A healthy Glow ?

In the early part of 2009, Jonathan Ward London was lucky enough to partner with a high profile spa in Knightsbridge. We designed a collection for them of six fragrances inspired by the sun. I even came up with the collection’s name! Very cool. The collection was soon to be featured in Harper’s Bazaar’s online beauty section and a number of print magazines including Elle and Hello.

We really enjoyed bringing this project to life and extended terms to the project as a young business working with another young business… As a small company we have certain minimums for private label projects and I allowed my partner to take the collection in four quarters with an agreement that the balance of the collection would be settled within a year.

The collection’s name (Shine) must have brought good fortune to my partner as he was lucky enough to be the recipient of a larger investor (allegedly) who has immediately set about opening a second establishment (allegedly).

While these exciting developments were happening, Jonathan Ward patiently waited to be compensated for the collection and received multiple promises that this was ‘just around the corner’.

We just learned last week that after a year of work and effort that my partner will not be honouring the agreement – as his new partner’s feel that they are not in the “candle business”. Despite the magazine attention, despite the beautiful candles waiting to be sold and despite a year of hard work,it would seem that greed and a shortsighted eagerness to grow has overcome. My partner is happy to step on the heads of the people who supported and tried to help him achieve his dream.

For small business’s about to embark on private label projects, I would suggest the following steps to be taken regardless of how friendly the relationship seems to be:

  • consult a lawyer and have legal contracts drawn up. If your potential partner is serious and a person of integrity, he will not object to having everything carefully drafted on paper.
  • ensure that you receive a proportionate deposit ahead of your bulk production to ensure commitment.
  • Don’t be fooled by friendly gestures and sweeping promises. Treat each arrangement with a cold hard business ethics or beware… Instead of shining, you may get burned.

Jonathan Ward London & Temple Gregory Partnership – Fragrance Concepts for Your Wedding

Jonathan Ward London has been really lucky to be aligned with supportive partners who have helped the brand grow and humbly gather respect in a crammed marketplace. A huge thank you – we definitely could not do this alone.

One of JW’s special partners is the lovely Beckie Gregory from Temple Gregory Wedding Planners.

Beckie and JW share similar values in that we strive for perfection, attention to detail, polish, sophistication peppered with superb customer service. We come together to offer a unique and tailored candle service for your one special day and designed to suit a variety of budgets.

JWL_white

There are several exquisite plans available to choose from, to allow a scent program specific to your needs

  • Design your own fragrance – this is a premium option which allows you to custom design a fragrance or fragrances to your very specific needs. Your fragrance can be a fine fragrance or candle fragrance; it’s your choice. Once your fragrance has been designed you can choose to enhance your day in lots of ways. Scented glass tea lights, crystal jar candles, votives, or larger candles, tapers, center pieces, or more.
  • Customize – You have the option to take existing candle fragrances and design a program for your own needs. Each candle could benefit from a touch of hand calligraphy tailored for each guest or table. Printing options are available and custom glassware is also an option.
  • Affordable – You can choose to take our existing candles at a special wedding rate and modify the label design to suit your needs.

All options are accented with a private consultancy with Jonathan Ward and Temple Gregory.

Your fragrance or candle program will be carefully planned, well in advance and delivered with exquisite care. Additional custom features can be added – please feel free to ask us to achieve your dream. We believe in dreams not compromises.


Tea-Light Candles – A New Ambiance and The Perfect Present

Jonathan Ward London has a new product category coming in late September. Our new glass tea light sets available in four fragrances.

“Kiss in Rio”

“Cherrywood Falls”

“Nightingale’s Jasmine”

“Dance in Summer Rain”

Candle light creates the most wonderful ambiance and is proven in aiding relaxation and reducing stress. There is even a kind of meditation practice that focuses on candle gazing. We tried burning just three of the Jasmine candles in the bathroom and not only did it cast the most amazing soft glow across the water and bubble bath, it also created the most perfect fragrance fill for a room that is quite often the smallest in the home.

Jonathan Ward Tea-Lights

Jonathan Ward Tea-Lights

These sets of nine Glass tea-lights, will be housed in beautiful packaging. We try to listen to our customers needs. One popular request which we hear a lot in the run-up to the Christmas Season, is the need for great gifts under £20. These deep filled glass tea-lights fill that request perfectly.

