A gift sparks a candle business for Pinay entrepreneur

MANILA, Philippines - Scented-candle enterprise Infinity Candles started as a hobby for its founder, Maite Gutierrez-Orosa. Orosa celebrated a special birthday a few years back and one of the gifts she received was a candle-making course from her partner, Steve.

“So I attended the class where I was to learn how to pour my first mango scented candle,” she recalls. “From my first experience of holding the pot and pouring the hot wax into a glass jar, to making sure that my wick stood as straight as the queen’s guards, candle-making had a place in my heart. I decided to teach myself through research on the benefits of soy wax; i.e., how to have the right measurements of wax and oils to create the perfect candle, to learning about the different fragrances that play such an important role in making scented candles. After many trials and errors, I finally perfected my skills and the rest is history.”

Founded in the hills that overlook stunning Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, Infinity Candles launched its first 10 signature fragrances in 2013, with the mission to create natural soy wax candles that are exquisitely scented and eco-friendly. Every candle they create is hand-poured into Candela glass metro jars and presented in its own white box.

“I have always loved scented candles and fragrances,” Orosa says. “I love that a candle illuminates a room and brings everything to life, and a scent has the power to invoke memories, entwined to hearten the soul. I believe that nothing is more memorable than a scent.”

Orosa and her partner worked hard to create signature fragrances inspired by memories of places they’d been and the people they shared it with. “Every candle tells a story, from our endless summer vacations at the white-sand beaches of Tali, to our mother’s kitchen at 19 Tyler, where we spent our most happiest and memorable Christmas holidays with family and friends, to the jardin de mi mama, our Basque heritage and a garden blooming with an array of beautiful flowers.”

Fragrances include Miss Hepburn, a lime, basil and mandarin scent; 19 Tyler, a Christmas-y mix of cinnamon, apple and pine; and the brand bestseller, Cloud Nine, a blend of relaxing lavender and uplifting mint and pomegranate.

Infinity Candles are distributed by Le’tabli.Inc@gmail.com and available at Rustan’s Makati and Shangri-La.