WHO WE ARE
Our story
The original and present owners of elume, Mark and Joelle Lavender, first dreamed up the idea in Vancouver, Canada in 1998 over a cup of coffee in a bookstore on a chilly winter’s day. Before that, Mark had been working as an environmental scientist in Sydney when he decided to take a break to visit family in Vancouver. During this visit, Mark met Joelle, and the break eventually turned into permanent residency for two years. Before leaving Australia, Mark had been dreaming of owning his own business and decided to utilise his time in Vancouver to research ideas that might be unique in Australia. He lucked into a job at a local candle company, and he gained some valuable expertise on the job about candle making. He was quite fascinated by the processes involved and it even had a scientific side to it that interested him. They made a trip back to Australia for a wedding and decided to research if this idea would be unique in Australia. It was, so upon returning to Canada, they began to make plans to move to Australia and start-up elume.
Joelle was working very long hours in the film industry and looking for a change, so it seemed like a great idea. It would be hard to leave behind friends and family, but both were very determined to make this new beginning work. Since the idea was so groundbreaking, it was very difficult to source the materials needed. There was a lot of scientific experimentation in the early days trying to create our own formulas and find appropriate moulds to get the look we wanted. Mark’s science background came in very handy in formulating colours, and he can be credited with inventing our original signature pillar candles. It was a very tricky process to create the beautiful snowflake effect that elume is known for, we soon found out variables such as the seasons would even be a factor. Through sheer hard work and determination and overcoming many roadblocks along the way, Joelle and Mark succeeded in bringing elume candles to life.
Elume now
Elume was born in 1999 with a vision to create the most unique, colourful, beautifully fragranced, premium quality candles in the Australian market. We started small and grew slowly, but our products have stood the test of time as we still have a loyal following. We have now grown into the space of two factories side by side and could still use more room! Since our beginnings, elume has been setting trends in fragrant candles with our signature pillar candles, and constantly evolving into new and unique products, all hand-poured in our Sydney factory. Only at elume can you find a huge selection of pillar candles in a variety of colours and sizes, speciality ranges including Outdoors, Rustic and Christmas, luxury soy container candles and reed diffusers, soy wax melts, soy tealights, and our mini luxury soy candles.
With so much to offer, elume grew into one of Australia’s most inspiring and trusted brands. Over 25 years later we still offer the best variety of candles in stunning colours and fragrances, there is something for everyone. With the help of a team of Australian fragrance experts and our expertise in candle making processes, we can bring our creations to life. Having complete creative control is a great advantage because we can source the best quality ingredients and choose the best waxes and wicks for every purpose to enhance the fragrant experience of every elume candle. We even make our own wicks!
Elume’s original and present owners, Mark & Joelle Lavender