"Kiss in Rio" Tea-Light Set

"Kiss in Rio" Tea-Light Set

We are confident that this item will be received well and if you don’t see your favourite fragrance above then we’re sure it will only be a matter of time before we expand this category.


Vertical versus importing – significant changes and a blueprint for the future

Jonathan Ward London is one month into its third year of trading and fortune is shining its buttery rays on this little company.

In the last month, we have been inundated with opportunities. We have recently aligned with the Doyle Hotel Collection offering them our products to be burned in their lobbies and bars in 2 of their London Properties. We have 2 new product categories coming out this month. We have possibilities of a new spa in London, have opened in a florists in Newcastle and our new Edinburgh location has started selling the collection last week.

With serious talks of designing the first candle for a significant UK clothing brand, the possibilities for 2011 look more promising than ever before.

While I have a superb relationship with my manufacturer we both know that as my collection grows, it will require more and more of his time. The imminent decision of bringing the production in-house has been pending and is likely to become a reality by the end of the year.

I have to say, that is incredibly exciting to think that we will soon be able to enhance our private label and bespoke services. This will also lead to shortening the time between producing an order and receiving it in the United Kingdom. Its often difficult to be reactionary to private project needs when the products are poured next to their natural resources.

The original decision for the current collection with my selected manufacturer was the best decision for the brand. We believe strongly that the customer experience of burning JW products, is a significant factor that has encouraged brand loyalty and repeat sales. So taking a reduced margin and having to plan the collection more than a year in advance, is a small price to pay to know that the product is the best natural product it can be.

There are so many advantages to this and lots of new challenges ahead – but whichever way we look at this. It seems more and more like the best solution for the company’s future.

We’ll keep everyone posted…


Amber & Spice “Three new fragrances available September 20th 2010

The new amber and spice collection of fragrances from Jonathan Ward London.

In 1930’s high society, Lady Idina Sackville adorned the front covers of newspaper and magazine alike. This collection celebrates three chapters in her rich and colourful life, each exquisitely documented with an original olfactory homage.

Mombasa(final3Dproduct)

“Idina’s Locket”

Inspired by the gifts that her great love bestowed upon her, this fragrance celebrates soft feminine amber notes melded with pepper and rose – reminiscent of an antique compact.

“Ode to Euan”

This unique aroma celebrates Idina’s one great love – Captain David Euan Wallace. This fragrance conjures notes from classic men’s cologne’s from the 1930’s. Precious woods layered against a striking amber heart, allow Italian Bergamot, Tarragon, Rosemary and Clove to meld into a signature and striking fragrance.

“Mombasa Club 1932″

Inspired by the British Aristocracy and their carefree jaunts between London and the smoldering plains of Kenya. The “Happy Valley Set” lives another day. Rich amber and cinnamon are peppered with anise, cassis and ginger accords. Orchid, green leaves and delicate spices add complexity.

All fragrances are available in the double wick 8.5oz option (burn time 45 hours) and the 6.5oz option (burn time 30 hours) for £30 and £20 respectively.


Print or Pixels ?

I think its time to write about a remarkable friend of mine, Jane Cunningham, AKA Britains’s leading beauty blogger.

Jane is a unique and special person who gives every day through her remarkable blog succinctly named British Beauty Blogger.

Every day I receive her intuitive and forward thinking work which fuses journalism and plain talking thoughts on the movements in our wonderful world of beauty, fragrance, apothecary and gifts. I wanted to write this about her in an attempt to swing the scales back a little bit.

Jane is a journalist, plain and simple. She writes intelligent and honest pieces that happen to fall into the category of blogging. I’m constantly baffled by the divide between the magazines and blogs. I called this blog-post “print or pixel” because there is a divide, but I believe that journalism and creative writing requires significant writing talent, regardless of where the final article ends up, its value is in its message and its power should NOT be misconceived by a masthead.

I feel passionately that her work be recognized for her journalistic talents and the fact that she has incorruptible values and cast-iron integrity. if you feel like a daily dose of insightful and provocative industry info then please subscribe.

Jane is a rare find in an industry that covets kickbacks and “paid-for-praise” articles, I hope we never lose these qualities or that unique voice !

http://www.britishbeautyblogger.com/ check it out !


