Noodles-Soap, Toffee-Candle
Newsletter 12.2024
Yup! It’s a “Noodle” soap!
Last week I was so annoyed. I always think that I could reduce my work by just paying someone with basic competency to make some items for me. I’m happy to pay. But the problem in India is multifold. Labour is cheap, craft done by labourers is considered cheap, and the upper-middle class house wife aunties who make candles and soap produce cheap craft. Generally, peoples’ taste is gaudy and cheap.
This is how I started making soap. No one could make me my desired block of soap— simple, elegant, refined, with good perfume materials. No. Everyone has the same moulds, same yucky and cheap fruity, rose sherbety fragrance oils, and disgustawful plastic packaging. I had to quickly learn on the fly. The same has now happened with candles.
For the last six years, people have begged me to make candles and I kept refusing. I didn’t want to invest my time and materials, and I thought there were too many fickle issues. The wick has to be the right width, it has to be centred properly, the scent has to have a tenacious projection, then it has to burn consistently; if I pour the wax at the wrong temperature, cracks can appear; the weight and fragility of the glass or ceramic adds volume and cost driving up my shipping expenses. No, thank you. There are many candle-aunties/ soap-aunties doing their thing.
However, last week, my friend Divrina, author of The Perfume Project, went to Grasse, to learn the chemistry behind candle and soap making. I felt like I was missing out. Coincidentally, a woman in my building revealed herself to be a candle-aunty so I asked her to make very simple beeswax votive candles for me. I would supply her the Himalayan cedarwood and the wild beeswax so I would have some control over the end result. Her work was typical of what the middle class, upper caste Diwali-Gift-market demands — soy candles stuffed with star anise, coffee beans, cinnamon sticks, rose petals, gold leaf and silver leaf. (Also Divrina’s recently published book gives an excellent documentation of the processes of distillation and lends a critical account of the somewhat lacklustre fragrance industry of India. Do buy the book, it’s worth it).
Everything is froufrou!
I have hated receiving candles as gifts because the synthetic and often very cheap aroma chemicals used in them, cause me headaches. It’s as if all my senses are being assaulted at once. I figured that there must be people like me out there who enjoy soap and candles but wish for something clean and minimal in appearance, yet, are luxurious in fragrance and touch/feel/ smell sensation. This is what is missing even in the niche luxury sector.
Well, candle-aunty dropped me a message after two days to tell me she did “not understand my purpose in making simple candles”. She suggested the use of her funky cheaptastic moulds. She asked whether I have packaging boxes ready to go, and if she should make me scented wax sachets for wardrobes.
I. Was. SO. Angry!
I have wasted my time. Now, as usual, I have to do it myself. I spent two hours watching several videos of traditional candle makers in Japan, because they are the best. I realised that I have been going about this the wrong way. I did not need any mould, I could just hand dip the wick. It would be a slow and time consuming process, but I don’t mind. Slow processes that work towards the goal of a beautiful, organic, imperfect object is luxury! This method - in perfumery, or soap, or candle-making, does not allow me to scale up. Micro-niche is the way my practice remains and I like it.
Someone on social media tried being helpful by asking me to look up Rajiv Surendran’s candle making video. Who is Rajiv? Oh God, it’s Kenny! Kenny G, Kevin Gnapoor, the G is silent, Kenny from Mean Girls movie! Ugh!
It seems he makes full time thirst trap content. It’s all “nice” but empty, thoroughly uncritical. There is no interrogation around the craft-practice itself, because he’s just a suburban himbo-Martha Stewart!
No, what really got me going was one video on artist Alysia Mazzella. Please support her work if you can, it’s gorgeous!
Kenny can fuck off!
What was I saying?! Right, so I spent alot of time trawling the internet for local suppliers of candle moulds that I found one for noodles!! I ordered it, to use for soap. Then I made the noodle-smell in two minutes. Ha! Ha! just like actual instant noodles! Extracts of cumin, turmeric, celery seed, curry leaf, star anise, tulsi-basil, nutmeg, ginger, coriander, black pepper, lemongrass and just one drop of cassia made up the pleasant fragrance that matured into an elegant savoury blend.
BTW, this is how I discovered that such spice accords infuse magic in floral formulations of rose, jasmine, and tuberose, and they significantly elevate woody accords of Patchouli. Think old-man-aftershave like Old Spice from the 1970s and 80s but POSH!
As for the candles, I made a pure and natural Cedarwood beeswax candle. I burned it and my house smelled like a 16th century temple in Kyoto. Candle aunties could never!
I was so encouraged by the result that I went and did a supply run in the pollu-shun yesterday to get more materials like wax and good quality synthetic oils so I could make a set of softly scented “Toffee” candles, and a batch of Noodles soap.
I wrapped each pair of candles with the same paper I use for all my bon-bon style packaging. It’s simple, it doesn’t cost much and it’s still so beautiful. This first set of Cedarwood sold out, so I got going on the Toffee. Once that micro batch is done, I will make candle versions of my perfumes “Rosewater” and “Wearable Anger”.
Unfortunately, like incense, these flammable flammies cannot be posted outside India. But!! Fahad in London and I are trying to figure out a way because shipping from the UK to US is much cheaper than me shipping via FedEx from India. He’s an old friend turned stockist. Last week I posted him four fragrances in 3ml bottles that he will keep for sale: Rose Water, Exported Mangoes, Sandalwood Forest, and our favourite, Wearable Anger. I also sent most of these samples to London based Biophysicist Luca Turin last week to review. I will keep shipping Fahad a parcel often, so if you’re in the UK, the EU or the US, and would like to purchase a perfume, please hit reply.
I haven’t updated my website with either the soap or the candles, it’s all pretty spontaneous so just reply to this email with any questions :)
If you’re flying Malaysia Airlines this month, please look up the inflight magazine, there is a lovely article written on my practice by the amazing journalist Vidya Balachander. The magazine can be accessed online with one of those page-turning interfaces. Photos were lavishly taken by Pankaj Anand who came from Bombay. I was baby-sitting Koki, the puppy, who was very well behaved that day. But she’s always such a good girl!
Ah! One last thing. My co-curator on Bagh-e Hind, Nicolas Roth, gave a nice long nerdy lecture on the historical significance of roses and jasmines recently to the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, “History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes” series. They uploaded it online and I was feeling rather proud that the video has one “Like” and that’s from me, hahaha! But interested readers can view the lecture and then peruse his work on the Mughal landscape in each of the five chapters of Bagh e Hind, in particular the Rose chapter.