Beginnings
I grew up in the rural landscape of Northern England, in a small historic market town set between the east and west coasts, just south of the Scottish border.
It was a place of windswept beauty and quiet contrasts: rugged hills, green pastures, old stone villages and centuries-old farmsteads, with sheep and cattle grazing lazily in the fields. That landscape has never really left me. The weather, the history, the softness of the countryside and the slightly wild edges of the north are all part of how I see the world.
The Crossing
As a young adult, I left England for the West Coast of America, with a short spell in Chicago along the way. I was ready for new adventures, new places and the possibilities that come with starting over somewhere completely different.
But even as I built a life here, I often found myself drawn back to the feeling of home. Not in a homesick way exactly, but through memory: the damp green countryside, old stone buildings, market towns, coastal air, rainy afternoons and all the small details that make Britain feel so distinctly itself.
Over time, I realised those memories had become part of my creative language. LitBrit grew from that longing to hold onto a sense of place and to capture the nostalgia, atmosphere and quiet beauty of my British roots and translate them into fragrance.
Where LitBrit Began
LitBrit began during the quiet days of the pandemic, when I first started pouring candles at home. I had no grand plan at the time. I was simply experimenting with wax, fragrance and the small comfort of making something by hand.
What surprised me most was how personal and fascinating the process became. As I blended each fragrance, certain notes would bring a place or moment sharply back into focus: rain on stone, garden blooms, old paper, sea air, green fields after a shower. Scent had a way of saying what words often couldn’t.
From that discovery, LitBrit Candle Co. was born, along with the Heritage Collection, a collection inspired by memory, atmosphere and the quiet beauty of British life.
To me, a LitBrit candle is more than something that smells beautiful. It is a small moment of return.