When Shehan Tennakoon was looking around for a name for his new company, he knew it had to be something that symbolized where he wanted to be in a few years. Derived from the Sinhala word ‘vrooksha’ or tree, ‘Wrook’ was the word he finally chose. “The name was decided on because the ultimate goal of the company is to become fruitful and branch out into other businesses while maintaining a sustainable outlook,” says Shehan. Wrook is now six years old and successful – every month the company turns out approximately 30,000 handmade candles in a variety of shapes, sizes and scents.
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Shehan, who turned 27 in June, studied up to his A levels at St Joseph’s College before moving on to study his CIM. “From the time I left school I always wanted to gain my own independence and break away from formal structure,” says Shehan explaining his decision to become the owner of his own business at 21. “Essentially this was my first job but candles weren’t the first product I tried marketing.” When selling rice and cars failed, Shehan looked around for a niche market to which he could stake his claim.
Candles, it turned out, were in demand, but no one in the market was producing really high quality ones. “There was nothing really romantic about it, mostly the appeal was to get into producing an item which has a lot of potential, and no one else seemed to be meeting customer requirements.” The manufacturing process itself intrigued Shehan – to produce the ideal candle, you have to “bridge the gap between art and science,” he reveals. Shehan says he spent six months studying candle making. He read extensively during the period, determined to understand wax and the ways in which it responded to different additives.
He made his first batch in his mother’s kitchen. He waited until she was finished with the oven and then set to work. They were far from perfect, but Shehan was persistent. “The kitchen table was a bit of mess for awhile,” he says ruefully. He continued his waxy experiments, playing with different temperatures, mixes and ingredients until he had a product he believed could literally outshine its competitors in the market. “The key to making a good candle is perfecting its wax formula which should result in a candle that does not smoke or drip, making it efficient in wax consumption and increasing burn time,” he reveals.
Describing the stages in the process he says the wax must be melted at the right temperature, mixed with the right ingredients and then poured into moulds. “All our candles are mixed by hand, coloured, hand poured, wicked one candle at a time and then packaged,” he says, revealing that it is a time consuming process. It varies according to the size of the candle – “some small candles will be finished in about 2 hours whereas the larger ones take up a full days work.” Particularly in the beginning stages, concentration is required. If the mixer loses concentration during the blending stage, you could end up with a faulty candle.
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At Wrook they try to make every sort of candle in the market, offering over fifty sizes and designs which range from pillar candles to votives, from floating candles to tea lights and decorative dinner candles. Sometimes he adds scents – strong ones like citronella and jasmine or subtle fragrances like mint and lavender. These are further customised into a rainbow of colours. Customers dictate not only how they should look, but how they should burn. Sometimes, to avoid a smoke detector going off, Shehan is asked to create candles that will burn for a few minutes only. Other times, he needs to provide a night’s worth of illumination.
From a humble first order of barely a 100 floating candles and votives, Shehan’s company now produces thousands of candles a month which he sells directly to clients, most of who are in the hospitality industry both on the Island and overseas. Wrook still runs out of his house – he claimed a plot in his garden for his factory premises where he employs six people. As an entrepreneur he’s had to tighten his belt and get more disciplined to keep the company going through tough times like the recession. “We have had to shift our business model to be more focused on the bottom line and being more efficient at the same time,” he says, happy that they have made the transition from being a start up to an established business.
Still it can be tough going: “Now, on a daily basis I am faced with the challenges of being held completely accountable for anything that could go right or wrong in the company and at the end of it all, it is solely my responsibility to ensure that there is more that can go right than wrong.” Luckily, Shehan seems to have got it right so far. |
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