Hong Kong homeware shops source more locally

The Candle Company in Lyndhurst Terrace had been open for four years when its owner, Ian Carroll, asked Vivian Fung to take a critical look at the shop. "The business was run very haphazardly," says Carroll, and he asked Fung to suggest ways to improve it.

She didn't need much convincing. "I just really love candles," she says "It's something about the flame, the ambience it gives, the relaxation."

At the time, the Candle Company was buying its candles from wholesalers, but Fung suggested it start making its own scents and candles. Fung had just moved to Hong Kong from London, where she worked in fashion marketing and product development, which had given her experience in dealing with factories. She went to the mainland to find one that could produce a line of candles tailor-made for the Hong Kong market.

That was in 2006. Today, the Candle Company is Hong Kong's largest candle retailer and wholesaler, with a range of candles and essential oils that are sold in shops across the city. Fung says the secret is the candles are designed with local customers in mind.

"We're East meets West," she says. Whereas white candles are most popular in Europe, red candles sell better here. Subtle floral scents like the Candle Company's "ginger lily" do better than scents like cinnamon. "In Hong Kong, we have a mixed culture and our candles adapt to that."

Those words are echoed by an emerging crop of homeware design brands that are producing Hong Kong products for Hong Kong's often unique tastes - and in the process expanding the local market for such goods. Just down Hollywood Road from the Candle Company is Loveramics, a dishware brand begun in 2009 by Lynns Concepts, a 49-year-old import/export firm.