What We’ve Been Up To: September

Hey guys! Welcome to the first ever “What We’ve Been Up To” with yours truly, Kristen, the person who founded this company on my kitchen stovetop nearly 15 years ago, much to the chagrin of my four roommates at the time. (I’m still friends with one of them, and yes, she gets free candles as payback after all this time.)

HERE’S WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO OVER THE PAST MONTH OR SO:

Our production team has been hard at work making seasonal candles, and we’re working on another release (from the archives!) coming out in October.

In September, we dropped a collab with fellow Los Angeles-based brand, The Hundreds. The candle version of “WAVES” sold out by 3pm and everyone in the office clapped. We are also pouring candles for a partnership coming up with Lodge Room, a rad music venue in Los Angeles. For years, we didn’t have the capacity to take on any collaborative work, but this year we found ourselves with extra capacity, and we’re loving the creative opportunities.

At the end of August, I hosted an incense making workshop, a complete how-to at our Echo Park store. (where you can find our entire home fragrance collection!) I love taking a break to make something by hand, because it means that for at least 60 minutes, I’m not on my phone. We are keeping it chill this holiday season and will likely have less formal workshops at the shop, so if you want to learn how to make incense you can check out our book, At Home With Fragrance – it’s one of my favorite projects from the book.

We did a spirit week because we’re a little bit rambunctious that included denim day (inspo was early 00s JT & Britney), dress like something that starts with the letter F. You don’t have to love dressing up to work here, but it helps. Operations has canceled our annual holiday party in favor of a Halloween party this year.

And at the beginning of September, LA experienced a massive heatwave. In the warehouse, we keep things cool with these big ass fans called “portacools” and ice cream in the freezer. At odds with the heat is our desire for it to be candle season already (the best time of the year). Even I found myself blowing out my candles and lighting some incense instead.

I’LL LEAVE YOU WITH SOME RECS ON HOW I’M SETTING THE MOOD THIS MONTH:

Currently Watching: “House of the Dragon” + “Below Deck Med”.

Currently Reading: “LA Woman” by Eve Babitz, “Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman.

Currently Listening: September Playlist for those hot, slow final days of summer here in Los Angeles (in collaboration with our Graphic Designer, DJ Hard Naks.)

Currently Burning: No. 35: Ojai Lavender incense and No. 02: Apple Picking candle.

Fun Fact:

Have you ever wondered why the “first” scents (numerically speaking) on our line are seasonal, gourmand scents? Well, back in the day, my business pretty much only existed because of holiday crafts. From mid-November until the weekend before Christmas, I was doing back-to-back shows, loading in and out of craft fairs, markets, and selling handmade goods. I sold a ton of seasonal scents because that’s what the people wanted to buy! Craft fairs is how my life/business partner Tom came to be involved in P.F. He helped me out at nearly every show I did, from a table at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin to a double-wide booth at Renegade in SF and LA. I referred to him as my “grumpy craft fair boyfriend”.

Alright, that’s it for now! What are you burning right now?

Over ‘n out,
Kristen