that we each must giggle. We all know that not everybody will get the joke in every title, nevertheless it’s just a bit Easter egg we now have that makes us giggle each time. After all, it helps to face out from the gang. There are such a lot of candle firms on the market and there’s all the time a profit to being completely different.

– Sarah Wee, co-founder of Nitwick

These elements have introduced outcomes for Nitwick. She managed to interrupt even in simply two months, and Sarah reviews that gross sales are up 400 p.c within the final quarter.

The longer term is vivid and it smells good too

With such resounding success, a number of firms have already approached Nitwick to develop unique scents for them. One in all them is The Dealing Room, a bar and restaurant specializing in luxurious whiskeys and wines.

Moreover, Nitwick additionally has an ongoing exhibit at Alter Native, a non-public eating room by native chef Desmond Shen, situated on McNair Highway.

Sarah and Cheyenne are additionally arduous at work creating new scents. They’ve simply launched a brand new product, known as Oud La La, in collaboration with native potter Ying Zi Ng, higher often known as BerryPotter.

With Christmas simply across the nook, the duo are additionally planning to launch a particular candle assortment to be launched within the final quarter of this yr.

Nitwick has at present solely listed its merchandise on its web site and one other e-commerce website, Whyte Area. As such, he’s all for exploring additional partnerships and alternatives with different firms.

“Creating fragrances is the most effective a part of Nitwick, and it might be nice to have the ability to work with completely different manufacturers and areas to do it. We would like to do extra with native artists,” mentioned Sarah.

On the finish of the day, the founders of Nitwick are proof that one’s job would not must imply striving for one thing meaningless. It could very effectively be one thing you get pleasure from wholeheartedly, and it nonetheless helps pay the payments.

“We each have full-time jobs and operating Nitwick on the similar time may be overwhelming, however we do not see the latter as work. It is one thing we do as a result of we’re actually and concerned on this.”

“Every problem is solely a puzzle that we have to clear up as a way to transfer ahead,” Sarah concluded.

Featured Picture Credit score: Nitwick