“I recall days when we were living in a rental flat and electricity was a “luxury”, the flame of a candle was what kept the house lit well enough for me to go about one of my jobs as a seamstress,” said Kane, the owner of Odette Candles.
Working 3 jobs at that time, her main focus was to put food on the table and to provide for her infant and her mother. There was no time for fun and games, much less a hobby of candle- making. Many years were put into providing for the family and she never had any time for herself or to do something that she likes.
Now, at the age of 71 and retired, she finally picked up a hobby.
It all started back in 2020 when her daughter got her a very simple DIY kit from Shopee. She enjoyed the experience and realized how therapeutic it could be. She started making simple tealights and shared them with her friends. After receiving good feedback about her candles, she thought to herself, ‘why not start a small business’ and so, she did after a little push from her daughter too.
In November 2021, Kane officially launched Odette Candle.
She started the business with no experience in many aspects and that led her to face dozens of challenges such as lead generation and ineffective brand awareness strategies. There were months where they did not receive any orders but thankfully, other small businesses had collaborated with her and helped market her candles. She also tried to sell on Shopee and it did boost their sales but the turnaround was too short with a small profit. It was not good enough and she wanted to give up.
Her mother was widowed at a very young age with 6 kids to feed and educate. ‘A fighter’ is how she described her mother. She realized that if her mother could do the almost impossible thing on her own, she could handle a punch.
Her mother’s words crept in and she was reminded to keep pushing, to never give up and to have a strong fighting spirit no matter what life throws at you.
Driven by passion and the words of the late mother, she made the choice to continue Odette Candle and look at what it has become today.
XVXII shares a similar story as well. Vidhi’s mother has been the biggest and strongest pillar in her business journey. From what started as an e-commerce business during the pandemic in 2020 to now a physical retail store at 61 Haji Lane.
The process of building a small business from scratch has surely strengthened both of their family ties more than we know it. From brewing the candles and deciding on the designs, to delivery and modelling, these experiences were shared between their loved ones and helped make the business a success.
This is the beautiful story behind the XVXII X Odette Collab.
If you haven’t heard, we are collaborating with Odette to give free candles to our first 30 customers that spend at least $50 in store! What’s more? 15 of them have hidden XVXII jewellery in them!
So, hurry down to our store from 30th April 12pm AND Happy Mothers’ Day in advance!
