Flameless candles are very 2020. Not only have they come a long way in terms of aesthetics, they also significantly reduce fire risk, always a crucial consideration in Australian interior design.
At Decor + Design, we’re die-hard fans of candles. Whether they’re flickering by the bath, in the living room, outside…during the day…obviously at night. Enjoy Living‘s range of flameless candles takes our obsession next level, with beautiful candles that create ambience but won’t flutter out at the slightest breeze.
Formerly Enjoy Lighting, after 10 years of success with their stunning flameless candles, the brand has become Enjoy Living, expanding into homewares and furniture. With a passion for interiors, their curated pieces are the perfect fusion of form and function.
We’re delighted that Enjoy Living will be exhibiting at Decor + Design 360, Australia’s No.1 Virtual Interiors Trade Marketplace, which will take place from September 28 – October 2. In the lead up, we asked CEO & Co-Founder Lisa Carrick some questions about her journey over the last 10 years, how she’s navigated the challenges of 2020…and what’s in store for trade visitors to the virtual exhibition.
Enjoy Living is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year! Congratulations. Can you tell us more about the history of the brand?
An American friend was looking for assistance in finding an Australian distributor for his brand [the leading brand at the time] of flameless candles. As a discerning homewares consumer and with a love of candlelight from a very young age, I couldn’t get my head around the concept of a battery operated candle. Thinking they sounded awfully tacky, and telling him so, he offered to send me some samples so I could assess who in my network would be most suitable to approach.
I put batteries in the candles, and placed them on my mantelpiece. That night when I walked towards them to blow them out, I knew that if they could fool me, then these were truly special!
Chair from the EKTA Collection, Enjoy Living
Long story short, we became the Distributor for Australia, and then a year later, through a series of events, we ended up owning the business outright. Over the next years, we built our international presence, with distributors in Europe, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and NZ, and TV contracts in the UK and the US. We globally trademarked our own brands, and started travelling the world, which allowed me to organically build on my love of home styling.
To celebrate 10 years of lighting up the world with our beautiful flameless candles, Enjoy Lighting stepped onto the world stage as Enjoy Living, expanding into homewares and furniture. Embracing our love and passion for interiors, our ever-growing curation of beautiful and functional pieces are designed to embody today’s relaxed, elegant lifestyle. Our focus is to introduce a range of furniture and homewares that work harmoniously together to create beautiful and inspiring spaces.
It has been a challenging year for everybody. What has 2020 been like for you?
It certainly was not the year we planned to mark our 10 years of business. We had BIG product plans. And we were tracking very nicely until mid-March when it all came to a grinding halt.
Given my corporate background with Coles-Myer, I pivoted like most had to do, and decided to focus on all the things we had wanted to do to strengthen our infrastructure but never made the time. If we could not grow sales as forecast, then we had to reduce costs, which forced our hand to have everyone working on the business, rather than in it. Every action we took had the sole purpose to add value directly or indirectly to our community of retailers who had supported us.
We focused on how our business could look once we came through the other side. With some incredibly loyal staff, distributors and agents, and some clever and fortuitous meetings of the minds, we formed new long-term, mutually beneficial strategic alliances, rebuilt our brand, rebuilt our website from the ground up, put in place systems and processes that removed duplication, and streamlined the business as much as we could. And since May, we’ve never performed better!
The theme of the Australian House & Garden International Seminar Series at Decor + Design is the ‘Interconnected World of Design.’ How do you currently connect with both clients and suppliers around Australia and beyond?
An Evening Picnic with Enjoy Living
After exhibiting at Maison and Objet last year, we formed incredibly strong alliances with new trading partners, and we are leveraging these to bring to Australia a curation of new and iconic designs, where function meets form. Now that we cannot travel, we realise even more how those long nights and crazy days have underpinned the foundation of the next 10 years. And thank goodness for Zoom, Team Meetings, What’s App, Skype, and FedEx!
Why are interiors and the home industry more important than ever right now?
As families were being forced to spend more time in their homes, and lighting (and homewares) being such an integral and cost effective way to change the ambience, we were in the right place at the right time to be of service. So much so we’ve actually been out of stock for the last 6 weeks, a first in our 10 year history! With a new container arriving next week, and with close to 200 back orders ready to fulfill, we are quietly optimistic about the second half of the year, and grateful for the way in which Australians have fallen in love with our products.
Enjoy Living will be a virtual exhibitor at Decor + Design 360. What can trade visitors expect to see from you?
We are beyond excited to be launching – ahead of every other country in the world – our new weather and UV resistant Uyuni Lighting outdoor candle, in the 3D wick design that everyone around the world has embraced. They are remote enabled and require only 2 x C batteries that will last more than 1200 hours. With only one drop this year, we know this candle is going to be coveted by many!
We will also have our new colour palette for Mr. Wattson, our iconic Danish designed lamp, whose first container sold out and we are now taking back orders. And some more updates on our stunning EKTA Collection of South African heritage Danish designed handmade furniture. I will be making myself available for each appointment during the virtual exhibition.
Cult Lamp: The Mr. Wattson. Image: Enjoy Living
Explore Enjoy Living’s new website now. You can also see their latest collections at Decor + Design 360, Australia’s No.1 Virtual Interiors Trade Marketplace! Register now for the exhibition. It’s free for visitors but limited to design trade only.
You can also reserve your seminar pass for the Australian House & Garden International Seminar Series at Decor + Design. 2020’s virtual line-up includes some of the biggest stars in the design firmament, including live Q & As with Nate Berkus, Bobby Berk, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Kathryn M. Ireland, Abigail Ahern and Kit Kemp! Seminar passes are open to both trade and public.