Why I Started Sea Zen

Sea Zen started with a football injury, a family dinner and a candle-making kit.

It wasn't something I'd planned.

In 2020, I injured myself playing football and was initially told I wouldn't be able to play for at least four months.

At the time, four months sounded like a long time.

It ended up being 18 months.

What I thought would be a relatively straightforward setback became much more complicated than I had anticipated. There were setbacks along the way, and my recovery took far longer than I ever expected.

Being away from football for that long was difficult. It had been a big part of my life, and suddenly I had a lot more time on my hands and a lot less of the routine I was used to.

I was doing my physio exercises and focusing on getting back to football, but I also wanted something else to put my time and energy into.

I'd always found candles interesting

I'd go into shops and look at the different candles on the shelves.

The scents.

The packaging.

The different brands.

I'd find myself wondering how they were made and what went into creating them.

At the same time, I was becoming more interested in business.

I liked the idea of creating something from scratch and building something of my own.

I didn't know what that would look like, or whether I'd ever actually do it.

Then one evening, a couple of months into my recovery, I was sitting around the dinner table with my family.

We were talking about what I could do with some of my spare time, and someone suggested:

"Why don't you get into candles?"

I thought, why not?

The next day, I ordered a candle-making kit.

I had no idea where it would lead.

I actually loved it

When the kit arrived, I started experimenting.

Different waxes.

Different scents.

Different containers.

Different ways of making them.

Some candles turned out really well.

Others definitely didn't.

But I loved the process.

There was something really satisfying about taking a few simple ingredients and turning them into something I had made myself.

It gave me something new to learn and something to focus on outside of football and my recovery.

It became a hobby.

And quite quickly, I realised I genuinely enjoyed it.

I was also learning about the ingredients I was using and came across essential oils.

That opened up a whole new side of things for me.

Discovering essential oils

I became really interested in essential oils, their different scents and the ways people used them as part of their everyday lives.

The more I learned, the more I started experimenting with different oils and scents in my candles.

But something else happened too.

I started incorporating scent and simple rituals into my own life.

During a period when I was dealing with a lot of uncertainty and spending a lot of time recovering, I found that these small moments helped me feel a little more grounded.

Lighting a candle.

Taking some time for myself.

Getting outside.

Going for a walk.

Spending time near the ocean.

It wasn't anything revolutionary.

They were just small things that I enjoyed.

But I noticed how much I appreciated them.

And eventually, I started thinking that if these little rituals could become part of my life, maybe someone else could get something from them too.

From a hobby to a business

At first, I wasn't thinking about starting a business.

I was making candles because I enjoyed it.

But the more I learned, the more interested I became in everything that went with it.

The branding.

The scents.

The packaging.

The ingredients.

The business side.

I started thinking about what it would look like to create something that was genuinely my own.

And slowly, the idea of turning my hobby into a small business started to become real.

That's where Sea Zen came from.

There wasn't one big moment where everything suddenly clicked.

It was a gradual process.

A hobby became a genuine interest.

That interest became an idea.

And eventually, that idea became a business.

More than a candle

As Sea Zen developed, I realised I didn't want it to be just a candle company.

The candles are obviously a big part of what we do, but the idea behind them became just as important.

For me, Sea Zen is about the small moments.

It's lighting a candle at the end of a long day.

Putting your phone away.

Going for a walk.

Getting outside.

Spending time with people you care about.

Taking a breath.

Or simply giving yourself a few minutes where you don't have to be doing anything.

Life can get pretty busy.

Sometimes we get so caught up in everything we're supposed to be doing that we forget to make time for the things we actually enjoy.

I think those small moments matter.

Why natural?

From the beginning, I wanted Sea Zen to feel simple and considered.

Our candles are handmade in Dunedin using natural soy wax and pure essential oils.

I wanted to understand what I was putting into the products I was making and create something that felt consistent with the idea behind Sea Zen.

Natural.

Simple.

Thoughtful.

And authentic.

We're not trying to make something complicated.

We're simply trying to create candles that people enjoy having in their homes and that can become part of their own little rituals.

I'm still figuring it out

One of the things I like most about Sea Zen is that it has grown alongside me.

I'm still learning.

I'm still making mistakes.

I'm still figuring out business.

I'm still experimenting and trying new things.

I don't have everything figured out, and I don't think I need to.

I want Sea Zen to feel like a real brand created by a real person.

Because that's what it is.

It started during a difficult and unexpected chapter of my life.

I ordered a candle-making kit because my family suggested I give it a go.

I ended up loving it.

And something I originally started as a hobby has grown into something that is now shared with people all over New Zealand.

That's pretty cool to think about.

If you've bought a Sea Zen candle, visited us at a market, followed along online, shared something with a friend or simply taken the time to read our story, thank you.

You're now a small part of the journey too.

And hopefully, somewhere along the way, Sea Zen can encourage you to slow down, take a breath and make a little more time for yourself.

Because Sea Zen was never meant to be just about candles.

It's about the moments in between everything else.

https://youtu.be/ip866O7tpDM?si=WEsD_8wUsuiSUYwG - Watch The Full Story Here!