When Niko Dafkos first set up his scented candle-making business, nervous customers would worry their sense of smell wasn’t good enough or were unsure about what they liked. Fast forward eight years, including the scented-candle mania that gripped the UK during lockdown, and he is continually surprised by how much his customers know.
The change he’s observed in visitors to his Earl of East stores in London “has been incredible to witness”, he said. “[Previously] those who didn’t work with fragrance in a professional setting felt like they couldn’t participate in a conversation around scent. It’s similar to the democratisation of the kitchen and cooking a decade or so ago.”
