© Cyrille Robin
For Les Albâtres, its new range of three scented candles launching this fall, French candlemaker Trudon opted for alabaster as its material of choice.
“As far as we know, Trudon is the only company to create candle jars from alabaster,” Trudon Creative Director Julien Pruvost tells Luxe Packaging Insight. “Alabaster is a soft stone whose milky qualities let the light filter through,” he adds. “In ancient Greece, alabaster was also the name given to a perfume vase without a handle, and symbolizes elegance, finesse and immaculate whiteness, he adds.
The translucent stone jars are sculpted in Spain from a single block by Sarreal, a company in the province of Tarragona. The visible veins in the stone and variations in shade and appearance make each candle holder and its matching lid, also in alabaster, unique.
Working with alabaster is not without its challenges, however. “It is a very brittle material, and therefore extremely fragile,” Pruvost highlights, with the container needing to be handled with extreme care during production and shipping. Due to the line’s artisanal manufacturing process, production is time-consuming, and production capacity is limited.
A golden aluminum label (Mill) featuring Trudon’s coat of arms is affixed to the candle jar. In terms of secondary packaging, the candle box (Valtenna) and insert are made from FSC-certified paper. The box features Fedrigoni paper hot-stamped with films from Kurz.
The range consists of three candles: Ernesto, Abd El Kader and Héméra. A new scent, Héméra’s “enveloping freshness” features a woody, amber base. Launching in October, each 270g Les Albâtres candle is priced at €160. Some 5,000 of the candles have been produced, along with 500 of the large-format (2.8kg) versions.
“When the candle is lit, the translucent alabaster comes to life, and when it is extinguished and covered with the cap, it becomes a refined, decorative object,” concludes Pruvost.
Candle jar and lidSarreal
BoxValtenna
Metal labelMill