Christmas in July – oops August !!

Christmas in July, sorry – August.

Okay, okay I admit it. I’m behind the times (again). I realize in order to be ahead of the game I need to have all my seasonal goods ready in July. Yes, July. Its become mandatory for brands who are interested in procuring features in the long leads glossy publications to be ready and armed with a plethora of new and exciting goods in July.

I started the concepts for my new products in January of this year and finally brought them to reality in early August. The financial restraints for new developments (yes, I’m still self-funded) coupled with some failed attempts to lull the perfectionist in me, has meant that for another season my creative juices have missed the July deadlines and I will have to suffice with mid August.

With that said, Jonathan Ward London’s latest product offerings totally satisfy two vacant product areas in my range. 1. The seductive, enchanting and mysterious scent of amber and 2. Product items that fall into a price bracket of “affordable gifts under £20”.

With the current offerings, the Jonathan Ward London candle range will come to completion for 2010, by this I mean the formula of groupings in 3 styles covering a specific product area. Clean and Green, single note florals, dark and spicy, warm woods and fruits and now amber and spices.

The new tea-light sets will come in at under £20 and offer the unique Jonathan Ward fragrances at a really affordable price. Also, one huge tick in the “affordable gifts” arena as well.

More to come on each of these items…


Marketing and Illusion – Premium Brands Enjoying Natural Status

In recent years the market has seen a lot of fantastic product lines forged on strong identities rooted in natural foundations. It led me to think about “image” – the image that a brand actively promotes through marketing and its product and packaging design.

Jonathan Ward London has actively strove to create an image of quality and natural integrity with a playful nod to quintessential English heritage and classic illustrative techniques, strong signature colours, quirky wallpaper prints inside each carton and premium Italian glass and raw materials. Creative fragrance design housed in natural paraffin free wax.

So here’s the thing, a friend gave me some “Aesop” products and I was quite pleased, as I secretly wanted to try this boutique brand. I had presumed from the packaging (dark brown with clean cream and stylish natural flourishes) and the fragrances (coriander seed / orange and grapefruit rind) that the products were high end natural – in the genre of “John Masters” hair products but in Boutique body-care.

So imagine my surprise when I looked at the ingredient list for the body wash and the lead ingredient was sodium laureth-sulfate. I personally avoid this in personal care products as I have seen problems – redness and irritation in sensitive skin areas (underarms etc).

So here’s the point. Is it clever marketing to convey the image of a high-end natural brand BUT to fall short on the ingredients… or deceptive? Nowhere in Aesop’s marketing do they claim to be 100% natural but it is kind of alluded to through the aromatherapy style fragrance choices…

Quite often when I talk to potential clients and gently inform them that the JW line is paraffin free, quite often they’ll respond with “I know, I use Jo Malone and other high end candles.” Jo Malone is a genius marketing person – creating the illusion of luxury, while her candles are made from a mostly paraffin wax blend in generic glass. The point is there are lots of brands who enjoy the prestige of clean/ natural/ organic by association but actually are far from it.

Its interesting being in my position as a consumer and a product developer, I oscillate between the reality and the illusion. It prompted me to write this – as I thought we were moving towards a time when clever marketing and brand illusion had faded into the background while honest values and clear brand guidelines are moving to the forefront. With Aesop I was caught off guard and honestly “bought” the image of high end, stylish premium natural. As a good friend said to me when I quizzed her about this subject – “the consumer needs to get canny as the brands won’t change”.

Read the label !!


Online Theft – How to Protect Your Small Business

I’m not sure whether to take this as a compliment or not, but Jonathan Ward London has been privy to its first online scam. I guess this means that I have a very desirable product that someone couldn’t live without… Or they found a loophole in my security system. Lets say for arguments sake its a combination of both !

A short while ago a selection of products were ordered online (this is not unusual as we frequently receive orders each week). I sent the order out promptly with a handwritten note, which I try to do with all new clients and a votive of another fragrance, another personal touch that is important to me.

The client received the order and then to my horror, issued a charge-back within a few days of receiving it (our first charge-back in 2 years of trading), and his reason…? He didn’t authorize the card. It really is that easy. Apparently if you are predisposed to thievery and deception, you can make a charge-back and the credit card company will air on the side of the consumer, NOT the vendor or manufacturer. If the thief has taken measures to use a false collection address, its virtually impossible to trace.

