The story
In the alchemical tradition, a sylph is the spirit of air. Invisible, it moves through rooms carrying smell, memory and breath. I kept that name because it describes exactly what a lit candle does inside a house.
How it started
We came to Barcelona without having planned it. It was one of those moves decided in a few weeks, and I arrived with my work to rebuild and the feeling of having to find myself again.
I signed up for everything I could find: meetups, workshops, things I did not know how to do. In one of those workshops I made my first candle. I never stopped.
Why scents
I grew up on the coast of Paraná, in southern Brazil. From my bedroom window you could hear the sea, and on summer nights the smell of night-blooming jasmine came in, the flower that opens after dark and reaches you before you see it.
Living far away, that smell came back on its own, without me doing anything to keep it. That is how they work. A smell arrives before the memory and brings it back whole.
There is nowhere to keep a smell, so I started making them myself.
Who is behind this
My name is Mehl Julião. I am Brazilian, from the coast of Paraná, and I live in Barcelona.
Sylph is mine from beginning to end: I choose the essences, compose the blends, wax the wicks, fill the jars and write these words.
How they are made
By hand, on a table next to the window, here in Barcelona. Plant-based waxes and cotton wicks that I wax one at a time, in small batches.
I never use paraffin, and I choose essences meant to burn without releasing anything you would not want to breathe at home. It is the part of the craft that shows the least and the one I care about most.
Summer nights on the coast, with the window open and night-blooming jasmine in the air.
My grandmother's kitchen, with something in the oven and the family around the table.
Every candle leaves here knowing what it smells like and why. What comes next is told on the channel first.