NEW: Manual Candles
New for Holiday 2021: our first line of candles!
Our inaugural candle collection comes in three sizes of matte black ceramics, all 100% soy wax. The scent is formulated to accompany long winter evenings—warm and earthy sandalwood paired with overtones of oakmoss and smoke & suede. But there’s a lot more behind these candles than a relaxing scent and a tasteful vessel!
We are all imperfect.
This new line started with the spirit of creative reuse. After producing our Ceramics Collection a few years back, we had a decent amount of slightly irregular ceramics. We chose to pull them from the inventory, but didn’t feel right about throwing them out. They still had potential, but we weren’t exactly sure what that might be, so they sat in the back of our studio for a few years.
Living in Chicago, sunlight becomes scarce for the first half of the winter—but those dark evenings can be made magical with candlelight. We quickly landed on candles as an interesting way to give a new life to the boxes of imperfect ceramics in the studio. But how would we get these made? In addition to long winters, it turns out Chicago also has some amazing social-impact driven organizations that welcomed a new collaboration.
We all deserve access to opportunity.
Manual Candles are hand poured by participants in the HHPLIFT LIFT™ Program—a career development program for people overcoming barriers to fair wage employment in Chicago. LIFT™ Program associates come to HHPLIFT through their employment partners, such as READI Chicago and Transition2Work, where they are provided job opportunities, learn leadership & career development skills, and have access to healthy food, mentorship, and educational programming.
READI Chicago is a Heartland Alliance program whose purpose is to decrease shootings and homicides among those at highest risk of gun violence; create new opportunities for these same individuals to change their life trajectory and decrease their involvement with the criminal justice system; and help build an infrastructure at the community level to promote long-term safety and opportunity in Chicago's most impoverished communities.
Transition2Work is a ReEmployAbility, Inc. program that connects workers who were injured at their places of employment with innovative, paid volunteer opportunities at nonprofits. During their temporary volunteer assignments at the nonprofits, injured workers become reacquainted with the work experience, while boosting their self-confidence, improving their sense of worth, and keeping in touch with the daily work routine.
Pay it forward.
While we are proud of our home city of Chicago, we also recognize that it’s a city of vast inequities. Residents of the South and West sides—mainly people of color—experience a much different life than those in wealthier neighborhoods. The effects of poverty, violence, and disinvestment resonate through these communities as negative feedback loops that have continuously impacted generation after generation of residents. While the complexities of this problem are vexing, a good place to start is with the youth.
The organization My Block My Hood My City is a non-profit organization that mentors youth through educational programs and field trips that expose them to the broader world beyond their neighborhoods. M3 focuses on providing opportunities in STEM, arts & culture, citizenry & volunteerism, health, community development, culinary arts, and entrepreneurship. Their programs provide “opportunities to step outside their comfort zone and explore new communities, cultures, and cuisines in an effort to gain a greater understanding of the world.”
Their mission of exposing youth to new knowledge and expanding networks through first-hand experiences felt very aligned with Manual’s values, so we will be donating 50% of the profits from candle sales to My Hood My Block My City.