Brian is very familiar with the challenges of making perfect candles. It was while he was busy making a candle one day, that he had a great idea which led him to develop a vision to make candle making simple and accessible to everyone. Chandler & Me was born, the mission to create an ecosystem of products and accessories that make creating your own scented soy candle at home fun and simple. The product that Brian had in mind would allow people to enjoy the beautiful art of candle making but without all the technical hassles.

The design of the Candle Maker had to speak to the customer group, and while it needed to be a capable appliance, it still had to embody a sense of craftiness. The design of the Candle Maker needed to make people feel inspired, excited and produce a sense of accomplishment whilst eliminating most of the equipment, time and mess. Brian teamed up with Blender to design and develop the very first DIY Candle Maker.

Project

Candle Maker

Client

Chandler & Me

What We Did

Concept Design, Prototyping,
Engineering, DFM

We started by taking the Chandler & Me team through Blender’s discovery workshop. We quickly defined user and stakeholder personas, honed in on key pain points, the process of making high-quality candles and drew highlights of what features needed to go into the end product. The findings allowed both Blender and the Chandler & Me team to clearly define the user and product requirements, and therefore set the design team in the right direction.

After gaining insights into what the market requires, we created some design mood boards and provided a variety of different aesthetic concepts which revolved around our findings. With input and opinions from user groups, we were able to refine several design concepts into one with the right design language to suit the market that we all agreed on. At this stage, we were already considering design for manufacture (DFM).

Moving forward from the concept stage, the Blender team developed the concept in 3D CAD to detail the design. We solved some existing electronics components fitment problems and sorted the design for assembly of the product for later down the track. We had to figure out how to effectively communicate to the users through design semantics so someone can receive their candle maker, open it up and effortlessly make a candle. Several realistic prototypes were then made which we were able to use for market and usability testings.

Before long, both the Blender and the Chandler & Me team headed to China to assess potential manufacturing partners and choose the right partner to build the product. Things moved along quickly once we’d chosen our manufacturer, product samples were reviewed, and an updated DFM report put together. Part lines and surface finishing qualities issues were then quickly resolved and corrected before the final run.

The end result is the world’s first Candle Maker appliance that produces the perfect candle at home, every time. The product encapsulates the art of making high quality scented candles yourself, without all the equipment, technical hassles, time and temperature constraints or mess. The finished Candle Maker inspires and excites its users while giving them the same sense of satisfaction and accomplishment of traditional candle making. Grab your Candle Maker now!

WANT TO FIND OUT MORE?

From concept to prototyping to manufacture, we partner with businesses to create commercially successful products and some great ongoing relationships.

See how we can help you