Hobbies are distinctive issues — everybody has one thing that they take pleasure in doing duiring their off time, and most of the time, it’s totally different for everybody.

The extra adventurous of us may head outdoors for hikes or mountaineering, whereas the homebodies loosen up at dwelling — studying, writing, and even gaming.

However the extra entrepreneurial amongst us may discover a method to flip these hobbies right into a enterprise, and that’s what these cousins did with their candle making. 

Meet Sarah Wee and Cheyenne Naidu, who began Nitwick in 2021. Regardless of their busy schedule, the 2 have nonetheless discovered time to create their very own enterprise, and make virtually every little thing from scratch.

Who says ardour doesn’t pay?

Working a enterprise is a variety of work, particularly so since each Sarah and Cheyenne work full-time within the non-profit sector. Sarah raises funds for most cancers care and analysis on the Nationwide Most cancers Centre Singapore, and Cheyenne works as a youth counsellor at Limitless.

Regardless of this, they all the time discovered time to spend with one another, and when Sarah proposed the thought of beginning their very own enterprise, Cheyenne was her first selection for a companion within the endeavour as candles have been already a shared curiosity between the 2.

We toyed with the thought of beginning a venture or enterprise for some time. It was the mixture of desirous to be somewhat bit extra productive with the time we spent collectively and getting out of our consolation zone. It began out as a venture between the each of us, capturing scents that have been particular to our shared experiences.

– Sarah Wee, co-founder of Nitwick

To that finish, they started delving into truly create their very own candles: experimenting with totally different scents, mixing fragrances, and breaking down scent profiles.

Once they shared what they have been doing with their family and friends, they realised that the connotations that their scents evoked weren’t restricted to the 2 of them, and that others usually shared that connection as properly.

So in June 2021, they lastly launched Nitwick to promote scented candles, wax sculptures, and extra.

Having fun with the artistic journey

One advantage of engaged on ardour tasks with somebody you’re near means having enjoyable, however it additionally entails onerous work.

Actually, making a single scent will be troublesome. “Candle-making entails a variety of science, it’s a very exact course of the place we’re measuring temperature, efficiency and balancing a ratio of elements,” defined Sarah.

On high of this, the scents of mixed elements can differ from the scents of particular person elements, and Sarah and Cheyenne needed to take a look at and tweak formulation for every candle, and typically even restart the whole course of.

In fact, there are satisfying moments as properly, like after they title their creations collectively. The merchandise that Nitwick places out have distinctive names — their high vendor is a candle referred to as Fir Leaves Navidad, a pun on the Spanish Christmas greeting of ‘Feliz Navidad’. 

Different names that they’ve give you embody ‘Seashores & Cream’, and ‘The Grape Gatsby’, a homonym of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Nice Gatsby’

These authentic and ingenious names are not any coincidence. Sarah and Cheyenne put loads of thought into these names, and it has turn into their means of placing the of entirety on their creations. 

The true deciding issue is that we each must giggle. We all know not everybody will get the joke in every title, however it’s just a bit easter egg we’ve that offers us a chuckle every time.In fact, it helps with standing out from the gang. There are such a lot of candle corporations on the market and there’s all the time a profit in being totally different.

– Sarah Wee, co-founder of Nitwick

These components have introduced outcomes for Nitwick. It managed to interrupt even in simply two months, and Sarah experiences that gross sales have elevated by 400 per cent within the final quarter.

The longer term is brilliant, and it smells good too

With such resounding success, Nitwick has already been approached by a number of companies to develop signature scents for them. Certainly one of them is The Dealing Room, a bar and restaurant specialising in luxurious whiskeys and wines. 

As well as, Nitwick additionally has an ongoing exhibition at Alter Native, a personal eating house by native chef Desmond Shen, positioned at McNair Highway.

Sarah and Cheyenne are additionally already onerous at work creating new scents. They’ve simply launched a brand new product, named Oud La La, in collaboration with native potter Ying Zi Ng, higher often known as BerryPotter.

On condition that Christmas is simply across the nook, the duo can be planning to launch a particular candle assortment to be launched within the final quarter of this 12 months.

At the moment, Nitwick has solely listed their merchandise on their web site and one other e-commerce website Whyte Area. As such, it’s eager on exploring extra partnerships and alternatives with different companies.

“Creating fragrances is the very best a part of Nitwick, and having the ability to work with totally different manufacturers and areas to do this could be nice. We would love to do extra with native artists,” expressed Sarah.

On the finish of the day, Nitwick’s founders are proof that one’s work doesn’t must imply plodding away at one thing you discover meaningless. It will possibly very properly be one thing that you just wholeheartedly take pleasure in, and nonetheless helps to pay the payments. 

“We each have full-time jobs and operating Nitwick on the similar time can get overwhelming, however we don’t see the latter as work. It’s simply one thing we do as a result of we’re genuinely and invested on this.”

“Each problem is just a puzzle we have to resolve to maneuver ahead,” concluded Sarah.

Featured Picture Credit score: Nitwick