Wax Atelier

Lola Lely and Yesenia Thibault-Picazo chose a perhaps unexpected spot to explore their passion for luxury products made with wax, like their signature hand-twisted candles, elegant tapers, waxed linen food wraps, and more: an industrial park in Barking, a neighborhood in East London. Once inside their studio, though, it’s clear that their atelier is a wonderland of simmering wax and the organic materials used to create and color them — like the white madder used in their hand-twisted Pink Blossom candles. The pair — Lely was born in Vietnam, while Thibault-Picazo is half French, half Colombian — have collaborated with such starry London creatives as House of Hackney, Toast, and Matthew Williamson, but their core offering has remained wonderfully unchanged: sleek, sophisticated candles made with natural dyes and waxes, hand-crafted by members of the community trained to excel in this centuries-old craft.