Sometimes when you’re walking down the candle aisle of your favorite store, a product will jump out at you. What great color! I love the packaging! Such an awesome concept!
And then you think: how do they do that?
Corina Heymann, Designer
Wonder no more. Corina Heymann, one of our insanely talented designers, sat down and talked about how she conceptualized our Room to Breathe collection and about the design process in general.
What is the concept behind Room to Breathe?
With our economic climate, people are cutting back on vacations and spending more time at home. With this collection, we want to convey a state of mind with our fragrances and allow you to escape to an oasis in each and every room of your home. We want to give the consumer the power to create such a state of mind in your own time in your own home.
How do you conceptualize a collection like this?
Usually I go through three main steps when designing a collection. I start by doing a lot of research online, looking at blogs, product web sites, trend web sites. Just try to get as much visual stimulation as possible. You never know what will inspire you next. Then I like to brainstorm with my colleagues where we feed from each other ideas. It is amazing what comes out of brainstorming sessions. And last, I try to make sense of it all. I pull pantone colors that fit the mood of the collection and then I either get my sketchbook or jump directly to my computer with my beloved Wacom tablet (my digital pen) and start sketching out anything and everything I can think of. Slowly the collection starts molding and getting shape.
What inspired you?
A collection like this one is very organic so there are many inspirations and influences. The main ones were Barbara Berry’s home fragrance collection. She focuses on creating specific fragrances that fit a type of room. Another great inspiration was from the Lotus Haus’ blog. There was a great article about creating room to breathe
Filled Candle - Room to Breathe Collection
What do you like most about this collection?
Well, I am a little subjective on this but I do love the collection. It is one of my favorites so far. I must say that I love the fragrances and colors. They are very fragrant, soothing and overall just fabulous. I also love the photo real aspect of the packaging. I think it makes it easier for the consumer to identify the fragrance type at the first glance and if you look at the back of the packaging the images ties it back to a room.
How does the design process work in general?
I think it is different for every designer. As for myself, I think it is about a lot of research and study and about keeping an open mind to new ideas and constant changes.
Candles and dating. When my boss asked me, the twenty-something marketing assistant, to write about romance and candles I was nervous – stumped even. What to write? It seems to me that with tough times and tight wallets we let romance slide by the wayside in the name of cutting back. Shame on us.
