WHEN skincare and fragrance specialist Kate Crofton-Atkins moved to Saigon, she didn’t expect the city to propel her future career and business.
Captivated by the aromatic fragrances and heady Jasmine found across the city, Crofton-Atkins soon started working with a New York based fragrance house, researching for over a year the essential oils derived from Vietnamese plants to establish Cochine. Desiring to mirror the city’s uniquely fragrant charm, she not only sought to reproduce its distinctive scent to the Western market, but create a candle that does more than just smell nice.
Creating a candle you’d be proud to showcase in your home, Crofton-Atkins elevates the conventional with Cochine, blending several inspirations, including French architecture, into a refined and elegant collection. Cochine also only uses ethically and sustainably sourced materials, promising to bring a little of Vietnam to your home without compromising the Vietnamese landscapes in the process.
Cochine Saigon Candle, Cedar and Vietnamese Oud
They use a botanical palm wax sourced from a certified sustainable supplier, which is a more natural substitute to paraffin wax. Burning paraffin wax, the most common kind of wax found in candles, expels toxic benzene, a chemical linked to side effects including nausea and headaches. Opting for a natural solution to paraffin, Cochine allows you to enjoy home-fragrances, minus the unnecessary chemicals.
Our favourite in the Glass office has to be Cedar and Vietnamese Oud, a candle with an impressive 50-hour burn-time, perfect for long work-days. Inspired by the incense found in temples found in rural areas of Vietnam, the scent is dark and smoky, with top notes of the Orient’s characteristic woody oud fragrance. Fragrant but not overpowering, the candle also incorporates lotus flower, amber, and sandalwood into its dark and distinctive scent. A collection with a fragrance to suit every taste, other scents include White Jasmine and Gardenia, Tuberose and Wild Fig, Vietnamese Rose and Delentii, Agarwood and Amber, Frangipani and Neroli, and Vanilla and Tabac Noir.
An eclectic range of Vietnamese-inspired fragrances, Cochine invites you to bring the exotic scents of Saigon into your home.
by Emma Hart