Q&A with Catherine Powers of Inspired Home

I have a fun surprise. Today I give you a Q&A with Catherine Powers, the artist/poet/candlemaker (forgive me) powerhouse behind Inspired Home, a boutique artisan-owned company offering the most deliciously scented, handmade luxury soy candles (I might be addicted to the Coconut/Lemongrass combo), as well as a book (soon to be plural) of poetic reflections, and prints of vibrant, limited-edition fine art. And her studio is right here in the Valley!

If Inspired Home isn’t already on your radar, it definitely should be — especially now, while we’re in the months leading up to the holidays. The one-stop-shop could provide you with just the Citrus Spice-scented candles you need to turn your home into a holiday wonderland, not to mention gifts for your relatives (it’s never too early to start shopping for your mother-in-law, right?), plus work colleagues, party hostesses, and others.

So how does Catherine pull off her trifecta of home inspiration? You’ll have to read on to find out.

How did “Inspired Home” come to be? And is it just you, or do you have some help?

Inspired Home is a DBA within my company Powers In Print Inc. and better brands the scope and umbrella of what I seek to accomplish now. “Inspired Home — For All Things Inspiring” is a wider concept that allows for brand extensions of other products and ideas to coexist. Eventually, I’d like to keep expanding into more inspiring luxury specialty products for the home and “inspired living.” Now, having a blog, I’d even like to post healthy, easy recipes, too. The goal is to create and share both ideas and products that add inspiration, luxury and creativity to your life or home.

Yes, it is all 100 percent me. I make the candles, I create the art, I write the poetry and books — I published the first book this year under Well Written Press. I have many more manuscripts on hand and ready to go. However, the candles are my primary focus right now. Yes, I will really look forward to having help someday!!! My dream scenario would be a business partnership where I’d be the creative developer constantly making new art, new books, new fragrances and products and someone else would oversee the manufacturing, sales, press, distributing, etc.

The candles are incredible! How are they made and how do you select your fantastic scent combinations?

I make them by hand in my studio. I never knew I could create candles … It was a process of testing, testing, testing. I started on a single hot plate, measuring each item to the gram and keeping notes on testing different waxes, wicks and fragrance combinations. It was a two-year, self-taught process to finalize the offerings I now have available.

As for the fragrances, I started out with groups (i.e. floral, fruity, exotic, etc.) and the final offerings are the ones that passed the tests with the highest standards and remarks. The fragrance had to be in the category of “oh my God, what is that?” to pass on to the next phase of tests. Nothing too common or ordinary would do. In the world of consumable products, my goal is to have something one feels as though they must replace and cannot find elsewhere. So if you absolutely love one of the candle fragrances, I can assure you, it won’t exist elsewhere.

Additionally, the quality of the candle ingredients and custom packaging also had to express my brand. The limited-edition art I create is with the finest, most archival inks and substrates rating the editions for over 75 years. The candles had to express the same level of quality that goes into my artwork. The candles are exciting because it’s like asking someone “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” Fragranced candles are for everyone, and creating something more “mainstream” has been a lot of fun. The world of fragrance and the moods they create is also very creative and another layer to my artistic endeavors, in addition to color/art and words/poetry.

OK, and as if being an accomplished artist and talented candlemaker weren’t already pretty impressive, you also write poetry?

I never studied poetry or painting. Both are self-taught. Art and poetry are essentially about building structures, layers, themes, images and concepts. The creative process is ultimately choice-making until a piece is finished and signed. The mixed media art I create layers up to eight different materials, and the scale of the originals are large in size, upwards of 48 inches x 68 inches, 60 x 60. I usually work on pairs and groups of four so pieces can interlock and be hung in different directions and still visually relate. I started writing poetry in grade school and always liked art as well. My undergraduate degree is in studio art, however I never studied painting and many of my credits were fulfilled in architecture and interior design.

One last question about the candles. Do you rotate the fragrances according to the season, or are they all available year-round?

There are 18 offered all year. However, some fragrances are more seasonal in mood. For example, Summer Fruit and Coconut Lemongrass are more summery, whereas Cranberry and Citrus Spice are more for fall/holiday. Lilac and Orange Neroli are fresh for spring. But anyone could order from the collection all year. Eventually I will do special and limited-edition items down the road, which I have many exciting ideas brewing for!

Can’t wait to see what you do next, Catherine!

To peruse all the delights at Inspired Home’s website, click here. (Did I mention there was a candle called “Chocolate”?)

-Marie