November 14, 2024
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Six new candles created by Color & Flame in collaboration with the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp. capture the scents of the city's landmarks and neighborhoods.
Philadelphia's most pleasant scents may not be the first that come to mind when thinking of the city's aromas, but a new candle line aims to capture the city's most enticing and nostalgic smells.
The six candles in "The Philadelphia Experiences Collection" represent the scents of the Gayborhood, Boathouse Row, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Belmont Plateau, South Philly and the Wanamaker Building. The Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation collaborated with South Jersey-based candlemaker Color & Flame to create the candles.
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The collaboration came together after Drew Fisher, the Philly native who co-founded Color & Flame, connected with Kathryn Ott Lovell, the visitor center's CEO, at a Black-owned business event in February. They held a brainstorming session that focused on "experiences that are unique to Philly." They came up with fun titles and the scent notes to represent them.
"My partner Liz (Weiss) and I went into this collaboration thinking we'd be working on candles that the Visitor Center would be able to offer to people touring Philadelphia to take back home with them as a keepsake, something they can remember Philadelphia with," Fisher said. "But what Kathryn, her team and we at Color & Flame actually was able to do is to create something that Philadelphians can be proud to own and keep and feel like they're being represented and heard, and I'm honored to be able to be a part of such a experience."
The candles can be purchased at the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation's four visitor centers and its Christmas Village booth. The candles cost $32 each, or at discounted rates in bundles of two, three or six. Each candle is 7 ounces and can burn for an estimated 30-40 hours.
Here's more on their scents:
• "Beautiful Day in the Gayborhood" is a "colorful blend" that celebrates Philly's LGBTQ+ community, and the people and small businesses of the Gayborhood. It has notes of tiger orchid, "berry crush" cocktail, musk and worn leather.
• "Boathouse Mornings," inspired by the early risers who frequent Boathouse Row, features notes of salt air, aquatic scents, the flowering plant cyclamen and citrus blossom.
• "The Steps" is a "motivational fragrance" that pays tribute to the art museum steps made famous by "Rocky." It has notes of orange blossom, plum and bamboo.
• "Place Called the Plateau" captures the essence of community gatherings at Belmont Plateau with notes of cedar, barbecue, fresh green grass and oakmoss.
• "South Philly Sunday Dinner" is a "mouthwatering scent" that pays homage to family dinners with notes of fresh tomatoes, pressed olives, rosemary sprigs and focaccia.
• "Wanamaker Holiday Light Show" is inspired the holiday displays in the historic building that is now home to Macy's. This candle has notes of pine, peppermint sticks and creamy hot vanilla drink, and is "infused with the magic of the holiday season."
"They’re all unique and smell completely different from each other while still representing the experience of being there," Fisher said. "Boathouse Morning is aquatic and fresh, while The Steps is floral and inspiring, so each candle is well balanced and completely different in feel and experience."
Fisher said he's picky about candle scents. To create this collection, he took a trial-and-error approach to ensure they are enjoyable scents. He said his favorite of the bunch was a pleasant surprise.
"During the testing phase, I'll burn the candles for quite some time and 'live' with them to make sure the scent is as good as can be and isn't offputting or overwhelming or anything like that, and surprisingly, I fell in love with South Philly Sunday Dinner," Fisher said. "It's such a pleasant, comforting aroma that does feel like you're with friends and family, enjoying each other's company with the smell of a wonderful dinner being prepared in the kitchen."
Fisher said the six scents are in the "first round of releases," so there may be more quirky Philly scents to come.
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