So I couldn’t believe it was that easy to be scammed ! I decided to call Pay-Pal and ask about my options. Well, they are very limited to be fair. Pay-Pal currently offer me low protection on my current service level with a monthly fee. After speaking to one of their advisers, I was informed that they could help me by offering a more secure service (at a premium cost) but it still wasn’t guaranteed ! At this point, I started to feel more than a little bit frustrated. I had been cheated, okay, scammed. Now – the solutions available to me made me feel like I was being cheated again.

While these conversations were progressing, and not successfully, I received another order for a similar amount. By this point I had already “smelled the coffee” as it were and decided to take a few steps to make myself feel more secure about sending products out. i looked online at the shipping address attached to the order. It sounded lovely actually, but on closer inspection using Google’s nifty little photographic street maps, the sweet cottage I had visualized actually was a grungy run down tower block that Google Maps would only show from another street looking between two houses. So now I decided to take an action. I contacted the buyer and asked for her home phone number so I could verify the order, funnily enough she didn’t get back to me (and still hasn’t).

I decided to call the Metropolitan police as now I felt that I was being targeted by a gang. They were very helpful and supportive, but also very honest in letting me know that this happens everyday, and as the amount in question was relatively small, they couldn’t offer me the support that they would like to give. In other words, they wouldn’t investigate further. I did have a lengthy conversation with them and adding some notes from my experience, below is a checklist of points that may help in avoiding similar scams to your business.

  • Online thieves will often create false addresses through companies like Mail-Box ETC, the address can be a play on the Mail Box office’s “actual” address, they may use Suite 218, or Studio 218, then the Mail box address / so you could be fooled into thinking its an apartment or office suite. You can print out all Mail Box Offices in London (or business’s of this nature) relatively easily and keep them at hand to cross check in case something feels odd.
  • Online thieves may start to create a “false trust” client profile through the following method. Typically they may register as normal (using false email or false ID) and genuinely order a small item. Then, a month or so later, they may order again, maybe one or two items more than the last. They will then build up to a larger order of considerable value which because of previous purchases you would be likely to ship without question. At this point they will say their card has not been authorized and issue a charge-back. If you feel nervous about sending something, ask for a home phone number – you can cross reference against the address quite easily. this will at least eliminate fake collection points, like Mail Box ETC.
  • I would advise always adding a secure signature service, using a registered carrier. A short time ago a “client” tried to order a large volume of goods, they insisted on using a personal shipping service called Speed-Ship… I hadn’t heard of this service so I checked it out at Company House and no such service existed. I refunded the order and blocked the email address.
  • Be skeptical of callers who ask you to take their credit cards and input manually on their behalf. This is another way that they can legitimately say that they did not authorize the sale.
  • Finally if it feels odd to you then don’t ship. Its your right to refund and not send the goods if you feel suspicious.

Online shipping can be a significant part of your years revenue but its important to be wary of protecting yourself and your business against a scam.


Fairtrade or Environmentally Conscious?

Today I met a thoughtful, kind and interesting man while working at the Fair-Trade week at Wholefoods Kensington.

When I started the Jonathan Ward London collection, I thought I had considered the most ethical framework for my small company to spring from. The young man (Ben) whom I met this afternoon suggested that the choices I made for my company, might have been detrimental in terms of cultivating international Fair Trade relations. I selected a farm grown soy and Iowan Beeswax from the United States and shunned soy that was responsible for deforestation from South America. He posed the question that as my company grew it might be wiser to seek out smaller companies in South America – that could benefit from the work, rather than compensating already established American companies.

The choices I made when founding Jonathan Ward London were formulated with quite a single minded environmental approach. I believe that in the long term we will benefit on a more profound level if business’s have clean air, clean seas and rich land from which to operate. I couldn’t really feel relaxed in conscience knowing that I was helping a third world country, while being responsible for the depletion of rich rainforests.

I believe that I have some further research to undertake to see if i can achieve a balance between supporting trade in Third World Countries and maintaining an environmental awareness and sensitivity. Thank you Ben, you left me with more than you know – I hope you enjoy your Cherrywood Falls candle!