How the CEO of Glasshouse Fragrances keeps her 18-year-old brand fresh
In 2006 Nicole Eckels set out to create a new category that sits at the intersection of beauty and homewares: luxury scented candles.
Since its founding, Glasshouse Fragrances has earned a reputation for “forever changing the candle market” with its product offering.
“It makes me feel incredibly honoured and privileged to have the opportunity to create the scented candle category in Australia – when I started Glasshouse, it didn’t exist,” Eckels, Glasshouse Fragrances’ founder and CEO, told Inside Retail.
With Eckels at the helm, Glasshouse Fragrances has not only pioneered a product category but disrupted a once-stagnant industry.
Today, the iconic fragrance brand is stocked in doors across Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and now the United States.
On creating a category
Before launching Glasshouse Fragrances there was nothing like it in the Australian retail landscape. Candles were functional and the scents were linear.
Eckles understood the power of fragrance to be more than just masking an odour: “Fragrances can be more than just smelling good; they can transport you, they can take you somewhere, they can make you feel things.”
But being a first-to-market brand in Australia meant Glasshouse Fragrances had to do a lot of the heavy lifting to educate both retailers and consumers.
“We made sure every one of our retailers had these candles burning in the store all the time,” shared Eckles.
“So when a customer would come in, they would perceive the fragrance right away and go, ‘Geez, what is that?’ Imagine a world where you have never experienced a scented candle.”
On building a legacy
After nearly two decades in business, Glasshouse Fragrances is still a household name for consumers yet nothing about its brand is stale.
“I think all brands need to stay fresh, with the exception of Chanel, but even then, I’m sure they’ve done tiny little tweaks,” stated Eckles.
Glasshouse Fragrances underwent a successful rebrand a few years ago, keeping the iconic parts of its original branding and evolving the rest.
“When we did that refresh, it wasn’t an evolution. It wasn’t a revolution,” explained Eckles.
“We didn’t break it all apart and say, ‘Let’s start again’. We did it in a way that just keeps it fresh and modern and on top of things.”
For Eckles, it is Glasshouse Fragrances’ responsibility to bring modernity and create trends as a beauty brand for candles, body care and perfume.
“When I think about Glasshouse, my target customer doesn’t change age, so I readjust to her. I don’t follow people [as they grow older],” she stated.
“And it still comes through for us to this day, we’re not ageing with our customer.”
Every new release by Glasshouse Fragrances is designed to transport consumers and reframe their thinking using scent and storytelling.
On making complete fragrance
True to its tagline ‘further than fragrance’, Glasshouse Fragrances has successfully transitioned to a complete fragrance brand that extends beyond just scented candles into personal care products.
“When I started Glasshouse, it wasn’t just because there was a gap in the candle market. There was a gap full stop in Australia,” said Eckles, who grew up in New York.
“I had moved from the biggest beauty market to the smallest one, and my options were L’Occitane and The Body Shop.”
Eckles set out to create the world’s best bath and body brand in 2006 with a vision to reinvent the category.
She started with luxury scented candles, but the product launch was so successful that it took up everything until recently – Glasshouse Fragrances sells one Tahaa Affair product every minute.
Now its signature scents are available in eau de parfum, shower gel, body lotion, hand cream, body bars, hand wash and diffusers – a complete scent universe inspired by destinations.
“When you connect with something deeply and understand the motivation behind why you purchase a product in a way that’s just so connected to it, the work just comes through that, and it’s quite effortless,” Eckles concluded.
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