This time of year calls for lovely dinner and holiday parties, and along with that, one needs a fabulous hostess gift. Landing on Skeem Design’s website, I fell in love with the candle as a perfect gesture of gratitude for that home-cooked meal.
Along with candles, the founders of Skeem came up with fabulous match bottles and incense. I had the pleasure of speaking with Suji Meswani, who founded Skeem Design with her husband Geoff Weiser.
Suji, you focus on reusable items. Was this a mission choice, a design choice or both?
Our products are designed to have the least amount of impact on the environment, which is at the heart of everything we do. A big part of that is not only producing the collection in the U.S., but also making sure that containers can be repurposed. For example, once our candle wicks burn down, containers can be used as catch-alls, votive candles holders, displayed with herbs and spices, and so on.
Also, our travels give us an opportunity to collect things from around the world. Most of the items in Skeem Design are inspired by natural materials, aromas and motifs, which reinforces the idea of beauty and simplicity.
Can you tell me more about your Block Print Candle line?
Our print block candle line is inspired by woodblock printing, an ancient technique that is used for decorating fabric. We actually have a large collection of these wood printing blocks, which incorporate these amazingly intricate patterns. We reinterpreted these patterns in a modern way to create Block Print triple-wick candles.
In terms of incense, you offer the traditional kind along with the Palo Santo – tell me more about Palo Santo.
Palo Santo is sustainably cultivated wood from South America. What we love about Palo Santo, besides its aroma—a mix of rich, musky, sweet and citrusy with mint and pine thrown in for good measure—is that it can be used to ward off bad energy and cleanse the body and mind. It’s meant to bring good fortune to those who burn it, so we’re really excited to have added Palo Santo for this season.
Available at http://skeemshop.com