Geruchsmanufaktur

Do you want your very own fragrance items for your store? We offer private labeling! The smell manufactory is a start-up founded by two students from Lüneburg. In our small manufactory in our hometown, we produce our fragrance articles by hand with our student team. We only use healthy and sustainable ingredients. For our scented candles, for example, this means: 100% soy wax, pure essential oils, cotton wicks, etc.
After all, why should you buy a candle that damages your respiratory system and causes headaches? We rethink fragrances. You too?

Here is our story:

We have always had an eye for scented candles since the beginning of our youth: whether cozy, refreshing, masculine or suitable for the season - scents can bring out the most diverse emotions and have a significant influence on our mood.

But after some time we became aware of a few things: conventionally, industrially manufactured scented candles contain many pollutants, some of which damage our respiratory tract and thus our health.

Maybe one or the other of you knows it: You are looking forward to a cozy evening on the couch and throw on the TV. The snacks and drinks are ready. Now only one thing is missing: The noble, expensive and fragrant scented candle that you bought today.
After a while you notice how stuffy it gets in the room. The candle smells far too penetrating, it even leads to headaches.
This is often due to the wax used: may we introduce?
Paraffin, consisting of fossil substances. Harmful to both the environment and our health.
Manufacturers then often combine this wax with their chemical clubs, called "fragrance oils".

We had a problem. Knowing what we had now, we couldn't put any more scented candles in the room.
So we tried to make a scented candle on our own. One according to our imagination. With sustainable and "healthier" ingredients.
We ordered soy wax, some essential oil (lavender - my personal favourite), a couple of jars and a handful of wicks. And off the wild ride went.

The first candles? A real mess - the jars were overfilled, the wicks were askew, the candle was a total disappointment. We had imagined it to be so easy.

But you practice… the result got better and better from candle to candle. Until at some point we finally had a finished candle that we could light.

For the next few weeks, the immediate environment was first asked - what works better, what do you like and so on and so forth...

After weeks of improvement, we finally had a product that we would have liked to have bought ourselves. The demand came more and more frequently from our environment - "why don't you sell the candle?". That's why we thought - why not just put it online (at that time on Etsy) and see what happens.

The eyes were all the bigger when we already had our first order after a few days. A great feeling. We definitely wanted more of that. Our first website was created overnight.

After a while we moved from my parents' kitchen to our garden shed, which unfortunately quickly became too small.

In the meantime, we were already represented in a number of retailers in Hamburg and the surrounding area. The idea of opening our own shop entered our minds.

This idea should also come true faster than expected. Due to the pandemic, there is a lot of vacancies in our hometown of Lüneburg. We were able to secure a shop, or rather a pop-up store, in a top location in Lüneburg all the faster.

Estate? Very run down. We worked day and night, 16 hours a day to renovate the store, make it beautiful and pre-produce our products.

Scented candle shop in Lüneburg
Actually, we thought maybe we'd get our costs covered and come out with a cool experience. But apparently we had greatly misjudged.

When we opened the store after a very short night of final preparations (which lasted until 5am) I was overwhelmed by customers.

The day was exhausting and at the same time just great.

When we closed the door at around 8:00 p.m., we were both perplexed. All expenses back inside. On our first day.

The following weeks (about 9 in total) were probably the most stressful time of our lives. It was open according to the schedule. That means: school ended at 3:15 p.m., at 3:30 p.m. at least one of us was in the shop. Every free hour was used. The shifts often went late into the night - after all, the candles all have to be produced first.

The final result? We have probably gone through the coolest and most exciting time of our lives so far. But the best thing about it all is the good feedback we get from our customers.

And with all this, one thing is still most important to us:
Handcraft a quality scented candle that you'll be happy with. And knowing that we won't harm your health.