Candles from a Yorkshire mill, packed by two people at one table.

Hollin is the old Yorkshire word for holly. We wanted the packaging to feel gathered, not manufactured, and still quick to pack by hand.

The brief

Esme Garside and Dan Whitworth pour every Hollin candle by hand in a two-room unit in a former cotton mill in the Calder Valley. In the spring of 2020 they sold at three markets and through one marketplace, in stock amber jars with labels printed at home.

They wanted their own shop and a way into independent stores, on a budget that ruled out custom glass. Whatever we designed, the two of them would be folding, filling and posting it themselves, sometimes four hundred orders in a December week.

The idea

We kept a stock jar, in clear glass, and changed everything around it. A wide paper band printed in two inks wraps the jar and holds the scent card, so nothing is glued to the glass. One size of box fits every candle, so nothing needs measuring at the packing table.

Each scent is named after something within walking distance of the mill: Moor, Beck, Ginnel, Chapel, Weir and Hollin itself. The wordmark is a soft, sturdy serif that still looks right stamped by hand on corrugated card.

What we made

Identity and wordmark
Jar band, scent cards and gift box
One-size shipping box and stamp
Shopify shop, designed and built
Product photography direction
Stockist pack and price list

Hands trimming the wick of a candle in a green-banded jar on a stone mill windowsill — Poured on a Tuesday, wrapped on the Wednesday. The band holds the scent card, so there is no glue on the glass.

A lit Hollin candle in a holly-green paper band, with a berry-red wax seal on twine beside it — Poured on a Tuesday, wrapped on the Wednesday. The band holds the scent card, so there is no glue on the glass.

How the mark moves

The wordmark settles like a flame after a door closes: a small lift, then a slow return. It is the only animation in the shop.

Hollin candles in green, berry and cream paper bands with a stamped corrugated box, tissue and twine on linen — Six scents, one box size and one rubber stamp. Everything on this table is packed by two people.

A candle burning on a stone windowsill at dusk, a wooded valley and a mill chimney outside — Photographed where it is made: the shop pictures were shot over two days on the windowsills where the candles cure.

What changed

to sell the first run of 1,200 candles
The shop opened in November 2020 with a mailing list of about 900 and no paid advertising.
independent stockists within a year
From three market stalls. The stockist pack did most of the selling.
to pack an order, down from eleven
Timed at the packing table in the first December.

Who made it

Orvel

Anjali RaoCreative directionLondon
Tomás FerreiraPackaging and shopLisbon
Freya LundStrategy and scent namesLondon

With

Client team: Esme Garside, Dan Whitworth
Photography: Nell Ackroyd
Print: Hebble Press, Halifax
Shopify development: Orvel engineering

Next project Museum of print, 2019Casa da EstampaA museum of print in a former Porto printing works, signed entirely on its own presses.