If you haven’t come across colour therapy before, allow us to summarise. Colour therapy, which is also known as chromotherapy, is a therapeutic tool thought to improve both physical and mental health.
“Colour therapy, also known as chromotherapy, is a form of therapy that uses colour and light to treat certain mental and physical health conditions. We can trace this form of therapy back to the ancient Egyptians. They made use of sun-filled rooms with coloured glasses for therapeutic purposes.” VeryWellMind.Com
It’s not a widely used technique in Western medicine and we’re not here for an in-depth debate on its virtues but rather to explore the part that really resonates with us and our Home Scent Practice.
Which is: colour, just like scent, can change how you feel. For us, scent is the most powerful way of shifting our mood but we also place a lot of value on the benefit of good design and on being mindful of the colours in your home.
Certain colours feel energising don’t they? While others, green perhaps or blue, feel soothing and relaxing. Association and memory impacts how different scents and colours make you feel, perhaps for you pink is a joyful colour, but for someone else it may feel suffocating.
How Does Colour Therapy Impact Our Candle Pots?
We pour all of our luxurious scented candles into beautiful, artisan-made ceramic pots. These are the work of months and months of throwing, turning, trimming, glazing and firing. It’s a long, skilled process and every candle pot, as a result, is a true work of art.
When we develop a new Original Scent Recipe we consider the look and feel of its candle pot at the same time. As the scent recipe develops, so does our candle pot design. Sometimes it happens in reverse, one of our potters may come up with a glaze that makes us feel a certain way and we write a new scent recipe in response.
All Great House Farm Stores refillable candles are in pots that reflect and enhance the scents’ character and purpose.
It makes sense to us to put a deeply relaxing scent, like our Rest candle, into a candle pot with a serene, peaceful design. Likewise our bold, adventure-inspiring candle Explore is in a candle pot that reminds us of coastal paths and mountain air.
Have a look through a few of these examples from our extensive scented candle range and see how scent and colour can complement each other.
New Home
Original Scent Recipe: Linen, Lilac, Lavender and Pine.
Our new Home recipe is all about connecting with renewal, with that clean slate feeling. It’s a soft, clean scent that refreshes a space.
When developing the pot design we were draft to the gentle cleanness of these blue shades. We loved how peaceful they looked with the pale stoneware.
The design, while colourful, would look at home in any house, too, which underlines how multi-purpose and crowd pleasing this uplifting scent is.
Heal
Original Scent Recipe: Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Peppermint and Vetiver
Heal, one of our aromatherapy candles, is a powerhouse scent. It has a cult following of repeat users thanks to its mind-clearing, atmosphere shifting, mood-transforming, power.
The scent recipe is filled with powerfully healing oils which inspired the pot design. The aqua colour felt both medicinal and serene, echoing the way the scent inspires relaxation and recovery.
Restore
Original Scent Recipe: Bergamot, Turmeric, Chamomile and Clary Sage
Restore, another candle from our aromatherapy range, is all about restoring your sense of self after a time of depletion. The herbal formula is filled with scents that steady you and build you back up.
We went for a beautiful marbling of sand and stone colour clays to make this gorgeous candle pot. The unique swirl of clays reminds of the soil, of sand, and mirrors how this candle’s scent helps to connect and root us.
Comfort
Original Scent Recipe: Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Wheat
Comfort is an unashamed indulgence of a scented candle, it wraps you in the most comforting scents in the world, releasing deep pleasure and comfort.
The scent is warm, with notes of toasted cereal and gentle spicing, which we mirrored in the pot’s beautiful speckle design. The brown on cream speckle has that same ‘toasted’ feeling as the candle’s delicious smell.
Considered Candle Pot Design
When we were first playing around with different candle scents and pots we considered a wide range of different vessel options. We knew we wanted to make our candles easily refillable, that was one factor that determined our decision.
We then decided, rather than shipping in containers from the other side of the world, that we wanted to encourage heritage British crafts and have them made here. That led us, naturally, to ceramics.
Nearly four years later, we now work with the most incredible group of independent British potters, dotted across the UK. Some made their ceramics in shared studios or collectives, others dry their pots on their rooftops in the middle of Bristol, and some are glazing in their garden sheds.
We have decided to stay away from factory production, even British factory production, because we want to authentically champion creativity in all we do.
Working one-on-one with our skilled, artisan, potters allows us to lean into creativity, to try new things, to test out wild combinations of gazes and pattern. We can experiment with form for new products. Ultimately, though, it makes our candle pots all the more beautiful because they are the result of creativity, connection and collaboration.
Here are some of our most colourful, abundant, candle pot designs.
Celebrate
Original Scent Recipe: Elderflower, Iris, Gardenia, Sweet Pea and Geranium
As you may have guessed, Celebrate is an abundantly celebratory, uplifting scent. It’s designed to underline celebration and to connect you with it when you most need. It really is a happy, light scent that brings a smile to your face.
We went for an energetic, colourful, splatter glaze for this beautiful candle. The colours mimic those of a huge, glorious bouquet of flowers (just like the scent itself) and the pattern is lively, like a celebratory dance.
Explore
Original Scent Recipe: Samphire, Rock Rose and Sea Salt
Our Explore scent recipe was inspired by those life-changing moments that happen in places of outstanding natural beauty. For us, those moments have happened on mountain tops, beside glaciers and on coastal paths.
This pot design, with its captivating marbling of teal and white, evokes that sense of ocean and sky and the ‘blue sky thinking’ that comes with it.
Joy
Original Scent Recipe: English Rose, Myrrh and Leather-Bound Books.
Joy, a rich, rosey and woody scent, is all about saying yes to more joy. And, to connecting with joy even in difficult seasons of life.
We wanted this pot to echo the intensity of the Joy scent, and also of the feeling of joy. We loved how the rich inky colours, of rosey pink and navy blue, contrast and deepen each other. Reminiscent of how joy can be felt more deeply even in the midst of other emotions. The splatter design also feels inherently joyful, it’s hard to be grumpy when you’re splattering glaze everywhere, it’s a playful, happy, motion.
Tapping into the transformative potential of scented candles
Scented candles really can change how you feel. We talk about Home Scent Practice, which is essentially the art of learning which scents you need to connect with in every season and season of life.
It’s a shame, we think, to not utilise the power scent holds to bring you joy, calm, or rest, for example.
Colour therapy is a fascinating area to read into. Our slice of it is to carefully consider which colours we adorn our luxurious, refillable, candles with. But for you, it could extend to considering how a colour makes you feel before repainting your bedroom. Or, introducing a new colour to your wardrobe perhaps.