Maison Monravel, a new French fragrance house, has made its debut with a collection of scented candles that promise to harness the healing properties of plants, offering a pathway to wellness and tranquility.

This independent family business was founded by Constance and Marguerite de Montravel, partners in both life and entrepreneurship. They draw inspiration from Constance’s ancestor, Louis de Montravel, a 19th-century botanist and pharmacist whose life was dedicated to the study of rare and medicinal plants.

The collection from Maison Monravel includes six unique olfactory remedies. Among them is Citrus Maxima, designed to invigorate and clear the mind with its vibrant blend of mandora, orange blossom, neroli, and blood orange. Another standout is Jardin d’Embruns, inspired by the serene Emerald Coast of Brittany, where Marguerite spent her childhood. This candle combines the refreshing scents of algae, peppermint, sage, and lavender. Sancta Myrrha, featuring notes of myrrh, frankincense, and cypress, is crafted to soothe the nervous system and encourage introspection.

Olfactory remedies for wellness

These luxurious candles are available for purchase online at maisonmonravel.com and at a four-month pop-up exclusive at Paris’ prestigious Le Bon Marché department store.

Meticulously crafted in France’s renowned Grasse region, the candles boast paraffin-free wax derived from rapeseed flowers, housed in elegant refillable blue-black glass vessels fashioned by skilled artisans in Tuscany.

Complementing the candle collection, Maison Monravel offers organic scent diffusers made from Lutetian limestone sourced from La Roche-Guyon in the Paris Basin. The founders highlight the stone’s natural porosity, which allows it to absorb and retain fragrance like a sponge. These stone fragments are available in a set, accompanied by a liquid vial for recharging.

The offering is completed by organic scent diffusers in Lutetian limestone from La Roche-Guyon which lies in the Paris Basin. The founders describe how its natural porosity means it conserves odour “like a sponge.” The stone fragments come in a set with a liquid vial with which to recharge them.

Having selected ingredients for their virtues the duo worked with perfumer and aromacologist Katell Plisson to create the olfactive universe beyond.

The science of wellness

“All the other senses pass by the thalamus which sorts them and decides if they are interesting or not but when it comes to sense of smell, all the molecules that we breathe go directly to the lambic system,” explains Marguerite. The lambic system being the region of the brain associated with memory and emotion.

“That’s why odour can totally change out interior state,” adds Constance. “It’s this aspect that we wanted to put to use in the service of wellbeing with Maison Monravel.”

Yasmin Sewell’s Vyrao debuted skin perfumes targeting the emotions in 2021 and last year Charlotte Tilbury launched a line of six fragrances designed to engender emotions from energy to joy. However, while Vyrao has since built out its offering adding some candles into the mix, the perfumes remain its core business.

While perfume is also on the cards for the future at Maison Monravel, its founders elected to launch via interiors fragrances says Constance because candles are already so closely linked to the ritual of wellbeing.

“It’s the ceremonial aspect. We light them for ourselves but also for others to create a cocoon that accompanies us throughout the day. Skin perfume is more personal.”

The global wellness industry

Marketing the candles as a conduit for wellness is a smart move.

While The Business Research Company predicts that the home fragrance market will be worth $12.96 Billion by 2029, according to the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness industry is set to hit $9 Trillion by 2028. Even the more conservative estimate of $2 Trillion cited by McKinsey analysts is not to be sniffed at.