Scents & Sensibility

One of the most coveted candle companies around the globe, Cire Trudon has situated themselves as a manufacturer associated with luxury, history, and most importantly, beautifully smelling fragrances. Here, Life+Times chatted with Julien Pruvost, Cire Trudon’s Managing Director as he took us through the Cire Trudon factory and showed us the process behind the finished product.

L+T: What is your role at Cire Turdon?
Julien Pruvost: As the Managing Director of the company, I supervise all aspects of the company including our home brand Cire Trudon, as a whole.

L+T: What do you think differentiates Cire Trudon from other candle companies?
JP: Constant adaptation to each period in history and the evolutions of science while keeping in mind what Cire Trudon does best: candles. We manufacture our own products for one thing. We strive to make the best possible product in its category. We have built our image on true and legitimate historical facts that directly link Cire Trudon to an amazing background.

L+T: What makes your product unique?
JP: Carrying a strong craftsmanship heritage and genuine expertise, Cire Trudon has established itself through the centuries with a careful commitment to quality and never ceases to innovate. Specialized in sophisticated and unique fragrance blends, the brand’s candles are encased in glass hand-blown by Master Craftsmen in Vinci, Italy. Each glass is unique and stamped with embossed golden labels. Originally purveyors to the French Royal Court, Cire Trudon continues to honor its traditions creating long lasting high quality scented candles and invites us to an olfactory journey through history. Cire Trudon candles are 100% paraffin-free and devoid of any secondary minerals derived from petrochemicals. They are 100% biodegradable with a burn time of up to 75 hours.

L+T: Cire Trudon is rooted in history. Can you tell me a little bit about the company’s origins?
JP: Established in Paris in 1643 by Claude Trudon, Cire Trudon is the oldest candle manufacturer in the world. Through marriage Claude Trudon became the owner of a shop on the rue Saint-Honoré. Alongside groceries, the store also provided its customers with wax candles and soon became the supplier of local churches. Over the years the reputation of Cire Trudon grew and Cire Trudon became the official provider of the Court of Louis XIV and all subsequent French royals, as well as the greatest cathedrals and churches across France.

L+T: Tell me a little bit about CT’s logo. Where did it originate?
JP: Sporting embossed golden letters, the gold logo adorning the candles is produced exclusively for Cire Trudon by the oldest champagne label maker in France. This logo comes from the former factory in Antony – France. The slogan and the logo still decorates the building – a decoration of hives and bees with the slogan in latin, deo regique laborant – They (the bees) work for God and for the King.

L+T: What is unique about the CT creation process?
JP: Cire Trudon keeps a secret: a wax paste made of vegetable substances, forming a unique blend, miscible with any fragrance and allowing a perfect and long-lasting combustion.