Cast by hand. Why we work in eco resin.

Candles were the beginning, but the studio kept drifting toward a second material. Our dishes, vessels and trays are hand-cast in eco resin, a water-based material mixed from a powder and a liquid, then poured into a mould by hand. It takes the shape of the mould beautifully and sets to a soft, stone-like finish that asks to be touched. So the homeware grew out of the same back room in Midrand, made by the same hands as the candles.

We started out in plaster, and we moved on because we wanted pieces that last. Eco resin is much stronger than plaster, so a dish is far less likely to chip or break. It also picks up finer detail from the mould, the ridges of a shell or the beads around a tray, and it sets with a smoother surface. It is water-based, with no strong fumes, which matters when you make things by hand every day.

Colour goes into the mix before we pour, so the tone runs through the whole piece. We work in a small palette of soft tones, ivory, cream, blush, dove grey, lilac, taupe and charcoal, chosen to sit with the candles rather than shout over them. We also swirl two tones together for a black and white marble look, so no two marbled pieces are ever the same.

Caring for it is simple. Wipe a piece with a soft, dry cloth. Once sealed it is splash-resistant, but it is made for decorative use, not food, so keep it out of the dishwasher and away from standing water. Treated kindly, a piece lasts for years.

If candlelight is the evening, a hand-cast dish is the surface it rests on. Our homeware is cast and hand-finished in small batches, in the same tones and the same spirit as the candles, and the full shop holds both together.