We recently connected with Danielle Nichols and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Lovela + Company started not as a handcrafted home fragrance company but rather a wholesale maker of handmade home decor. It’s true. And this is the story.

At the end of 2019, I was itching for a new creative outlet. Like many new concepts, I got the round about idea to start making handcrafted candle vessels after watching a YouTube tutorial. My spouse sent me a YouTube link on a unique method of casting pillar candles on a base of rustic concrete. They were beautiful. This simple technique made me think, well, why can’t I use concrete to cast vessels for candle making? This would solve my concern about simply using an ordinary glass vessel to make candles-it just wasn’t the look or appeal I was going for.

In December of 2019, I had done enough research to buy a very inexpensive silicone mold, a 50 lb. bag of professional grade, pre-mixed, white concrete and 4 ounce box of pigment-all to cast what would be my first handcrafted candle vessel.

Please forgive me if I ramble through some of the details, but I will admit, this project like every new task I choose to tackle became a passion that absorbed all of my spare time. And I loved every minute of it. Not only did I learn the process of how to cast super strong vessels but I went down the path of actually designing a vessel to then replicate it using silicone. I would then take the silicone mold I made to cast then originally designed vessels. There was a time when I was ordering hundreds of pounds of silicone-

By the summer of 2019, I was blending my own mixes for candle vessels because I felt the initial product I used was subpar-(eventually I made the switch to a non-toxic composite based gypsum). And then, by the summer of 2020, in the midst of a world wide flu outbreak, I was casting countless vessels-out of my garage. In a nutshell, during that summer, I taught myself how to correctly seal candle vessels using earth-safe sealants, sourcing natural pigments, and repeatedly testing the vessels using my own candle recipes. Those months of trial and error were riddled by disappointment mainly because, like many Americans, I was dealing with shipping delays and was limited to the products I needed to continue moving forward with development of vessels.

By October of 2020, the vessels I was making were multi-purpose, not just limited to the use of candle making. Essentially, I had designed a variety of home decor pieces that could be used for small coffee table planters, specifically succulents, ornate storage containers, trays and catch-alls. So I decided at that time, to not pursue home fragrances as a business endeavor and instead to be a handmade maker of items that I intended to sell wholesale to other small businesses. I was very excited about my decision!

During the first months going into 2021, I had my work cut out for me in terms of product development. And in February, just when I was gearing up, Texas experienced a cold spell that shut down the state. Not to sound dramatic but I felt lucky to have endured a 5-day long winter storm during which The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) turned off the power to thousands and thousands of people. To be clear, my family was without power-limited to one source or water, lost the entire contents of our stocked up refrigerator and had a water heater burst. Being a true Minnesotan who resides in Texas, I faired pretty darn well, but many others did not-and the aftermath of that storm left many people without access to food, clean water and shelter. During that time, what really made all the difference for my family is my ability to make a simple candle. For 5 days, my home was illuminated and kept warm by candle light.

With my husband wanting this garage back and running out of room to store all of my supplies-I made two important and firm decisions. The first decision-it was time to build a studio space so I could continue to design and create products. And second, it was time to start a business! The entire concept that I, Danielle Nichols, was finally going to accomplish a long-time goal-that of being a black, female small business owner was just, well, I almost do not have words to describe it-it was just sensational, really.

I started Lovela + Company LLC in June of 2021. By July, my studio was built and at the end of August I outfitted my workshop with everything I needed to officially call it a business. Well, almost, I still had the problem solving of teaching myself how to build a functional, aesthetically pleasing website, tackling social media, good grief, and creating content, lots of content. Talk about challenging. It was, um, and still is at times. However, I always seem to figure it out and of all my great accomplished in life so far, building my own business and overseeing every aspect of how it currently functions has been the most fulfilling.

I officially opened the doors to Lovela + Company in November 2021 and continued to design home decor pieces during the first six months of 2022.

Near the end of 2022, having established Lovela + Company has a wholesale handcrafted maker of home decor, I was feeling good! I was invited to participate in my first Makers Market-as a candle maker. For the market, I chose to focused on a small selection of home fragrance products and in fact was the debut of what would become The Essential Candle. To my surprise, yes, I was surprised, I sold more candles and premium melting wax than I had anticipated. It was incredible! I believe it was that market which was the precursor to what would occur the following year. Heading into 2023, I was consistently asked about candles, why was I not selling them, where could my candles be purchased, when would I start making them available, if only you made candles Danielle? My response was-yes, I am a candle maker and I love home fragrance but I do not sell candles, sorry. I said, this countless times, over and over again, it became my mantra.

