Just like most unique companies we have a story, unfortunately it is not a fluffy one.  It is not the kind that tells you we had a dream, quit our day jobs to follow that dream.  My name is Stephanie, and this is our story…

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In 2020 my sister Susan sadly passed away within weeks of being diagnosed with a fast growing brain tumor.  She left behind 3 children and a family heartbroken and lost.

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Shortly after her cremation I decided to look for some keepsake urns to hold a small amount of her ashes and a lock of her hair in. I searched the web night after night looking for the perfect set of urns. Unfortunately, there was nothing out there that felt right for her. Everything I saw was too final or too traditional, I did not want her in a display cupboard or sat on a shelf where we were all too scared to touch her. On the other hand I did not want anything so obvious that it was my sisters ashes and that it made people uncomfortable or worst still made into a conversation starter!  I just wanted her to blend in seamlessly like she always did.

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Please don't get me wrong, there are many beautiful creations on the market for ashes, some of which we have used already and cannot recommend enough. We turned her ashes into diamonds ( Heart In Diamond ) and even arranged 4 rocket fireworks but this was not what we needed as a family for our next stage of the grieving process. I personally wanted to make sure I was able to preserve some ash for the children so that when they were older they could scatter a little of her themselves, in their own way if they wished.

After a few weeks of searching I decided to involve my niece and it was not long before she also agreed that nothing on the market was right for her Mum, they either felt too final or looked too much like an urn. In truth we didn’t really know what we were looking for, but we knew we wanted something we could connect too individually in more ways than one.

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We soon realised that what we were looking for was not available and that we would need to explore a more bespoke path (which my sister would have loved). A few months went by, a lot of sketches and finally The Candle Urn journey began. 

After designing The Candle Urn we decided to look into ways to help create a “continuing bond” with the urn. We worked closely with the manufacture, listening and learning all the way. Eventually we adjusted the entrance to the ash chamber and added a pendent to unlock it, one that could be worn on a necklace, bracelet or even a keyring – creating the continuing bond. This was still not enough, we needed more.

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As my sister was a great lover of scented candles we started to explore the science behind SCENT MEMORIES and if indeed they were an actual thing.  To our delight they were and this took us down a very exciting path.  We carefully chose candle fragrances that rememind us of Sue and quickly developed a small collection that could be used by family and friends.

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In theory once the urn and candles were chosen we could have just stopped there as we had created the perfect urn for Susan. However, when we started to tell friends and family what we had designed they said " why stop there?" and it was at this point we decided to share with other families and The Candle Urn Company was founded.