Small Business Saturday: The Flora Lab
Running a small business in the face of huge Black Friday sales can be a daunting challenge, which is why Small Business Saturday, 2nd December, it’s the perfect opportunity to support and celebrate our favourite independent brands, like magical candle makers, The Flora Lab.
For The Flora Lab co-founders, Sophie and Ronan, launching their own artisan candle brand was driven by their passion to really make a difference, proudly creating beautiful gifts that are sustainably made.
After starting out from a kitchen table in Ireland in 2020, the candle brand is now a huge success story. Today, The Flora Lab is an exciting, ‘you need to smell it to believe it’ candle brand stocked in over 60 independent shops across the UK, but despite this, it’s proud to celebrate its grassroots beginnings – in fact, you’ll still find Sophie every weekend selling The Flora Lab candles on her market stall in East Dulwich.
“My whole background up until The Flora Lab was based around the cosmetics and beauty industry – I love products which make people feel good, but I noticed that there was a gap in the market for sustainable products which looked good and were affordable. Far too often, sustainable brands charge too much for their products, putting them out of reach for many consumers. But for The Flora Lab, we’re OK with making less money, as we put the planet and people before profits, all while making something beautiful.”
Sustainability is hugely important to this independent brand, prioritising people and the planet. This means a transparent commitment to sourcing sustainable, ethical and cruelty free ingredients to create its captivating, scented candles, inspired by those special moments in life. Dedicated to using products and packaging that’s either reusable, compostable, recyclable or refillable, The Flora Lab stays true to its “Big Dreams, Small footprints” ethos.
When was the business founded and who are the founders?
The Flora Lab was devised by myself and my co-founder Ronan, during lockdown.
Do you have a background in retail?
I am a Brand Marketing Manager by trade, with specialisms in Digital, Content, PR and Influencer Marketing, having worked with some of the world’s biggest names in the world of beauty including Rimmel London and Tresemme, and Ronan is a fully qualified Architect. The Flora Lab started as a dream we concocted with a desire to have sustainable products which were well designed, without breaking the bank.
What makes The Flora Lab unique?
We’ve worked tirelessly to ensure that our product is completely unique and a breath of fresh air in a cluttered home fragrance category. With over 90% of your candle being made of wax, we ensure that the wax type is tailored to each blend of fragrance oils and wick, to guarantee the perfect, sustainable, scent-sational burn.
Our hand drawn scent icons, descriptive names and our beautiful botanical illustrative packaging have been lovingly created to ensure each element surprises and delights our customers, for a special, one-of-a-kind gift that they’ll be proud to give, or a little treat for their home, that they’ll keep coming back for.
What have been areas of growth and any big plans coming up for 2024?
The sky is the limit when it comes to the next three years of The Flora Lab. Our areas of growth are our continued expansion of both our brand and wholesale offering. We continue to grow our brand through investment in PR, Influencers and Digital Marketing, and we’re on the lookout for our first shop and experience centre, which will act as a retail space, an events hub and a working studio.
We’re also excited to be launching our signature scent in April which has been two years in the making, so we’re looking forward to that coming to life in our own Flora’labulous way