And then, two people, two very important people in my life had a “real talk” with me. My spouse, Ihsan Simms and my sister, Alicia Nichols. The both encouraged me to seriously look at a potentially missed opportunity of being able to combine my love for crafting home decor pieces and using that to build a line of home fragrance products which was what I had originally set out to do.

I had to take a moment to let that sink in-after all I had created (entirely on my own) a lovely line of candle vessels called Tula-that could be the catalyst for a really beautiful candles.

In July 2023, I made two major business related decisions. I shut down Lovela + Company to rework my business plan to relaunch as a home fragrance company. And I torn down my website (the website I had just completed several months earlier) to the studs. For nearly 5 months, I completed the final design of The Essential Candle, created all new content for the website, social media, product packaging, rebranding, outlining further development of The Novice Makers Box, and the start of what would be several other home fragrance products.

On Small Business Saturday, November 25th, 2023, I officially released Lovela + Company as a handcrafted home fragrance company. And I regret nothing-I am happy that I listened to two people who care about me enough to help me see what I need to consider. And last I am super proud of me-myself for hanging in there and doing what was necessary to make Lovela + Company exactly what it is today. The future is bright.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Lovela + Company comes from a 2012 New Year’s resolution to learn a new hobby. I chose candle making for its balance of creativity and complexity.

I am the creative mind and business owner behind Lovela + Company. I specialize in making beautiful handcrafted home fragrance products that are earth-safe, non-toxic, cruelty-free, sustainable, reusable and paraben/phthalates-free.

My business is known for creating products that fill living spaces with the finest and safest home fragrances. The two most popular products are The Essential Candle which is available in 25+ custom fragrance blends as well as The Novice Maker’s Box for Candle Making. The Novice Maker’s Box is a candle making experience that is offered as both in-person or virtual instruction with me. Honorable mention goes to Lovela + Company’s Premium Melting Wax for wax warmers, Infused Coconut Crème Fragrance Oil for fragrance oil warmers, The Arōma Reed Diffuser and Home Fragrance Mist (Linen/Room Spray).

I am proud to have created a candle refill option for The Essential Candle. This is an earth safe, sustainable and reusable way for the candle vessel to be used again. How does it work? After the initial purchase and use of The Essential Candle, the customer can return to the website to purchase a prewicked, candle refill that simply slides own into candle vessel for additional use. Not only is there a cost savings but the customer can feel good about reusing the candle vessel they already purchased instead of tossing it away-which is the case with most candles these days.

The Arōma Reed Diffuser Set works in a similar way-the entire set can be purchased, when it’s gone, a refill of fragrance oil and reeds can be purchased from Lovela + Company to refill the vessel. My refill program is just one detail that separates Lovela + Company from other home fragrance companies. I am currently working on a re-fill option for our Home Fragrance Mist which will be available through our website before the end of this year.

As the owner of Lovela + Company, I oversee every aspect of business operations. All of the products are designed, created, made-by-hand, formulated, printed, packed and shipped by me in my studio located in Austin, Texas. It brings me great pride and joy to be doing what I love.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I shared in great length my journey both as a creative mind and business owner in a previous interview question. What I can add or perhaps expand on further is-I did not initially launch Lovela + Company as a home fragrance company but instead a handmade wholesaler of a variety of home decor products.

My story is that after creating an entire business around that latter, I was inspired by others to take a closer look at or revisit my business plan and personal talents. So I did. And in doing so, I began to fully understood that first and foremost I am and will always be a maker. And it is that deep passion that aids in making me a solid business owner. Really, for me, it’s about listening to advise from those around me who want nothing but to see me succeed, making wise decisions and being passionate about what I am doing so that in return I can offer the very best products to my clients.

I started out on a journey to make a high quality, sleek and functional candle vessel which I accomplished. However, it lead me in a slightly different business direction of making home decor rather than making and selling candles (and other home fragrance products). I when I sat down to figure out and write up a road map to start a home fragrance company, I may have shuttered-because to be honest it was going to be daunting task. However, hard work wasn’t going to prevent me from doing what was absolutely necessary to reach the outcome I wanted for myself and Lovela + Company.

Whether it is a result of my childhood upbringing or adult life experiences, change (especially when it means doing what is best and despite the lengthy time and energy is required) doesn’t dissuade me, I mean, life is change, right? So, yes, I took on all of the obstacles that came with my decision of changing my business plan. I am better and Lovela + Company is better for that decision. Sometimes we just have to accept the challenge, believe in ourselves and put in the work to make it happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shoplovela.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovelacompany
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovelacompany
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lovela-company
• Other: TikTok:
  https://www.tiktok.com/@lovelacompany

Image Credits

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